Extra guest fees, keep them or raise rate?

so at the moment i rent all 3 of my places with an extra guest fee of $10/night per guest after 2
but i see a lot of competition around me does not, so do you think it would be better to raise my nightly rate and just get rid off the extra guest fee entirely ? what do you guys do ? and how are your rates structured ?

We also charge an extra $10 after 2, but our place is only listed for a maximum of 3 (although we’ve had 4 from time to time). I do it mainly because the 3rd person means guaranteed use of extra linens, water, etc., and just from a hassle standpoint I’d like to deter. Whether it does or not remains to be seen. We haven’t tried any other way so I’m not really sure if it’s the best way to do things or not.

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Thanks for your insight , i also do it for the extra use of linens and utilities

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The issue with charging an extra fee per guest is that often you end up having to police your guests and confront them once you have found out that they have tried to “sneak” in a guest. Some hosts find this extremely frustrating. The alternative is to charge a maximum fee per night irrespective of how many guests will be staying (though, be sure to communicate clearly that there’s a maximum number of guests that your property can accommodate). All in all it depends on the type of guest that you mostly attract. Either option can work.

We do full rental of Cabin & Lodge. It’s $150/Night for two Guests, w minimum of 2 nights. We don’t charge for rooms they don’t use. This is the rate advertised rate.

We do charge extra for each additional Guest, which then allows them use of additional bedrooms, maxing out at @ $300/night. Our insurance requires we get names of all Guests. Our House Manual states. “Confirm Guest names for insurance purpose. Fee adjusted for extra Guests.”

If extra Travelers, we asked Guest to adjust within Air System. We get CS help early in process, they tell us how to ask for additional fee. CS will Contact Guest & gets them to pay. Usually. CS works well as our advocate. Usually.

Note. I recently learned Air will pay the additional Guest fee, IF Guest refuses. Dang. Wish I’d known that sooner.

Hopes this helps. Kathy

My AirBnb whole house rental sleeps eight. All guests pay the same nightly fee regardless if it’s two or eight guests. It’s just easier for me this way. I think most guest would lie about how many in their party just to save a few bucks.

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I’ve known and posted that here but I suppose it gets buried. However my extra fee is only $4-8 (my room averages $45 a night) and I figured they paid because it was a small fee. It’s good to know that they pay a large fee as well.

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I do the same. Being that we are a whole house rental in the mountains, I used to have people try to sneak more people in. I changed the wording to advise that our caretaker is right next door and would be around to meet them “in case they need anything”. Since then, I have had a couple people ask if they could add a person but I haven’t had any sneaky guests. Fingers crossed!!!

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I sent a video to Air to prove there were more than 3 guest buy theg never paid me. How else are you able to prove this?