That is a great idea, I am going to add that to my booking message so it is super clear.
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I am in BC, Canada. I was able to keep my $160.00 deduction from the damage deposit. I agree Piston View, this experience has made me realize the importance of a contract. Simply stating no parties, events, extra guests etc. several places in the listing does not seem to be enough. I will be making sure future guests sign one before booking. I will probably also email a contract to Airbnb guests too by asking them to provide their email.
Our home has a large outdoor pool and hot tub. Iāve only been hosting for about 4months. Only 1 out of about 12 enquiries end up booking my place from VRBO because the majority of them want to rent it for a party even after reading my listing of no parties they still private message me to see if I allow parties and I have to decline them. We are in a quiet neighbourhood and my rate for 4to5 people is reasonable then I have a $35 per person extra charge which is more than a lot of people on AirBnb charge but I prefer small families and will welcome larger ones although I try to deter that with the fee.
I have one other booking for the summer from VRBO and if the previous guest has 1 year to write a bad review, I may be looking at a cancelled summer booking. Thanks for providing that info regarding time to review on VRBO.
@Sonia -
If the guest writes a bad review, contact VRBO customer service and tell them the guest threatened a bad review for withholding a damage deposit, and send customer service the emails/texts to prove it, along with your communications that parties were not allowed. They may take down the bad review.
If they do not take down the bad review, be sure to respond to the review in a professional and factual basis, that the guest broke your rules by having a party and had far more people than they had booked for and were upset that you held them accountable. Then, if the summer booking cancels, thereās a chance they were going to do the same thing. If they are planning to follow your rules, then they should have no reason to cancel.
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Just wondering if this applies to visitors as well as overnight guests? I also have a penalty for unregistered guests, but figuring out how to deal with visitors, similar to @Sonia.[quote=āPitonView, post:19, topic:11122ā]
I prefer VRBO (better cash flow, especially since we book 4-9 months in advance, my own contract, no ānanny stateā to control things), but I know I have to be diversified to keep my VR rented out.
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These are the reasons I also prefer VRBO rentals. I just had an Airbnb booking for 2 months out which is fine. But Iāve received 3 booking inquiries now for 2018 - 1 from ABB - so Iām considering blocking off the Airbnb availability to only show 3-4 months into the future.
@CanadianHost:
The $200 is for overnight guests. For visitors, I have in my contract: āYou may invite up to six additional persons onto the Property for a social gathering, but not for an overnight stayā. We donāt mind a few people for a quiet dinner.
But I believe we are in a different situation than most hosts on AirBnB: we are a fly-to location (St Lucia), we are an expensive property (minimum $425 per night), and we have local staff on property almost around-the-clock. Weāre closer to a private hotel than a vacation rental. The social gathering clause was added after the mother of the groom for a destination wedding at a local large villa wanted to have 40 people at our place for the rehearsal dinner. I donāt have a penalty for inviting more people, but Iāve learned to screen out the wedding groups so Iām hoping that wonāt be an issue in the future.
As to blocking off the future dates, my approach is to set the future rates (12 months out) high. If someone still wants to book at the elevated prices, Iāll accept their booking. But when the real booking season shows up (3-5 months out), I make sure my rates are competitive.
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I really like your phrasing that the guests āwere upset that you held them accountable.ā Iām retaining that one. : )
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