too many guests

[Josephine201]

We have an issue with a current reserviation.  They booked for 6 people which is the maximum occupancy of the property.  We had to enter the property yesterday (with the guests knowledge) for a maintenance issue and noticed that the furniture had all been rearranged and that there were blow-up mattresses in the rooms (visible from the hall).  Obviously there are more than 6 guests.  We are not comfortable with his for many reasons - damage to property, they have already burnt out the shower, health and safety and public liability.  I have reported the guest to airbnb but have received no reply.  There reservation ends in 4 days.  We would like to ask them to leave.  How can we do this without it affecting our superhost status? 

[Julianne55]

I was in the service myself for 10 years and have also given breaks to disabled veterans and service people in general.   But, just from my own experiences, I won't be doing that any more.  As you said, a lot of people just try to cheat whether they are service members or not. 

It's funny, here we are, finding a unique property in a unique location, providing experiences that these people would never had had the opportunity to have, and they just want to cheat and act like they own the place. 

I'm glad I found you in this forum.

Please let me know if Airbnb ever provided any compensation/relief whatsoever about this situation.   We are considering moving over to VRBO

[Kimberly523]

I feel like we are held hostage by your guests. If we called them out and try to get paid we get a bad review. Once they get in there there’s no support from Airbnb. Every time I accept a guest it is like I am playing Russian roulette.I feel like Airbnb is not as supportive of the hosts That jump hoops to make accommodations superior for the guests. Recently I had a guest make a reservation for six she informed me she was going to have 10. I said that would be fine but we would have to amend our reservation to accommodate that. She said she did not wanna pay any more money. And she would just tell her guess they had to go home. I felt bad and said she could have four extra day guess but they could not spend the night. Well she had a 10 guests spend the night and had five more people over by day. If I try to amend the reservation I will get a bad review. They leave today it will be interesting to see the condition of my home. Why do people have to be deceitful and lie? And why can’t we get any support from Airbnb for a situation like this that will not affect our rating? 

[Sarah977]

@Kimberly523  While I agree that guests who violate house rules shouldn't be allowed to leave reviews, that you "felt bad" and let her get away with it was your choice. You can't let guests get away with bad behavior in fear of a bad review, or you'll have no end of trouble. And a guest's financial situation is none of your affair- if they can't pay, they don't stay.

You have to understand that fear of a bad review is how Airbnb intimidates hosts into letting guests do whatever they want. You don't have to play into that. 

And learn to vet your guests better. There are red flags to watch out for, wording you can use to keep them from booking in the first place, etc.

[Kimberly523]

We did vet them the best we could. Called them out on the # of guests and they snuck more in. Listing clearly states that there are no guests allowed that are not listed on the reservation. I would appreciate any other listing words or vetting suggestions. We even tell them a resident lives on site in our listing . 

[Lisa7002]

This comment made me wonder how and where we state "no guests allowed that are not listed on the reservation." I am new to hosting. Thanks.

[Brenda1083]

Hi just a suggestion , do not let your guest tell YOU what SHE will be doing especially if YOUR RULES  are NO more than 6 guests. If she does not understand and you have been kind , you need to say sorry and be on to the next booking. Teach them this is YOUR place and they follow YOUR rules ... so if she said she wouldn't pay she is making up the rules.... we need to be assertive . don't get me wrong it is hard to be assertive. Cheers girl! you could have said if you do not want to pay extra then you may have to find a different place as my Rule is every guest pays to stay.

[Sherri14]

I recently had a guest that booked for 12, max guests, and they had 20-30 people. I contacted Airbnb and they finally responded after 3 days, they had froze my account and were coming after me!! I had contacted them prior to finding how many people where at my house with other issues and they did not help me. I contacted the sheriff and they removed them based on breaking the contract. I am sure if it would have been almost any other state and a larger area I would not have had the help, civil matter, but so thankful that I had the back up of the sheriff.  Airbnb did not help and if your looking for an answer from them when you have an issue you are truly not going to get it.  Check your local laws, write your house booking guidelines that give you protection, you may loose some guests by doing so, but they are probably the ones that are going to be a problem.  I am sorry you had bad people, but I think we are going to deal with this more and more.

[Julianne55]

Your post is dead on.   You will get NO help from Airbnb.   I'm tired of their lame ass responses to claims of damage and extra people.   After reading these posts that are now almost 2 years old, I see that I should have just called the sheriff in my situation and left Airbnb out of it. 

Last week I was hosting a group that had stayed at my property in 2021.  Max guests in my property is 6, and that's what the guest paid for.   It just so happened that I was next door during their stay.  they had at least 16 people, a tent, 5 cars, and very large pontoon and a large skiboat.    a bit much for 6 people.  All Airbnb is doing is asking for contractor estimates for damage.  What a joke, Airbnb has no process by which to charge for extra people or be reimbursed.    In the future, I will just call the sheriff.   The group had large outdoor parties where people were arguing and fighting.  

When I contacted the lady who made the reservation, she just lied and said there were only 7 people when I SAW 16 with my own eyes. 

We should get together and lodge a complaint against Airbnb for having no process for addressing breach of contract with number of guests per property. 

It should be an automatic fine of $100 or more per extra person that goes directly to the host.  And all we have to do is get a photo of the people on the property.

[Helen3]

why didn't organise for all the extra people and their vehicles to leave @Julianne55 

airbnb does have a process for charging for guests not on the booking;

1. prove number

2. submit  request for your additional guest fee for nights stayed

3. Ensure additional guests leave