Guests Sneaking In Extra People

[Monica4]

I've been hosting for four years and I've "had it" with dishonest guests who sneak in extra people. I am so furious every time I walk in after guests leave and find evidence of extra people other than those that booked. 

I have a "welcome table" set up with maps, restaurant menus, guidebooks, flyers...etc and also a written house manual. At the very top of the manual I have the following statement:

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Please respect our rate schedule so that we can keep the base price low for the first two guests. Additional guests after the first two people, including children, are required to pay $25/night per person anywhere on the property, whether or not that person shares a bed, sleeps on top of a bed, on the couch or on the floor. Minimum booking nights apply.

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This has not stopped people getting snuck in. I want to add the words: Sneaking in Extra People is Theft and will be treated as such. Too harsh? I have also ordered a security camera which will be installed this week. I made note of that in my rules.

[Aleksandra10]

I'm thinking that maybe her intention was to be travelling alone.

You might never predict a situation how your date will work out.

I understand you flustration, however the assumption that she lied

intentionally might not be true. Sometimes things come up spontaneously

and maybe she was not sure if that cowboy would meet her or not.

It is also possible that she wanted to meet the cowboy but not to stay

in his house, so she booked an AirBnB. Who knows?

I think that the challenge here is that many people when they rent the whole

apartment, they think that they can feel at home (the idea of AirBnB!),

so they invite others. It is not 100% the case that people want to save $5-10

extra charges.

[Aleksandra10]

I'm thinking that maybe her intention was to be travelling alone.

You might never predict a situation how your date will work out.

I understand you flustration, however the assumption that she lied

intentionally might not be true. Sometimes things come up spontaneously

and maybe she was not sure if that cowboy would meet her or not.

It is also possible that she wanted to meet the cowboy but not to stay

in his house, so she booked an AirBnB. Who knows?

I think that the challenge here is that many people when they rent the whole

apartment, they think that they can feel at home (the idea of AirBnB!),

so they invite others. It is not 100% the case that people want to save $5-10

extra charges.

[Veronica416]

Completely agree but a message to the property owner would be appropriate.

[Juan63]

They are not on the guest list and most likely not covered for damage to your property or if they get hurt. It's the liability. What if they rape, hurt or kill someone? I don't think you want to be responsible for not providing adequate security measures.

[Veronica416]

Yes it costs me more to host more people. I have to pay extra washing, drying, all toiletries, extra cleaning and bed making charges to cleaning company and extra cooling costs because a human body generates heat on top of the Florida sun!! Definitely costs more and cleaning costs more as well. Not to mention the wear and tear of the furniture. I only charge from $5 to $10 extra per person per night. Depending on the property. Still have trouble. 

[Amy38]

Monica, you are charging the same price for a whole house that others in your neighborhood are charging for a rented room.  I would raise your price immediately to 120 or more for 2 and lower your extra charge to 15 as someone suggested and leave the extra bedrooms inaccesable...locked? 

What do your local hotels charge?     There is no reason that you should be less than them for an entire house.

When communication with upcoming guests, write them (within that 7 day window where you get paid) that sadly some recent guests have abused your hospitality by bringing extra guests without clearing them and sadly, you had to cancel their stay. You know they are not the type to do this but you felt you needed to make them aware....

Airbnb has rules that they may not be aware of, yada, yada.  

At that point they will have to admit to the count and pay or cancel and lose half their payment.

[Jeremy100]

We had this from a so called 'super host' that stayed with us.  House rules clearly stated no overnight visitors but this lady took no notice. Advised Airbnb who did nothing.  End result I would not host her or her party again.

[Annette47]

I have the same problem!  Recently 2 female guests invited 2 male guests.  They got wasted and broke my brand new hot tub lift.  They broke a bottle of wine outside hot tub.  They seem to think it's ok inviting friends even though I make it very clear it's not.  Even friends who stop by end up trying to spend the night.  Today my family of 4 left and my RV back bedroom window was shattered into a million pieces.  I called the guest and of course didn't know anything about it.  They has 2 rambunctious children....no more kids for me.....what do you do when it's your word against theirs? 

[Veronica416]

Before every guests, take pictures of the location and send them over Airbnb as proof of how they received them. Then you have an accurate documentation of how it was before they received it. 

[Lois-and-Darryl0]

This is the biggest and maybe the most frustrating and unethical behavior we've come across.  We've had several Guests in the past 11 months with Airbnb book for 3 or 4 and bring 6 or 8, which we, of course, don't know until we come to clean.  And no, we don't meet our Guests, we have electronic check in and check out.  So, in the last couple weeks we have installed a security camera that doesn't face the house; it only faces out into the driveway.  This way the camera records every car that comes into the driveway and we can see how many people are walking into the house.  By the Guests knowing there is a camera, it helps keep them honest.  And, when we were installing the camera, I sent an email to all 8 of our booked Guests and told them the situation and that this was to protect us and our Guests.  And that we hoped they weren't offended, and that we were sure that Airbnb would help them find a different Airbnb house if they chose to cancel.  No one either canceled or expressed their displeasure.  You can see here, reading the comments from other Hosts here in the Community, there are a growing number of Hosts that are installing cameras for this same reason.  Good Luck!  Lois

[Roberta150]

I live on-site, staying in the master bedroom/bath evenings and also have this problem. It seems to have gotten worse during the off-season, maybe because those traveling during that time do so to save money. My last two bookings both snuck in an extra person and worked hard to hide it from me. But it's easy to tell after they leave in the morning - three coffee cups and spoons instead of two, three plates and/or bowls, three chairs pulled out at the dining table, extra towels used, and the pillow-top stored in the closet for the extra sofa bed put back completely differently than I do it.

My main concern, however, is preventing being retaliated against with an unfair bad review if I ask for a change in the number of booked guests thus increasing the price (only $10/person per night over two guests.) I do it that way to keep the base price lower for one or two guests since I myself often travel solo and appreciate a lower price. So far I've decided to let it go in order to receive fair reviews. But it's annoying that these guests have cheated me and are so dishonest. One thing I will do after both reviews have posted or the two weeks have passed if they don't post a review is to report and block both of them. I never want them back, even though both these groups were very clean, quiet, and otherwise followed my house rules. It's a shame, but I don't ever want dishonest people back in my home.

I also privately notify Airbnb when posting my review in case a future host of these guests has the same problem but wants compensation - so there is a record of this behavior by these particular guests with Airbnb. I wish Airbnb didn't give so much weight to guest reviews of hosts, as it puts us on the defense. It would be good if Airbnb would rethink giving guests so much power over hosts with reviews, which can be used as retaliation for simply being asked to check-out on time, pay the fair price for extra guests, etc. In cases where hosts notify Airbnb of a situation such as this, perhaps both those guest and host reviews should be eliminated automatically since there is a strong chance of an unfair review - isn't the point to have fair reviews so both future guests and hosts can make good decisions on where to stay or who to let stay? 

I got an unfair bad review from a group of four young men who stayed way past check-out and showed no signs of leaving, lolling around in the dining & living room using my internet with their laptops and tablets. I had to ask them four times to please leave each time more forcefully, including via the Airbnb message system so there was a record. Up until then they were good guests and I expected my usual excellent review, but they retaliated with a completely unfair bad review posted on the last possible day and hour - but luckily I pre-wrote my own honest, negative review of them and waited until they posted theirs (one hour before expiration) and so at least was able to warn future hosts about them. They apparently thought by waiting until the last hour they would get away without my own review - but I got 'em! Luckily I have enough five-star reviews that it made their bad star ratings essentially not count against my listing percentage-wise and also luckily their written statement was nice so does not stand out among my reviews. But for newer hosts with fewer reviews, low star ratings on even one review could be detrimental to their business. Thank you for your post, and for letting me vent. 

[Juan63]

This is an embarassing situation when confronting a guest, but security cameras catches them everytime. I had a couple try to sneak in 6 people!

[Mandy75]

What do you do if the guest books for a reservation which is clearly only for 2 people and then tells you after the reservation has started that two extra guests will be staying with them for nearly half the reservation? 

[Lawrene0]

Do you have room for the two extra, @Mandy75? Do you charge an extra per-person fee? If so, you could say something like, "That's fine. To make it easy, I have amended the reservation to the correct number of people (4), and have adjusted the price so you are charged only for the nights the extra 2 guests spend here with us. All you need to do is hit the Accept button."

If they don't accept, only two can stay.

[Allison2]

Lawrene has it right. You can click on the "modify reservation" button and enter the new guest count and increased rate for the nights they'll be there.

If your listing isn't meant to hold that many you'll need to decide whether to make an exception, allow them to stay with the original two people booked, or cancel the reservation altogether.