Guest has not paid the 2nd person fee

[Valerie192]

I had a new to Airbnb guest that did a same day booking and on her way to the house said she was bringing her girlfriend and would that be OK. I said it would, except I do charge a $20 2nd person fee. She was surprised, and at first was thinking to cancel which I said would be fine with me (I even gave her airbnb customer service # and said she could plead ignorance being new to Airbnb and likely get her airbnb fee back too). Then about 15 minutes later she said that it wasn't worth the trouble and she would be ok paying the extra $20. Since the reservation had already started we were unable to change the # of guests (at least I have yet to figure out a way to do that) so I said no problem, I will just send you a separate fee request.

Fast forward to the next day and I had said thank you for staying etc. and in Airbnb message I asked if she could please pay the fee that day. A couple days later I sent one more friendly reminder, she replied and said she would "look for it." Now we know those automatically get pushed by Airbnb and since she got all my messages I know she also got the fee request from Airbnb. It has been 10 days now.

I don't care about $20 -it is more on the principle. And she was otherwise a nice and communicative guest. Airbnb offered to call her but I thought that seemed quite heavy handed for $20 and may result in a negative review for me. I am waiting until day 13.5 to write my review to give her the full time to pay me that fee but I have zero confidence now. How does the following sound:

"XXX was a friendly and communicative guest. Only notable concern is that the reservation was only for one, and as of the writing of this review, the second guest fee for her guest has remained unpaid."

Would this 'neglect to pay the extra guest fee' make it into your review of her?

[Helen3]

You can't amend the booking, to include an extra guest, once the booking has started @Alon1.  

Quite honestly it's not helpful to patronise your fellow hosts by telling them they should have known better. Particularly when you are offering advice which is not correct.

@Valerie192 in your situation the only thing I would have done differently is to give the guest a time slot by which she needed to accept the request for payment for the additonal guest. Then if she hadn't made payment I would have asked Airbnb to cancel the booking.

[Alon1]

@Helen3 

'HONESTLY' YOU CAN!

i QUOTED THE FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM A CURRENT BOOKING!

The Guest is here and I have the option to do the following

Please note you can make an alteration to an existing booking. 'CHANGE or CANCEL RESERVATION'

Click and under the 'Change' option you'll see

What would you like to do?

Change ReservationChange dates, listing, number of guests, or price.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Alon1 

'HONESTLY' YOU CAN!

i QUOTED THE FOLLOWING TAKEN FROM A CURRENT BOOKING!

The Guest is here and I have the option to do the following

cc. @Helen3 

That can be done. Not only can it be done it is the AirBnb preferred option rather than using the resolution centre or a 'payment request'

Recent experience had me in a similar situation and good advice from @Andrew suggested I should even change the amount of people I accomodate to enable the amout of 'extra or unauthorised' guests to be added. Providing you had an additional guest fee or 'penalty' guest fee pre-defined in the system then that fee can be added and AirBnb would get any commission due to them.

@Valerie192 should have used the 'Change or Cancel' but in the heat of the moment it doesn't work as smoothly as you expect. Maybe her accomodation was fully booked with one guest, if so 'change or cancel' would not show and she would need to change her accomodation level. I think she had capacity already so should be OK. Regardless, the agreement was made and a charge made.

My gripe with all this is that in every scenario, apart from one which @Valerie192 was heading for would result in a bad or biased review. The one option she would be safe with would be to ignore her own rules and ignore the fact they were the rules which the guest agreed to.

In this case where the guest ignored rules I think that they should forfeit their right to make a review. It takes a guest with good moral standing to rise above any confrontation and to provide a balanced and factual review. Playing by the rules in this situation despite the low value is just heading to a loss.

The culprit here is the AirBnb platform, unless they rovoke the possibility of a guest giving a revenge review after they have broken ANY house rule then always the host will be vulnerable. This would save LOADS of resentment, continue to reward hosts on a level playing field and make for a far more transparent system.

Saddly, I don't think anything like that will happen as I'm inclined to think that AirBnb like the passive aggresive and penalative environment which already exists.

The only regress @Valerie192 would have would be to write a factual reply to any negative review provided by her guest. Her future guests would see this too and understand the situation.

[Gabi37]

@Alon1 

yes, the option to change number of guests is available, but once you choose this option the system will tell you, changing the number of guests is not possible (because the booking has already started like @Helen3 already mentioned).

[Robin4]

@Helen3 

Helen, @Alon1  is partially right in so much as it is possible to change a reservation while a hosting is in progress....here is a screenshot of my current reservation which is for 5 nights...

I have taken this screenshot tonight which is half way through the stay. This guest is here at present and I have the ability to 'change or cancel' the reservation and, in @Valerie192 's case, as there is an additional guest involved, that is the correct way to do it 

But where Alon is not correct if you try to alter a reservation in progress the automated system will tell you it is not possible.

That is why it is best to request money from the guest for the additional amount, if the guest approves it the funds just get taken from the guests payment method, quick and simple.....provided they approve it. If they don't, that's where you involve the Resolution Centre and Valerie felt that was not worthwhile!

Sorry Helen, Alon is partially right in this instance!

Cheers.....Rob

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Robin4 

That is why it is best to request money from the guest for the additional amount, if the guest approves it the funds just get taken from the guests payment method, 

cc. @Valerie192 @Alon1 @Helen3 

Heres the Help information regarding this:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/50/as-a-host--how-do-i-make-a-change-to-a-confirmed-reservatio...

Bum steer by AirBnb. They couldn't make it more difficult if they tried.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Valerie192 @Robin4 @Alon1 @Helen3 @Gabi37 

Change Request

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1515/what-should-i-do-if-my-guest-brings-extra-people?q=How%20...

[Helen3]

Interesting @Robin4 , when I tried to change a booking while a guest was here to add another guest, I couldn't. It told me it wasn't possible. 

I called Airbnb and they told me I had to go through the resolution centre once the booking was underway i.e. send/request payment.

@alon I apologise, it seems you see an option on Airbnb that isn't available to me. However, I still think the way you call out your fellow hosts for not having knowledge about something is not particularly helpful and doesn't show you in a good light.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Robin4 

That is why it is best to request money from the guest for the additional amount, if the guest approves it the funds just get taken from the guests payment method, quick and simple.....provided they approve it. If they don't, that's where you involve the Resolution Centre and Valerie felt that was not worthwhile!

There's another option here leading to further headaches.

The guest on receiving the payment request also has the option to contest the request and pay what they believe fair, you might receive $1 instead of $100..  And then need to really start squabbling!  In the Change or Cancel Reservation process - they can't. 

Change or Cancel should just work!

[Valerie192]

Hi @Helen3 that is good advice I will heed in the future if this happens again. Thank you!

[Linda108]

@Valerie192   Perhaps the issue is not the guest but is the system.  There is a difference between the app and the computer.  I would never manage my business by app only but some people do.  I think it is worth your while to contact Air BNB about the lack of payment.  All this happened so far so it is possible the issue is with Air BNB and not the guest.  The Air BNB rep can see the system.  Here is a guide for contacting Air BNB.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

[Alon1]

 @Valerie192 

Valerie,

Please note again my comment was in relation to an 'ACTIVE' Reservation.

 The words I used was   an existing booking...'

@Linda108

Linda,

My comment was simply based on computer. (I don't use a smart-phone so wouldn't know about the App).

.

[Lilly28]

Valerie,

Do not blame the guest. In the past it was possible to change the number of guests when their saty was active. I think - that later on they decided that once you have in your house rules - no more people than the booked ones - that is your responsibility not to allow anybody else - and the system responds you - we cannot change the number because the booking is active. It is an algorythm reply - so now you have 2 options - ask the guest to pay you directly - as he agreed to do it - or go through the resolution center which might result in a poor review. Or just swollow it - what I did, and left excellent review - why all the hussle for trifles. But now I always check befoerehand - and ask for the number of guests. And your price for just one guest is a rare case - usually the price is for two per night unless your price is too low.

[Robin4]

@Valerie192 

A lot of @Alon1's posts do seem to come from a negative standpoint but, what he says is generally correct! 

As you had discussed this additional fee with the guest, you would have at any point requested it through the message stream with this guest using the field 'Send or Request money'  . The guest has 72 hours to either accept the request or decline it. The other option is that the guest just ignores it, in which case the request just becomes void and the reservation remains unchanged.

As 10 days have gone by and the system has not responded it is obvious the guest has no intention of allowing this additional payment to be honoured.

Val, you are as that old saying goes, 'caught between a rock and a hard place' ...I understand it's not the money, it's the principal, and I think that is the thing you (as a host with great principals) need to keep in mind here!

If she hasn't reviewed you after 10 days it's a fair bet she knows that she is possibly going to get a poor review from you and she is looking at two scenarios.

1/.....If she gets the notification that you have reviewed her, she knows that by now it will probably be poor and so, although she won't know what you have written, she will write a defensive review of you trying to justify her position!

2/.....She is hoping that you won't review her because you as the host still want to get that $20 and if you say nothing that might still happen.....even though we both know it won't....don't we!

So Val, it's a no win situation, you are not going to see the money and you will either get no review or a defensive one.

So this is where your principal comes in. Write your review, you have nothing to lose!

"I enjoyed hosting XXXX as I do all my guests, it was just a pity the financial aspects of the stay remained unsolved, but I wish her well for the future!" .......and leave it at that!

We will all know what you mean Val!

Cheers......Rob

[Alon1]

@Robin4 

It's essential to add that after the 72 hours, the matter can then be forwarded for Airbnb arbitration.

That's what the 'RESOLUTION CENTRE' is for!

In this case, Airbnb would doubtless have ruled in Valerie's favour because of the additional Guest.

The $ 20 would have been paid.

I hope you don't see this as a 'negative' reply.

Thank you.