Requesting additional payment for unreported guests

[Julie3663]

Hi,
I am currently hosting a guest that is having additional guests staying at the property, that they did not declare on booking.
I do not want to mention anything while they are staying at the property as I fear they may damage it if they are challenged.
I have security camera footage evidence and unless the additional parties are sleeping on the floor, additional beds will also be slept in (I took before pictures).
Am I able to request that they pay for the additional person after they have checked out?

Thanks

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Julie3663 your best approach is to review the guest upon checkout and hope they review you before the end of the 14 day period for claiming extra money. Any earlier claim will get you a bad review.

One thought though - Guests in a big house have every right to sleep one night in each bed if they desire. The better way to deal with guest numbers is to have two listings with varying bedroom numbers. Then a) Lock the rooms the smaller listing is booked and b) block the smaller listing in high season to force the bigger listing to be rented.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Julie3663 

As @Mike-And-Jane0  said, if guest rents the entire house, they can access and use all of it, beds included. In fact, many couples prefer to sleep separately for any of a number of reasons. One may be that they sleep better in different guest beds, or bedrooms, due to unfamiliar beds. Someone snores, or feels "off" from traveling, so sleeping separately could be a good thing. They may not sleep well in the first bed(s) they try, so they'll try another. Or indeed they sleep separately at home. That could mean that multiple beds/rooms are used by the registered guest party. We actually have a collection of pillows available, each different, which could aid in a guest using many pillows, or finding one that suits better than others. Welcome to accommodating a good restful sleep for our guests! 

One glitch in extra occupancy is that the booker has presumably read the house rules and understands them. Extras have not and the booker is therefore responsible for their behavior. They likely have not thought of that! It is always tempting to invite friends to join in a partly unused house. The only way to keep extra guests from occupying the house is to have firm rules about extra guests, have lower occupancy, etc. We have rules stating that visitors are not allowed at any time, and that only the maximum number of guests can stay. Everyone must be registered by name, as well. It works for us. We are full-time resident home-share hosts. That is ideal for forestalling and discouraging rule breakers. 

If you are intimidated by the guests - understandable - and fear retaliation if you challenge them (totally normal!), do consider swallowing hard, and express their rule-breaking in a last minute review. 

Then, figure out how to prevent this from happening again to you. 

Best of luck and happy hosting of amazing guests!

[Greystone0]

Hi @Julie3663 ,

I totally understand how frustrating this is. This is a pain point for us when guests don't accurately account for all in their party.

On our end we have regulations around maximum occupancy and we don't wish to lose our permit because guests had too many in our home.

Here's some additional observations:

- your listing has a maximum of 6 and sleeping for 6 and no mention of consequences of going over this.

- did this guest reserve for 4 and turn up with 6? or 6 and now there are 8 or 9? 

- if they reserved for 4 and showed up with 6 that doesn't seem too bad and I would probably leave this alone. You don't have reference to an additional fee for guests beyond what was reserved. As long as they are respectful and you find all in good order, that doesn't seem like too bad in my book.

- on our end, if a guest reserves for 6 and shows up with 8 (we are allowed a max of 10), I might not say anything. Alternatively, if they reserve for 6 and show up with 15 that is a problem for us. And we have asked groups to leave when this happens. We refund remaining amount and just want them gone.

- on our end each message we have with a guest includes an automatic reminder of their reservation amount of occupants with a reminder that additional guests for day use/overnight use need to be approved at least two weeks prior to check in.

- you can re-assess how you manage this to help avoid in the future but on the surface an additional guest  or two that is still within your overall occupancy doesn't seem too bad. 10 additional guests would not be good!