Requests for additional nights

[Tom-and-Lisa0]

We've been hosting for a few months now and it has been a really positive experience.  We recently had a guest ask to stay an additional night (we had one previous guest request an additional night as well, and that went completely smoothly).  We told this most recent guest that we would submit an alteration to AIRBNB and that AirBnb would send them an email wherein they would confirm the additional charge for the night.  We even honored the price in effect when they booked, which was less than the current nighty rate.  Despite messages to them through AirBnb and a nice note left on the apartment door, they never confirmed the additional charge.  The left very early the day they departed and left a nice note about thier stay.  The reservation went inactive in the system and so I sent a request to the guest through the resolution center.  Three days now and still no reply.

So my question to other hosts is, how do you handle (process) requests for extra nights and the associated charges? Is this a scam that other hosts have experienced? 

[Jeff73]

I've got no experience with this as I'm new myself but if I couldn't get a quick response, I would have told the guest to pay in cash or invioce them through paypal before I let them stay an additional night.

[Antonia-And-Jerry0]

The issue is that the guest did not confirm the change in the reservation check out date, so you will not get paid.  To solve this issue, I always tell the guest that anyone can book the extra day UNTIL they confirm and accept the change in the reservation check out date.  If they do no accept it within a few hours, I call them directly and tell them I am worried that someone could Instant Book our apartment so you will not be able to stay an extra day.  This has always worked so far 🙂

I truly believe the guest simply did not understand the process and may be ignoring airbnb emails and messages (too many emails, right?) or the email went to junk mail, or??  So, that is why follow up by phone is critical if they have not accepted the change in the reservation.

[Eloise0]

Speaking for myself I would never start accepting cash outside the airbnb agreement.  This is just asking for trouble with the guest and airbnb and then down the line that same guest wants all the other hosts to accomodate them outside of the airbnb platform.  To risky and againt my agreement with airbnb as a host.  Good Luck.

Eloise

[Lois-and-Darryl0]

@Jeff73:  I wish you good luck as a new Host.  I'm sure that you must understand that as a new Host, you really should not give advice that you don't have experience with.  Your response is not only the opposite of what should be the response; but it is against Airbnb policy.  Hosts should never request or pay money outside of the Airbnb system.  Doing this assures that you will receive no support from Airbnb if the issue can't be resolved between Host and Guest.  I suggest you invest time becoming familiar with Airbnb's Help and Community Help Center, before offering any suggestions or 'thoughts.'  For example there is a method to alter the reservation to add an additional night, and it's available to the Guest or the Host and can be seen on their listing (Request or Pay Money).  I'm not sure how many Hosts currently have listings on Airbnb, but I'm sure it's at least a Million.  We all must take serious responsibility on this forum of providing accurate information to people seeking guidance or support.  Not doing so means a likelihood of spreading an awful rumor of bad information - across the world of Airbnb.  Good luck, Jeff.

[Lois-and-Darryl0]

@Jeff73:  I wish you good luck as a new Host.  I'm sure that you must understand that as a new Host, you really should not give advice that you don't have experience with.  Your response is not only the opposite of what should be the response; but it is against Airbnb policy.  Hosts should never request or pay money outside of the Airbnb system.  Doing this assures that you will receive no support from Airbnb if the issue can't be resolved between Host and Guest.  I suggest you invest time becoming familiar with Airbnb's Help and Community Help Center, before offering any suggestions or 'thoughts.'  For example there is a method to alter the reservation to add an additional night, and it's available to the Guest or the Host and can be seen on their listing (Request or Pay Money).  I'm not sure how many Hosts currently have listings on Airbnb, but I'm sure it's at least a Million.  We all must take serious responsibility on this forum of providing accurate information to people seeking guidance or support.  Not doing so means a likelihood of spreading an awful rumor of bad information - across the world of Airbnb.  Good luck, Jeff.

[Dawn33]

This isn't the first time that I have seen this happen.

I wouldn't let them stay until they immediately confirmed the extra night.

It sounds like they knew exactly what they were doing and squeezed an extra night out of you.

[Brian_Jennifer0]

I recently had a guest ask for a late checkout lasting until after they returned from their job site that day to pack and take showers, and I granted it saying "no rush".  However, it turned out that the local job that they were working on went past 10PM and they then said that they could be out by midnight. 

Since they had been there 10 nights already and paid for that, and no one was checking in the next day, I still thought that I would cut them some slack and not charge for an extra night or fee at that point.  But it turned out that they did not leave till 5AM the next morning. At this point I was compelled to charge for the extra night.  (As a side note, I have an outside security camara and can see people coming an going from my cell phone or PC..... I advise all my guests of this fact just to give full disclosure).

They were perfectly willing to pay for the extra night and apologetic (really nice and considerate hard-working guys) but there is no way in the Airbnb system to revise the reservation "after the fact", either by me or them.  The host can find it in the "past reservations" listing but cannot revise it in any way once the check-out date has passed.

That just leaves the Resolution Center where either a guest can Send extra money or the host can Request extra money.  You can dig around in the site for this or simply go to https://airbnb.com/resolutions (USA site I believe).  If not already logged in, you will need to log in and it will take you to the appropriate screen.  There is no choice for requesting the extra night, so I chose Other, entered the calculated amount for the extra night (since they were there for over a week I included my weekly discount.  I typed a note to the guest restating the reason for the request and thanked him.  I think that airbnb probably does not collect our local occupancy tax or perhaps not even the service fees in these resolution cases, but I dont know for sure yet).

I expect that all will go smoothly, and it is all documented within the messaging system.  But according to Airbnb guidance, I will contact Airbnb if not resolved within 72hrs.  My lesson is that I need to give a Specific late checkout time and advise that early on that I will need to charge for an extra night (or partial fee if that is even possible) if it goes past that, and allow for enough time to be able to revise the reservation in the system (although I am not sure if the host can revise it but instead the guest needs to requrst it and the Host accept it).  But even if that is not possible, I think the Resolution Center is a fairly good solution, and documenting everything via the messaging system is important.   I'll repost here if not resolved in this particular experience.