Unregistered Guests

[Cindy1550]

Hello fellow hosts!

I'm a new host in Albany, NY, and I've noticed a recurring pattern that I'd like to address without discouraging potential guests. Despite having clear house rules, including a) no third-party stays and b) no unregistered guests, I've encountered instances where these rules were not followed.

As a guest myself, I make a point to communicate with hosts about who is staying with me, and any visitors, to ensure transparency and avoid surprises. However, I've recently experienced reservations where individuals not listed in the booking slept in the space (3rd-party) or different people came and went who weren't originally registered.

This has left me feeling uneasy, especially during the initial days when I'm unsure who is staying or if there will be different guests at various times. I would appreciate more clarity on this matter and would love to hear how you've handled similar situations.

My goal is to create a welcoming environment for guests while ensuring the safety of my home by screening those who will be using the space.

Thank you all for your valuable insights and suggestions!

P.S. I monitor the property exclusively by my ring front door and driveway camera, disclosed as required.

[Dawn241]

I just “rewrote” this language today in my own listing. We were doing good for a while, and we just had a couple stay for a week and break just about every rule, so I’m pretty sure they just didn’t read the rules, but just in case, I’ve dumbed it down once again. here is what I wrote about “visitors”. 

VISITORS ARE GUESTS TOO:

And therefore subject to the max 4 guests. House is ideal for 1 couple with 1-2  small children, or 2 individuals. King size bed is good for a couple. Full size bed is good for 1-2 small children or 1 petite person only.  No sleeping on the sofa, cots, or air mattresses permitted.  We charge the same price for 1-4 guests/visitors so please give an accurate head count when booking.

Effective June 28, 2022 AirBnB bans all parties. No dinner parties regardless of reason (holiday, someone died, family reunion, etc). No local visitors are allowed to come over to do their laundry, have dinner, or visit inside or outside the house. Only the max 4 guests are permitted at the property- whether  inside or out, whether staying overnight or not. We expect the max 4 guests to be the same 4 people throughout the duration of your stay, not 4 different people every day. If you are in town to visit someone please visit at their house not ours. We are the host, you are the guests. Guests are not allowed to host.

*Violators with undisclosed overnight guests, day time visitors, or parties regardless of reason will be evicted immediately with no refund.

[Dawn241]

Don’t worry about “discouraging” potential guests, if they are discouraged it’s because they intended to bring undisclosed guests/visitors and those aren’t guests we want anyway. 

Bisbee AZ is a party town, its on the border of Mexico, and we have a lot of people say they are coming to visit family, but the families house is too small to stay there, so they bring everyone over to our house to grill and party and dinner.

We just really need to stop it before it happens. We don’t want local people in the house seeing what’s in it, or knowing it’s an Airbnb and knowing it’s not always occupied and coming around to do laundry and strip the house of the supplies and ammenities . 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Dawn241 All very sensible as a deterrent BUT it is important that you recognise that Airbnb will refund people evicted and also, if you report a party, you will likely have your listing suspended. The refund bit is the law in most jurisdictions, the suspension bit is just a bit of Airbnb madness.

Neither of these should stop your text though.

[Helen3]

When you see that there are visitors not disclosed on the booking what action have you taken ? @Cindy1550 

I would 

a) make it clear up front in your listing and in your house rules that only those who are on the booking can be at the property and no visitors are allowed

b)when guests book confirm only those on the booking can be at the property and that any visitors not on the booking will be asked to leave 

C) if visitors arrive who aren't on the booking if there's enough room tell the booking guest they need to be added to the booking/if not confirm visitors not on the booking need to leave

the issue of course is that this might result in a negative review .