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We had a three day festival booking for 2 people but 3, a child, turned up. I commented straight away and they asked the extra fee. I told them and said I will amend the booking. They are on their last night and have not accepted the change. I contacted airbnb to let them know. Airbnb couldn’t contact them by phone so emailed them instead.
We also suspected they had even more people stay as twice today when we were driving past there were additional cars there.It is a rural property five minutes from town.
The place is totally off grid solar powered and they just messaged us to say they had no electricity so we went out and sorted the problem. They had blown a fuse. Anyway it looks like both bunk beds have been slept in as well as the sofa bed which had extra blankets on it. I will take photos tomorrow to send to airbnb but I can’t really prove it and I didn’t want to cause any friction while we were there. Interesting how they use the system to let us know there was no electricity but can’t approve the extra payment. I was wondering whether they were looking for an excuse not to pay it.
So I will be leaving a review saying they booked for 2 but 3 turned up as well as mention the
extra cars seen.
Not looking for advice just wanting to vent my frustration. We have had a run of weird feedback where people haven’t read the listing before booking. One group of guests complained it wasn’t really suited to 2 couples but must have missed the pics of the queen bed and bunks!
Heading off to Lord Howe Island to get away from it all tomorrow and I won’t be complaining about things like no mobile phone reception and limited slow internet as I already know that and looking forward to it. We are packing books and fishing rods.
Yes we are thinking of security cameras for the entrance.Just frustrating. Our other airbnb is in our garden and we never have a problem with extra guests.
Lucky you going to Lord Howe! I was there for a few days about 10 years ago. At the time I was living on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
It’s been mentioned already but I’ll mention again…I can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t live on site not having security cameras outside. Not only can this be used to prove they are in violation it can PREVENT problems in the first place. No one wants to be surveilled for their entire vacation but at least one on the entrance to the rental will help. I live on site and have a Ring doorbell mounted outside the gate to my front doors. Just two nights ago a woman instant booked for one. She told me it would be two of them but I didn’t notice the discrepancy until I got my payout the next morning. So I checked the video to make sure there were two of them before I sent the altered reservation request.
We get quite a few folks coming from Kwaj to go to Target or Costco to stock up on supplies. Coming to Kona from Kwaj is like us going to the big city in LA. It’s funny because we feel like country mice in Kona…it has a little more retail now but it used to be a real outpost when I first moved here.
I interviewed some folks for our home magazine who built a fabulous home in Kona after living in Kwaj for so long. You might know them. PM me if you are interested in reading the story.
Hawaii is/was a major vacation ground for Kwaj folks, as well as a recruiting ground for certain kinds of labor. The closest bit of “civilization” – shopping, restaurants, etc. I spend one year’s vacation month on the Big Island, staying with a friend who was the head of nursing at Kona Comm Hosp in Kealakakua. Let me figure out how to send you a PM, I’d like to read the story.
Nice work. I spend my working career as a Science & Technical Writer, which is what I did on Kwaj. I was there only two years - 2005-2007 – basic contract. I’ve also written several hundred how-to magazine articles, and a handful of books both fiction and non-fiction.
Yes!!! What a small world! You know she recently was injured in a terrible zip lining accident. I believe she is retired from nursing now. Lovely gal. Such a small world that you know her!!! Thanks for the compliments on the story! that was a fun one to write.
Small planet, fer sure! She retired a couple years ago, IIRC. I heard about the zipline accident… She’s recovering well, I understand. She was on the Mainland for awhile, but I think has gone back to Kealakakua. I keep up with her somewhat on FB. Great lady.
Hello, Shanghai, I thought you’d like to hear my story about “extra guests” showing up. The first inquiry was for a man and three milking goats. He was starting a new job in our area. We have a fenced pasture for our mini donkeys, so goats weren’t a problem to us - and he assured us that the goats would get along fine with our donkeys. The first inquiry said that his wife would come down on a few weekends so they could house hunt. Now start the counting. After booking for 3 weeks, the communication between us turned from “I” will be arriving to “we” will be arriving - his wife was coming with him and hanging around the house all day. Erg. One week later, they wanted to know if their two younger children could stay for the rest of the time. Well, I do allow for 2 extra guests for an extra fee, so couldn’t really say no. One week after that, they asked if their college age son could stay in a room that is not AIRBNB ready at all! It was just before Christmas that this happened. UGH. I just couldn’t be a scrooge, so allowed that with extra guest fee. BELIEVE IT OR NOT - a few days later they asked if their 2 twenty something year old daughters could stay suggesting that they could just sleep on the floor. I scrooged and said no - the well pump could not support seven people. So, they booked another AIRBNB in our area - an entire house so they could be together for Christmas, but I am quite certain that they were not honest about how many people were staying there. (I tried to find that place to warn the hosts, but couldn’t.) I am just so happy that I had previous booking for the 24th-25th and this family would be out of my home. They suggested rebooking with me, but happy day - someone booked for January 1. That’s been my worst airbnb experience so far. I won’t get into about how the goats weren’t as easy as they said they would be and the many liberties they took in our home.
For sure “three milking goats” is the oddest request we’ve had! (Well, except for the “nudist” couple that booked our other place.) They said they were going to make us some goat cheese, but the goat quit making milk. One night, the couple was out for dinner and we were bringing firewood into the house and my fiance said “We have some guests at the front door.” “Really?” The three goats were standing there staring at us - they had escaped the fence! I opened the hatch to his jeep and they all jumped in there (that’s how they transported them). Ai yi yi! No more livestock!
Tea, I’m sure you are wiser now but all of this Christmas crowding could have been avoided with a simple “no, sorry” to any additional guests besides the goats and the wife.
that was a fun one to write.