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Booking.com Guest booked my property for a month. This was a booking for themselves only
Every Sunday i pop over to clean the bathroom, wipe surfaces and change the bed linen and towels
However yesterday the guest stated that they would not be in on Sunday and they requested cleaning on Tuesday instead
Shortly after their message, an unaccounted friend showed up and slept the night
Today (ie the day they were supposed to go out), the guest and his friend are still at the property and i assume that his friend plans to stay another night
Guest has violated my house rules and i am curious on the best way to take action
The guest checks out in one week and my concern is that if i throw them out, they will leave a spiteful review.
And on booking.com hosts cannot even leave feedback
Itâs best to assume that the guest didnât realise that this was against the rules so therefore, donât go in with guns blazing. Simply knock on the door and say âI see that you had a friend stay last night. Iâm just wanting you to assure me that it was a one-off thing. You see, my insurance and my business license only permits one person to stay so I could get into trouble for this. Thank you so much for understandingâ.
Sometimes guests are simply not aware that they canât have friends over, especially in an apartment, separate wing, granny flat or apartment scenario.
If the guest says that the friend planned to stay for the duration, tell the guests that youâll be happy to find them a place locally for two people and even call them a cab if you like.
Please PLEASE donât be held to ransom by the thought of a poor review.
You didnât say exactly what the violated house rule is, so Iâm wondering what it says and why you donât allow the additional guest? Is the property too small for 2 guests? Do you charge extra for each guest? Are there local regulations that require all guests to be registered or prohibit more than 1? Understanding that will help you explain it to your guest.
I would just ask the guest to modify the reservation to include his friend. So instead of one now two would be on the reservation. It might be his boyfriend and he slept on the bed and not the sofa. If you would host him again, I wouldnât be too harsh with him.
Itâs a little difficult to know what more to say about this situation because as @Brian_R170 and @HH_AZ have said, it would be helpful to know what the OPâs desired outcome is here. Is it an extra person fee that the OP is after?
My rentals are also one-bedroom apartments and yes, my insurance and registration with the local authorities give the occupancy as being two people. I donât have an extra person fee because it seems to me that to have one is to say âmy maximum occupancy is two people but if you want to bring another, then youâll have to payâ. That seems to me that Iâm breaking my own rules before anything has even started.
Iâve had the occasional couple bring an extra person from time to time and I turn a blind eye. Thatâs because I only supply the same amount of towels, snacks, bottled water etc. for each couple so Iâm not forking out any extra.
Utility costs are the same except there might be a few extra showers if a third person is there but the water is a fixed monthly fee via the condo association so itâs just a smidge of extra electricity. The profit margins are calculated well enough to handle that every once in a while.
Iâd also like further details of why no sleeping on the sofa is a rule. Once guests are in my rental I donât care if they sleep on the sofa, the floor or in the bath.
So @rexbanner if you can give us more details, that would be great.
That rule has me scratching my head simply because itâs completely unenforceable. Iâm sure people fall asleep watching television and couples will occasionally have a fight ensuring the couch gets used for sleeping. Iâm guessing the rule is because sleeping on the couch will soil or otherwise damage it. Would you also have a no eating/drinking on the couch rule, a no lying down on the couch to read rule, a no sex on the couch ruleâŚ? I suppose another reason could be to keep guests from using blankets/linens in other rooms which is more likely to damage or soil them, but that will probably happen anyway since lots of people like a blanket when they read or watch television.
Me too. We have cream-coloured leather in our apartments so staining is highly unlikely. I supply a couple of throws for sofa use too. My brother, for example, always sets his AC at freezing (or so it seems to me) so his wife and I sit wearing blankets. In Florida. Crazy.
There are also beach towels that could be used at a pinch as sofa-sheets plus I always leave a couple of spare sheets in the linen closets because I donât want guests waking me up in the middle of the night because theyâve just upset a bottle of water (or worse) all over the bed. The queen bed has four pillows so the sofa-bloke could have a couple of those.
So sofa-dwellers could be quite comfy. And Iâm sure that itâs happened in our apartment but whatever guests want to do is fine by me as long as itâs clean and quiet.
Iâve definitely had arguing couples who have probably split up for sleeping purposes. And a few same sex but not gay people who have probably not shared the bed. On a few occasions Iâve had a pair of same sex people and one has picked someone up in a bar or whatever so the pickup has been brought back and the gooseberry relegated to the couch.
I thought the same thing for a second, but the implication is there and the term is quite fitting if youâve ever eaten a raw gooseberry (the fruit of the Ribes plant).
Sorry for confusing everyone. Itâs an English term, I think, and probably not used much these days.
You Americans use a lot of terms I donât understand though. I think the one that really puzzled me for ages was âcricketsâ. I was trying to work out Buddy Holly connections. Oh dear, showing my age againâŚ
Spoke to booking.com about my options and they said the following
First, the host needs to report the issue on extranet as âguest misconductâ
The host then has two options,
They can ask booking.com to end/cancel the guests stay due to a violation of the house rules
The host can charge an extra fee for the unaccounted guests stay
The customer service agent was unable to specify the extra fee amount. They just inferred that the amount was subjective and âup to meâ which was a little strange
Interestingly, no matter which route you take, the guest still has the opportunity to leave you a review.
And as you know, on booking.com hosts are unable to leave guests a review
It seems that youâre concerned that your guess will leave you an awful review. If thatâs the case, maybe you might want to consider ignoring the extra guest. Itâs not like he stayed there the entire month. Sometimes we have to pick our battles. Is it worth getting an awful review and losing a return booking?
I did not know that and do not use bdc but was considering it. Started getting my listing together but decided to hold off. Is not being able to review your guests a big problem for most of you? In our town most of the listings under bdc are hotels. Is it the same in metropolitan areas?
