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That’s true, @cabinhost, the rep could have cancelled. But I have spoken to reps who swear up and down that they aren’t able to cancel. Luckily, in my situation, Air had cancelled a reservation for me (guest said in messaging she would cancel ‘when she got home from work’, leaving my calendar blocked for the next 6 days. Air cancelled it right then and there) so I pushed and they cancelled the reservation in question.
So perhaps the rep didn’t know, hadn’t experienced it, but at the end of the day the host was supported.
Oh…I didn’t mean it was wrong for you to ask the guest to initiate the cancellation. I just think it is wrong for Air to leave a host dependent on a guest taking action.
Ahhh gotcha. I do remember it was to make sure I didn’t have to fight any fees on the hosts end should I be charged bc I was the one to cancel. It was a precautionary measure but you bring up a good point! Air said (or at least this host) said this was ALL on the guest so they need to be the one to cancel. But I will remember that for the next time. Because I’m certain there will be a next time.
I have a small room that only holds two but I am increasingly getting people who put “1” in for number of guests, searching and then “instant booking” for one. Their message will say “we” or “traveling with my ____,” but I wish I didn’t have to send the change requests. Yesterday a fellow booked for 1 and I accepted and then noticed there were two. He couldn’t instant book but I still didn’t catch it in time. Although I immediately sent the change request he still hasn’t accepted. They are in Big Bend NP so probably don’t have internet and he has no US phone number for me to text.
LOL. I don’t imagine it will be a problem, the people with two always accept the charge. If he canceled I wouldn’t mind too much because I really have too many dogs here to be hosting humans too. I blocked off my calendar yesterday for the next two weeks. I’d use the fact he hasn’t accepted to cancel except they’re French and I get so few foreigners I’m looking forward to meeting them.
Yes! I wasn’t home when they checked in so I wasn’t able to intervene right away, and just sent them a reservation modification, which may be passive aggressive, but so is trying to sneak in a third guest without comment. They asked me last night why I was trying to change their reservation and tried to negotiate because one of the friends was maybe not sleeping here one night. But I don’t allow friends who aren’t on the booking to visit because I worry about this very problem… “oh he’s just visiting,” when really the extra person is sleeping here and lying about it. These guests have pushed against every rule and are making me feel like such a bad guy!
I don’t care if they stay or go, I just want my money. Though if AirBnB relocates them (how, if the guests don’t have phones?) I suppose they can’t slam me in a review. 33 glowing reviews, I suppose I am also long over due for a horrible review.
Great advice in your post! Unfortunately my guests usually self-check-in so I have to awkwardly intervene when I get home from work.
I just messaged my guest on the AirBnB system to confirm our conversation last night. I doubt she’ll reply because she just knocks on my door instead (what kind of millenial doesn’t want to text to communicate across the house?).
I too have found out about the additional guests after the check in. I guess the best we can do is immediately acknowledge it the moment the situation becomes apparent. No waiting. I did wait on the first time it came up and the next day there was another additional guest! LOL that’s when I modified the reservation to add on the 2 additional guests!
I probably should have told them the first day I charge more when I got home from work and greeted them, as I did say, “are there three guests? I was expecting two.” I guess I assumed they knew, since they were so coy about breaking rules and being nice to my face.
Coy is a great way to describe it! They know exactly what they are doing and figure they can/will get away with it. In our case it became qucikly clear that the person who did the booking did not realize they booked a private room vs an entire house. Surprise - the hosts are at the house with you!
I don’t know how guests can miss that! My listing is a separate floor of the house I live in, so I list it as a private room rather than separate unit (even though I could charge more) just because I really want my guests to know I live in the house too!
I called AirBnB this morning and the case manager was really nice. She said we could escalate now, but suggested avoiding a conflict with the guests while they were still staying here, and she recommended I submit a charge through the resolution center at the end of the guests’ stay for the number of nights the third guest is here. She said AirBnB would back me up if the guests’ didn’t accept the resolution request.
Half of our booked guests miss that point! I’ve begun to point it out before booking actually completes now and have lost many potential bookings once that is made clear the guest. The usual response is 'sorry, we want an entire house."
