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?

[Robin4]

@Alon1 

Yeah, you are right about forwarding the request on for further resolution, but as @Valerie192 said, it wasn't about the money. That was not her point!

She said,....."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"  

So I was trying to address whether or not Valerie should write a review and what she could potentially expect! 

And Alon as far as my opening comment was concerned I was simply responding to comments both @Sarah977  @Kath9 made regarding your intitial post to Valerie. Your knowledge is great and highly prized Alon but, I have learned throughout my life diplomacy gets you far further than waving a big verbal stick. It doesn't pay to be too hard on people who come here, a lot of them need to be told how to do it right....... not what they have managed to do wrong!

Cheers......Rob

[Alon1]

@Robin4 

 re 'her point'.

Her original point was this

   '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.'

She reiterated the point by saying she didn't think she could do it because the booking was 'Active'.

That's the point I was addressing. Because if she understood how the basic alteration to booking works along with Resolution Centre, the rest of it would have been redundant!.

My point is that all Hosts should be familiar with the most basic aspects of the booking criteria BEFORE they start hosting. 

Consequently, Airbnb would do well to devise a simple test for Hosts so they know how to deal with these issues. It saves a lot of time and grief... and the need to consult the Community Centre. It would probably cut the need for about half-the-threads on CC.

In summary, I find it most ironic that so many Hosts sigh and complain about Guests not reading their Descriptions & House Rules, etc. Yet so many Hosts don't bother to familiarize themselves with the basic guidelines on the website! Much of this self-induced 'ignorance' [Valerie's word to describe her first time user Guest] is then projected onto the Guests. 

[Cathie19]

Hello @Valerie192. I’m kind of with all the other hosts here... so can’t offer changes to the advice, except would make note of the guests time zone and yours and review at the “eleventh hour”, so to speak. This might allow your review to slip through without a review from the guest. I’d give it a go!

Principles matter....

[Marchalle0]

I have had this problem a few times. I really don't get that they don't know that there is a fee for an extra person. When you book it asks how many adults or children will be staying. When you press the amount it clearlly states how much the extra fee is. When they come with an extra person, I politely go in and ask for extra money.  There is a feature that says change or cancels reservations. In that feature you can add an extra guest. I do it while they are there so they can pay at that time.

[Jon393]

Yes definitely. Exactly this has happened to me twice now, I suspect there is some guests who know this trick and use it every time. Although once the reservation has started, you can’t adjust it, you can contact Airbnb during the reservation and they will get involved and seek the extra fee from the guest. In my last case of this, just this week, the guest checked out and still didn’t pay but Airbnb paid the fee due to me anyway, and I presume will pursue it with her