I agree with you on everything you are saying.
Also it might be a good idea ask if parents were driving or anyone at this point. Doesn’t matter if its parents or children, if they don’t drive, that’s it, they are stuck in the house unless they call a taxi.
May be for you it is a good idea to be off IB since the clarification is nessesary and you really want to be sure that guests are mobile and have transportation.
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Switch off instant book!
6 weeks is a long time. These guys aren’t tourists they are here to support their son, they won’t be going out. You are going to have to set times they can use the kitchen and times to vacate the kitchen. Call a meeting with the son and his parents explain what you expect. Write down the times so they know they understand. Its the only thing you can sensibly do. Good luck!
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I think you really just have to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with the son. These parents are doing exactly what they want to do - cook for their son. This is totally Chinese, from my experience. They probably have no other desire at this time than to cook good, home made ‘real’ food for their baby. They are not here to see the sights. They are here to see and support their son.
It’s just a matter of missed expectations and communication.
If you can’t tolerate this, sit down and apologize and ask what can be done. Come up with a few possible solutions - increase the price for the extra wear-and-tear, set limits on cooking times, make sure they understand to use the fan and set some foods off-limits, find another place that will suit them better. Come at it from the attitude of wanting to help them fix things, not to confront a ‘problem’. Don’t wait until you are frustrated beyond reason!!! Hopefully you will all become better friends and have a better understanding of how to live together.
Do a bit of shopping and see if you can find a better accommodation for them, so you can suggest a change that may be more suitable. Call airbnb and explain the situation to them and see if they can help you out; it’s just not a good match.
Most Chinese I know (I’ve had many live with me and two of my children are Chinese) understand full well that the smells of their food are obnoxious to westerners. This will be no surprise to them. Also, while I’m no expert on Chinese people, I would guess that, if someone were to do this in their home, they would have no problem with it. I’m often amazed at what our full-time lodger, also Chinese, can tolerate that would make me crazy. We have as many as 5 airbnb guests at a time in her space, sharing her bathroom, and it doesn’t bother her at all. Their culture is so, so much more crowded - people on top of people, peace and quiet, and personal space, are not expected so they don’t always think to give it.
Also, however, in my experience, they are totally open to discussion.
Good luck - let us know what happens!
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Boy I think you should have complained to Air BnB right away. It was unfair to spring this parent thing on you. The classic case of guests taking over your house! Remember you are the boss here… the property can be anything you want it to be, with any rules you want to have. December 8 is a long long long way away!!!
I actually think you had the right to ask who the other guests were. You didn’t ask, so the son assumed everything was OK, and because he IB’d you are stuck. Wow. Make your rules really clear so that if you continue to use IB you will have some means of control if guests book in violation of your rules.
I would never use IB, but I know some people here really like it.
Good luck, I think they will drive you completely nuts and if it were me I would be counting down the minutes until they leave. 
You are sadder but wiser… and remember You are in charge here!
DC, that is awesome advice. Well said and I hope he tries some of these things. He shouldn’t have to live like this for the next month and a half.
That’s very true. I heard it from several people exactly the same about Chinese culture with no respect for personal space. Wow, how we all re different.
To make this clear, I was told NOTHING before the IB. When someone uses IB, they can book immediately without getting a pre-approval or giving any information beforehand. Even if the guest gave information before the booking, and I declined him on the basis of his parents, I would get some “scolding” from AirBnB. I doubt he would have cancelled the reservation based on expressing my feelings (if I cancelled it I would be penalized)
As a result IB is off and my listing states to give information on additional guests.
Yes it was unfair to hide information about his parents; other guests had the courtesy to give me information about people they are bringing without me having to fish it out of them.
It’s,best I talk directly with the son before complaining to AirBnB, I will not go to AirBnB unless all else fails.
Even with IB you can decline people if they inquire. I did it 3 times. I had couple Inquires to bring dogs. And another wanted to come for the whole month. Actually I remember I didnt push Decline button , I just told them , no, and they never booked.
Kasage00 how many people does it say on your profile, that can stay?
The guy should of told you that he was bringing his parents, before he booked. This doesnt sound right, and extremely bad communication on his part. Maybe contact airbnb for advice?
I had a similar problem. (These were also Chinese), The guy didnt tell me he was bringing his wife and kid. He ended up staying somewhere else, and sent his wife and kid to my place (My rules don’t accept kids). Luckily though it was only for one night and I put up with it. But Airbnb advised that the situation was wrong and the guest should of told me what he was planning. To cut a long story short, people can only stay if they are part of the booking. So he basically broke the terms and conditions.
I wouldnt put up with it till Dec, thats crazy! You should not feel uncomfortable in your own home.
Sunshine, I allow a maximum of 4 people. I have two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and that is a private space for guests. I have my own bed/bath downstairs. I treat that upstairs as one whole room as I heard horror stories about hosts who rent out separate rooms and strangers sharing the bathroom.
When the son booked it said +2 guests, but as I said I was given nothing before the booking…not even an inquiry…he just booked without any prior information…yes that is the drawback of instant book…but I have it turned off now.
I don’t know if it is something Chinese are accustomed to doing, but I would not dare travel to a foreign country and move into a stranger’s house (I wouldn’t do it here in America as well) , and stay inside and use the kitchen full time. I know that would make the homeowner annoyed and would want me out in no time.
What I have done so far is send the son an email…I know most of you would say do a face-to-face, but now I have documentation that I communicated with the son and expressed my feelings, and he can’t go to AirBnB saying “I was never told anything about any problems”. Knowing AirBnB they may try to side with the guest in every way possible.
I hope Airbnb will be helpful but I know for sure they will look at actual facts and see what your guests did wrong. In fact the son did nothing wrong: he booked for him and 2 other people. He didn’t bring any additional guests that he did not mention offid not pay for. The only thing that he did not disclose that it was his parents and that they are cooks and have no car.
Airbnb would be on your side if they broke house rules but in this case they did not as you allow use of kitchen.
It’s just a very unfortunate situation for you and I think DCmooney advice is very useful . Good communication does wonders and I am sure if a problem is communicated with kindness it will be resolved
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I agree that I don’t see this guy being in technical violation of anything – he’s not over your guest max, didn’t bring a kid or a pet, etc. What they’re doing isn’t reasonable according to our standards but they are probably wholly unfamiliar with our standards.
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You may also want to let the son know that if the cooking smell permeates throughout the whole house, then your next guests may not want to stay. I know Chinese/Indian homes smell of the foods and people hate their clothes smelling like that. I don’t know how long it would take to remove that odor.
I only had one Indian family rent my cabin for 2 days. But it did concern me that I may walk into strong cooking odors. Luckily that didn’t happen. But people have to understand that other guests have to be taken into consideration.
DC - would Chinese people be offended if they were asked beforehand if they plan to cook their foods frequently? I haven’t had an inquiry like that and wouldn’t want to offend someone if they really weren’t planning on cooking up storms. But at the same time I would need to know this because I would need to remove the odor from the entire cabin. It wouldn’t do me any good to rent to a Chinese family, only to have an American family walk in to say the place stinks.
I think If we don’t want guests to cook up a storm regardless of nationality kitchen privileges need to be limited. And specified as detailed as possible. Even if they don’t read it, we can always stop them referring to house rulrs
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With all this discussion of spicy cooking and smells… I might add this to my rule list. No cooking of intensely spicy food such as Indian, Chinese, and … Any other?
Kasage, it is worth a try to talk to the son, and yes, you did right by documenting the issue in the conversation thread first. When you say “airbnb will scold me,” I don’t get what you mean? They don’t generally scold!
Agree with Yana, too. The son was technically correct with everything he did. He just failed to disclose everything. 
but since you didn’t ask, he didn’t offer.
If you can’t get rid of these cooking parents soon, it will be a very tough live and learn lesson. What about offering to refund for two and have the son place them elsewhere. Or just offer to refund all. To me , my peace of mind would be worth ore than this money I’d miss on this booking.
Yana,
I rent out a whole place and expect my guests to cook as much as they want. I would never want to limit them from cooking. But I have to take into consideration that if the entire cabin is filled with cooking odors that cannot be eliminated within five hours - it may affect the next guests. It’s like someone chain smoking in a house. Even if I don’t allow it, if guest chooses to break the rules, I have to be able to get the odor out of all the upholstery, curtains, etc. I cancelled a booking from Flipkey for the week of Christmas after her sister told me she is a chain smoker and thinks that she would be okay with breaking the rules. I have guests coming in the same day she was leaving and I just cancelled it. The girl who booked never responded me through email or phone, which only shows her character of not caring about her reservation.
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I can’t help much other than say that I agree a calm talk with the son is in order to try to communicate to him that they have booked a couple of rooms in your home and are allowed to use the kitchen, but this does not mean they have booked your entire home and have full rights to take over your kitchen for most of the day essentially displacing you. Try to explain that it is wearing on you having no personal space at all, and that you feel it will be a tenuous situation soon if you and he don’t find a solution to either get the parents out and about (unlikely), or situated in an apartment, which given what they intend to do (be home all day cooking) is really what he should have booked anyway - for everyone’s comfort involved, including his parents,
I can really empathize with having guests stay home all day and take over your home as if they have booked the whole home. It is a complete misunderstanding of the situation, and made worse because the guests that do this kind of thing never check if it is ok if they do. It is annoying, then infuriating, and then finally depressing. All the best getting this sorted out. It is not worth the money to put up with, and better if you can help them resituate. You will get other, hopefully better guests.
I just meant if I would get grief from AirBnB if I declined this guest on the basis of his parents staying in all day cooking, and if I would get some kind of penalty. I declined a guest once but I had a good reason to, but I’m not sure if Airbnb would accept my reason if I declined this one. I know your commitment rating, and your placement on the search results will be hurt if you decline too many times.
I think these are the people that should have booked an “entire home” listing and not a “private home” one…well I see the price per night difference between the two and they are significant.
I read airbnb’s refund policy but what was not clear, that if I offer a refund, if I pay the guest directly, or if AirBnb pays them then I pay AirBnB back out of the funds when my next guest checks in? Such as, when the next guest checks in, the payout will go to Airbnb instead of to me.