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I have instant booking turned on and just got a booking from a guests I am not to keen to host.
This is a family with 2 children coming for a wedding in a neighborhood town.
They first inquired if their parents could park an RV in front of my house and while the family would sleep in the apartment, the parents would sleep in the RV. I responded that it may be hard to drive an RV up the narrow gravel road that leads to my property and it may also be difficult to turn it (the driveway dead ends at my property).
I have not heard back from them, and today they just booked. It is unclear if they would risk bringing an RV or not.
They are also bringing a nanny to watch the kids while they are at the wedding, and one of the kids is an infant.
My max occupancy is 4. The family with a nanny would be 5 people. It seems like infants, however, do not count towards max occupancy. Is that true?
I really feel that this group would not be a good fit. First, the RV question rubbed me wrongly - obviously I donât have any RV hookups so I presume the parents would use the facilities in the apartment. Sorry if I sound petty, but there is a difference is cost if all of them use shower etc.
I also do not believe the apartment is set to host an infant. I do not have cots, no outlet protection, no baby gatesâŚI have a queen bed and a trundle bed so where would the baby sleep?
What is the best way to get out of this booking? I can use ânot comfortableâ but it seems somewhat lame. I would rather use max occupancy but it looks like the infants do not count? Ugh!
Airbnb policy states this: Infants (children under 2 years old) arenât counted as guests when youâre booking a reservation and donât incur any extra costs. Some hosts count children as guests, which can add an additional guest fee to the reservation.
I donât think you can get out of it, youâll just have to hope for the best. Do you have something about unregistered guests visiting in your rules? Do you have security cameras? If they roll up with parents in tow then you can contact Airbnb about rules violation.
You should have an on Airbnb conversation with them now and get it clearly in the thread that the parents arenât coming with them, and also make it clear that the listing is not child safe. They will probably bring a pack and play or have the child co-sleeping with them.
I had an inquiry from a man who wanted to book the room with a child and wife who was having medical treatment at a nearby hospital. I wrote back and said the room is small 10x11 ft and there is no kitchen and was he sure they wouldnât need to actually cook anything for a whole month and he wrote back nicely and thanked me for pointing out some things he hadnât thought of. So while you write and show gratitude and enthusiasm for the booking also point out every negative you can think of.
You canât discriminate against families in whole house listings but you can if you live there with them and they are down the hall.
I sent them a message asking about the RV, repeating that it may be a problem bringing it here as asking if parents have another place to stay. I donât think I could be any clearer (short of saying no RVs haha).
I also mentioned infant safety and lack of A/C. Iâll see what they say. If they donât cancel I probably will, depending on their answer, of course.
And they cancelled - Yey! No message, no nothing. I am glad this is behind me
I have a feeling that they would just come up with the RV hoping I will not turn them back. Since I politely repeated that RV deal is not going to work, and mentioned infant safety (true) that probably tipped the scale.
Youâre best off without these cheapskate guests who also seemed to be trying to save on campsite fees. They would have been asking for the parents to use your bathroom next!
You never told them specifically that the RV was not going to work. You said it âmight be a problemâ. This time you got lucky because they cancelled. If you plan to continue I suggest that you teach yourself to be specific in your responses. It is important to communicate clearly and precisely about Your regulations and limitations. I hope you take this advice and listen upâŚbecause it does not appear to me as though you are paying attention. You must be direct about your parameters and not fret about being tactful or polite because that muddies the message.
You are correct georgygirl, I tried to be as subtle as possible, while I should have said no in the beginning.
Honestly, if these people just, for whatever reason, asked if they can park an RV in my driveway I would be ok with it, but asking if the parents can park and sleep in it is just too much - I knew they would all use the apartment facilities and only sleep there.
They IBed so I would have cancelled them anyways - if nothing else the communication on their part was seriously lacking.
I work hard to keep it under control. It is my natural way of typing, and speaking.
Of course it can get me in trouble when I dont mean to be rude, and I can be accused of inappropriateness when I mean well.
On the other hand, yes it is very helpful with clearly setting parameters and rules. @Siladhiel they absolutely planned to use the house, and plug into electricity etc. No question of that. It is much better to say no to every RV that wants to park in a driveway all the time. You may someday get asked again, so think ahead !
Thanks for not taking offense at my directness. Best of luck.
I think a lot of us have people pleasing personalities and we let guests walk all over us due to the fear of being rude. In a lot of situations a lot of problems and annoyances that weâve had could have been avoided by being more blunt.
