Fix the Guest Count! Please!

[Zappa0]

I am so tired of seeing "1 guest" bookings and having several show up unprepared for more than 1 person. 

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Lizzie - for me this is enough. We very rarely have a guest miscount - maybe once or twice a year with over a hundred bookings annually. For the occassional guest who goes whipping past this step, this is why the automated questions are so important because we ask "who is coming with you?" which prompts them to provide more information. That and some guests interpret this number as not including themselves. So they say "1" because they are bringing their friend and do not see this from the host persepective that this is actually "2".  

[Zappa0]

@Lizzie that's the whole problem. It should be blank and when you go to search you can't move forward without updating it. Right now guests just click search with the auto set of 1 because they are antsy to move to the next page

[Beth80]

@Lizzie  I have to agree with @Branka-and-Silvia0 . The default needs to be 0. Every time we as host need to contact the guest to correct something, anything, it adds a sense of negativity to the experience.  

[Sandra856]

@Beth80 I agree! It should be 0 as default. 

[Lizzie]

Thanks @Alice-and-Jeff0 , @Sandra856, @Christine615, @Beth80, @Zappa0, @Emilia42,  @Zappa0, @J-Renato0, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @City-Limits-Ranch0, @Ava30, @Zappa0. I'm finding this really interesting and it makes a lot of sense. 

Alice, your point about guests thinking that marking 1 guest is referring to basically them and 1 guest is one that never crossed my mind – but it's understandable. 

So just so that I clear on how you think it could work, I thought we could walk through the journey as a guest booking on Airbnb. A guest is searching for a listing and needs one that has room for a certain amount of people, lets say 3 and then they enter that in search to filter the listings down. 

Would you then make the number of guests (at the point of booking and where my screenshot was taken from), default to show 0 or would you have it change at a different point? 

How would you make sure that this isn't confusing to guests and useful to you as a host? 

Thank you.

[Christine615]

I just think that some people are not paying attention. So at the time that they’re booking there should be one extra step that specifically says “how many people in your party.?”

Most people tell me upfront in their message why they’re coming and who they’re coming with. So I always ask them to update their reservation using the modification tool. 

 It hasn’t been a problem so far, but I do worry about the people who want to put down less people than they are coming with on the assumption that we charge by the person.

I make it clear upfront that only the people on the reservation at the time of booking are allowed to stay at the apartment.

When you book a hotel they make it very clear upfront how many rooms and how many people before you can even get to the reservation and pay.

So wondering if Airbnb has a way to just make it obvious that only the people who are on the reservation may actually stay with the host. And then some big red flag that says “before you finalize make sure the number of people in your party is accurate.”

Maybe that would help?

[Zappa0]

I put "make sure the number is accurate" in my house rules but it hasnt done much

[Ava30]

@Lizzie , How about instead of 1 it said You or Yourself? That would make it clear they are the “1st guest”

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Lizzie- Since Airbnb doesn't spend time on doing Use Cases where these items would be fleshed out, my suspicion is that there a number of guests who do not search for the correct number UNLESS their party is a large one.  So a group who needs sleeping for 6 vs searching for an apartment when you know it is just you and your partner and you will share a bed.  Additionally, if the guest is worried about 2 BEDROOMS they might not put down that it is 4 people, they are only concerned about making sure each couple has their own space. 

From a user, defaulting to 0 is not the correct thing to do.  Defaulting to 1 is the norm and should be the norm from Airbnb too. That is not standard practice on websites. My guess is that Airbnb has User Experience people on their team, perhaps they would look for where guests skip steps in the process.  

My suggestion is to verify that the details are correct - like a "Review order" step. It should provide: What town the listing is, the dates of the reservation, the type of space being rented (private house, private room, etc), and how many guests. There is sort of this step now because as users we are asked to confirm we read the house rules.. That "confirmation" page can be more instructive like saying next to # of guests - if the number is 1 - "Confirm you will be the only guest" and make the guest check a box to confirm it.  If the number is 2 or more, it should say "Please provide the first names of all guests staying in the property" and not let them move on until they've added names to equal the amount of people.   Many of us would like the names as well as an accurate head count.  

[Sandra856]

Hi @Lizzie 🙂

An American woman sent a request the other night writing that she and her husband would arrive meaning they were 2. I couldn't approve of the request as it said 1 person only and the clock was ticking. I wrote to her asking her to cancel the booking explaining the reason why. Asking her to make a new request with 2 persons. It is a little stressful especially because I got a 88 % acceptance rate at the moment so I couldn't decline. And the reason why I only got 88 % is that many guests ad random dates and make a request just so they can ask a question and doesn't cancel when I ask them to so I have to do the declining even though I could host if it was an actual request. It is really annoying. I think the 0 as default would be a solution or a little pop up box asking if the right number of guests are added when the guest is in the proces of making the request. 

I got a message from the woman next morning she wrote that she had cancelled but I could see an admin cancelled. If I as a host could stop the clock by adding an extra guest and then ask the guest to confirm the new request it would be great.

Best, Sandra 

[Emilia42]

I agree with Sandra. I think many guests are not filtering the search for their party size. Airbnb defaults to 1 and they are leaving it at that (not searching for a group of 2 or 4.)

@Sandra856: Side question for you, I have seen some other hosts mention this as well and it really confuses me. Are guests really "requesting to book" with you (which basically is a confirmation in their eyes, until they see the decline or no response) and entering their credit card information (to secure the booking) just to ask a silly question? That’s like me completing a purchase on eBay only to ask which colors do they come in? It makes no sense to me.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Emilia0 🙂 I couldn't tag you.

Yes, it does happen. I for instance had a woman sending a request telling she would like to bring her mini dog and if that would be okay. But the 1 person instead of 2 request is the main problem. It happens a lot to me. The 0 as default or a little pop up box would be a great solution in my opinion. 🙂 

[Sandra856]

Ups, I tagged the wrong Emilia by mistake. Sorry 🙂 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Lizzie 

default No = 0

make it mandatory to fill in the number of guests to be able to send the inquiry, request or to instant book. If the field with the number of guests is not filled then it becomes red and impossible to send. Basically like at any common online form where some data is mandatory to fill.

[Susan17]

Hard to comprehend how a $38 billion global tech  corporation hasn't been able to master even the basics of their own website after almost 11 years.