Additional Guests Unannounced

[Krystle0]

I recently had a booking for 4 people (two couples), but all my beds and bedding were used during their stay. I wasn't charging for additional guests at the time of their booking, so there would have been no charge for them to bring those guests.

The guests were great and left the house tidy, made the beds, communicated well, etc, but I had only brought bedding and towels to replace stock for two couples. Luckily I had some spares shelved and put away for later use.

I didn't leave negative feedback (they were exceptional guests), but in the future I might get caught out and not have enough spares (and incur a cost and inconvenience trying to prepare for the next guest).

Additionally, I use ShareCover for insurance during guests stay and they ask for the amount of guests. Would this have left me uncovered in the case of an incident?

Is there anything that can be done to prevent this from happening? If guests use extra towels and bedding that has been put away, how can this be charged back to them? What is the process of doing so?

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

You could tell the guests that they must inform you of all people staying at the listing.  Tell them that extra guests are welcome but that if you discover unregistered guests  they will be evicted.  You could also put your extra towels and bed linens in a locked cabinet.  Point this out to the guests and let them know you are happy to provide access to the cabinet in case of emergency but they must contact you to request the combination if they need extra items.  Or,  buy some extra (inexpensive) linens and store those in a locked cabinet and don't plan to use them unless you encounter a situation.

[Kathy216]

I am a new Airbnb host. I just started to host my entire place in July 2017. I had already run into the same situation couple times -- Additional guests stayed over in my house unannounced. I wasn't take it very seriously at the beginning.

Recently, I started to think that I might be able to find some useful information from Airbnb Community on how to deal with this type of issues.

Then I found Krystle’s post here. I am having exactly same concerns with Krystle. Since her post was a year ago, I am wondering how did Krystle solve this issue – “additional guests unannounced”. I am also very eager to know other thoughts from Airbnb experienced hosts.

Thank you very much!

[Anna570]

It is my propbelm as well.

I have a Ring camera/door bell at the entrance so I know exactly how many people come and stay and for how long at my place.

I charge $20/night for extra person (if more than 3 come) and people still don't want to pay for it. They are not telling true even when I call them and confront them....I don't want to make them angry becasue they may get back at my by writing a bad review. 

I was trying to use change of order on Airbnb website but when the reservation is in progress I am not allowed to request money for extra people via this way. 

I am trully dissapointed that Airbnb is not helping more in this case. Becasue I hear from all around that this issue is quite big and happens quite often but host don't speak up becasue they don't want to get bad review. Can someone help?

[Kathy216]

Yes, Anna. I agree  with you. The concern is the bad review. Here it comes my experience with two bookings: 

First one, upon the guest arrival, I found out she had extra guests. After communicate with her,  I requested  the agreed amount of extra fee through "request money" on airbnb. She paid.

But when she did review, I found she gave me a 4 stars on Cleanliness unannounced. Her feedbacks, public and private,  didn't mention any single words about the cleanliness ; her airbnb messages had never complained any cleanliness issues; she went to inspect the house at the first day, we were there, she never said where had not been cleaned.

I knew it must because I requested additional guests fee from her, so she gave me this bad mark. What can I do? Can Airbnb change this grading? 

Second one, he is my current guest. Even before his arrival, I found out that he has one extra guest who is not included in his booking. I provided him 50% discount on the extra guest charge, he agreed to this amount when we spoke over the phone. I billed him through "request money". Since then, he never replied my questions on  paying  this extra fee. 

What am I going to do? He has one more night to stay here. If he decided to ignore the request, can I "sue" him? I don't think so.

So, I will just let him "escape" without paying? Most likely, since I don't want to get bad review like my first guest did above. 

Can airbnb help us? I wrote to them and am still waiting for their response. I will keep you updated.

 "additional guests" is a headache here. I really appreciate if anyone can share their experience. 

Thank you, 

Kathy

[Helen3]

@Kathy216

Kathy contact your guest  now via airbnb messaging and follow it up with a call, so that you sent him a generous discount for his additonal guest, and are very disappointed that to date, he hasn't accepted the charge for the additional guest.

Say you know he wouldn't deliberately be ignoring this payment, so it must be an oversight on his part.

Ask him to go into his laptop and accept the alteration, so his guest can continue to stay, then and there.

If he doesn't call Airbnb. No point sending messages. You need this resolved urgently.

Worse case scenario you can ask him to leave.

By the way why did you allow him to check in, if you new about the extra guest in advance and he hadn't paid. You could have just collected the charge on arrival.

Worse case scenario you could cancel his booking.

[Kathy216]

Thank you for your reply, Helen.  

Firstly, I contacted Airbnb regarding the extra guest and other issues,  I was told if I cancel the booking from my side, I have to provide a full refund, even my refund policy is 50% 5 days moderate refund.

At that time, it was less than 24 hrs to his booking date.  I was not possible to find another guests.

Secondly, the 50% cost of extra guests is only weighted 10% of his total booking. After I contacted Airbnb, I found out I had no choice but to let him stepped in my house.

At that time, I was asking myself, is that worth the risk on getting a bad review because  I insist him to pay me this 10% money? I already received his 90% payment through Airbnb on the second day upon his arrival. 

For me, as a host, I knew I may get a bad review, still I insisted billing him this 10% extra cost because I wanted to show my attitude:  I entitle to this additional guests fee; I care about my house. 

As for the collection of this 10%, honestly,  I don't hope too much. He is this type of guests. I host him through Airbnb, this is all Airbnb had done to protect me as a host. What else I can do to protect myself?

Airbnb' s helping team  is great. They helped me on all other issues. That's why this time I am still waiting. Crossing my fingers,  no bad review......

I am sorry if it had brought any confusion.  I felt a little upset here. 

Thanks for your advice,  Helen. Felt upset that I cannot do as you advised, even I really wanted to do as you said.

Have a good day,

Kathy

[Kathy216]

I wanted to post my updated communication with Airbnb.  I received the Airbnb case manager's reply as follows:

..." I believe that today is his check out day so no need for us to cancel the reservation. I'll cover the CA$xx extra charge that you requested from xxx (the guest). Regarding the review since they already check in they will still be given a chance to left a review but if it violates any content policy with Airbnb there's a way for us to have it removed."...

 a happy ending, isn't it? Really glad that Airbnb solved the extra charge issue. Hopefully I don't need to come back to the case manager for the review issue. But if I do, now I am confident that the case manager can solve it.

Please post here or message me if you have any questions. 

Thank you, 

Kathy