Italy, hosts demanding extra payment

[Kathryn407]

Hi--we are using airbnb in Sicily and I'm running into something I have not encountered before. We book places with two to three bedrooms and two baths if we can find them, specifying that we are two people and paying for two people. We like to spread out and are willing to pay extra to do so. Twice now on arrival we were told that if wanted to use the additional bedrooms, we would have to pay extra. I am going to contest these charges with airbnb, but what the heck? Why would we book a three-bedroom place and only use one bedroom or a two-bath place and only use one bath? We are also told we can only have one key meaning we have to be joined at the hip if we both want entry to our place. Again, what is the assumption here? Some of these places have an upper limit of six guests...do they expect six guests to share one key? Appreciate any insight into this as there is no point in booking these larger places if we cannot use them. Going forward I will ask hosts before booking if we will have access to the entire unit and to extra keys, but it just seems so obvious to me. (And I have been a host myself and also own rental property so I do have some experience with this.) 

--Kathryn 

[Sandra856]

@Kathryn407  Usually on airbnb you pay by person/bed. That is how Airbnb has set up the system. Back in the days before airbnb, people brought their own linen/towels etc. Nowadays a host prepares beds for as many people that booked. An entire house is very often priced differently compared to how many people are staying. There is a big difference in preparing 2 bedrooms to 8 bedrooms for instance. And as I wrote the price for the house is not the same if you book for 2 people or 8 people.

Just write to the host and tell that you and your husband prefere a lot of space and 2-3 bedrooms. No one is trying to cheat - it is simply how the system is 🙂 

[Kathryn407]

I can see that the hosts tend to have very different views of this than the guests do and that is helpful and informative. For my own protection, I will clarify what we expect before booking a place. But I stick by my original point which is that hosts should make this clear on their listing sites rather than rely on some historical understanding of how airbnb operated ten years ago. I totally agree that preparing 8 beds is different than one or two; preparing two bathrooms is different than preparing one. But if the host's expectation is that a couple will only make partial use of the rental, that should be stated in the listing.

[Sandra856]

@Kathryn407 I didn't mean Airbnb's when I wrote back in the days. I meant old-fashioned rentals. When you rent an entire house or apartment in Europe (not Airbnb's) it is still quite normal to bring your own linen/towels and make your own beds. In Airbnb's the standard is different as the host prepare the bedrooms, wash/dry/iron all the linens. A house is set up to the number of guests that the guest paid for. 

[Kathryn407]

Again, I get that (although I used to stay in B&Bs in Europe all the time back in the day and never ran into a BYOLinens place). But airbnb is a huge, international corporation and hosts now claim to be super hosts, etc. They need to make the limitations clear on the listing. (And as a host myself who owns rental property, I am VERY careful about this.)

[Sandra856]

@Kathryn407 I'm not talking about B&B's either - they are usually not entire homes. I'm talking about ordinary rentals - vacation homes for families where you bring everything yourself like linen, soap, towels etc. You make all the beds yourself etc. 

When you look for a place on airbnb you most likely choose dates and book for 2 persons. That's what you are paying for. The host will expect you to use 2 bedrooms or maybe just one if you are a couple that likes to share a bed. My guess is that that it is also the norm, so that could be why it is not spelled out in listings in general. But just tell the host that you would like 3-4 bedrooms set up if that is what you prefer. Best, Sandra 

[Denis-Mark0]

Difficult issue for hosts and guests repeatedly, if prices are calculated per person.

We as a couple usually prefer a 2-bedroom-2-bathroom-condo on our vacation. During our stay we might have additional guests, so the occupancy will be four. 

When I book the apartment, I always make sure to pay the maximum occupancy and have access to all the bedrooms and the whole space. 

But for the rest of my vacation I want my privacy. No need to apologize or explanations what I'm gonna do with the bedrooms. 

On the other hand, having an more bedroom apartment to rent, and without investigating to much  in my guests privacy, I would always let two bedrooms open for two guests, because they might just be friends, maybe even looking separatly for "fun" during their stay.

My third or fourth bedroom instead would be closed as long as there was no further signs from guests travelling as three or four singles, wanting their own bedroom each of them.

So this would require further communication between host and guests before to make sure that everything is fine and there occurs no misunterstanding at least on arrival.

But a key for two is just a bad joke! There's no valuable excuse.