No visitors period. My permit only allows 2 people per bedroom, I don’t want a neighbor complaint about that could get my license yanked, the additional liability in event of injury, or god forbid an inaccurate count in the event of emergency.
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That sounds a bit muddled, like you’re not sure.
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Yes if my guests were to entertain visitors I would have to provide them with a reception room (it’s not really appropriate for them to traipse up to my loft), then the price would have to double. Different game.
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We’re in an area where we often have guests who are here to visit friends or relatives. Often, our guests want to show them where they are staying - plus we have a nice dock that makes a good place for a few people to sit during the afternoon chatting and relaxing. So we do allow guests to have visitors but our written rules are as follows:
Please note that only two guests are permitted to stay overnight in the apartment.
You are most welcome to receive guests in your apartment during your stay but please limit the number to two additional guests only and only during daylight hours.
I do allow guest to break this ‘rule’ though - it’s not rigid. Say for instance that guests want to have another three or four people over for a drink before they go out to dinner, that’s okay - four respectable adults for half an hour, fine.
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We also live in an area where time to time someone is visiting their child in college, or the local nursing home or retirement community, and so they might ask to have them over for a brief visit. It’s never been a problem for us and so we’ll keep doing it on a case by case basis until it is a problem. We also have a dock and nice view and people want to show it to their friends who are local. We look at it like these are all potential referrals for other, future guests who might be coming into town.
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Has anyone implemented a No Visitors rule?
Yes
How did it go?
It is now a non-issue, but only after some adjustments. (see below)
How did you word it?
No unregistered guests on the property at any time. Thank you.
Also after getting a stern talking to from an insurance agent about liability, {especially with a pool), we added the rule in the room as well as being listed on the description which given to guests with their confirmation.
We only have three rules, right next to the wifi password and tv remote, so they’re impossible to miss. Three rules in three places.
Did you ever take guests to task over it?
Before putting the rule inside the room and also before adding six more exterior cameras, we had a handful of guests break the rule. Some had local friends come onto the property and drop them off and “take a peek at the room” or had a drink on the patio, or hung out by the pool, and a few had overnight guests. (All discovered after the fact). We only confronted one guest, but they were very, very odd and trying to fit three people into a room with only one bed [and no floor space for an extra bed].
Since adding the rule to the welcome info. and also going from two exterior cameras to eight [very conspicuous] cameras, it hasn’t happened once.
Looking back…each and every one of these guests who broke this rule was problematic in some other way as well: poor communication, late/early check-out, left a mess, or broke something. (Even the ones who have asked to have a friend over (and we refused) were problematic).
Bottom line: A guest showing a lack of respect for one rule, usually has little respect for a host and their home, in general.
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Would not add the “I would be fine with it” or "It’s the only way I can prevent parties and unregistered guests.”
Just end it at “unregistered visitors are not allowed without prior approval.”
Much clearer that way, but still infers flexibility with the rule.
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Fair enough. I’ll come up with something more clear.
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I’ve just taken an instant-book from a party of 8 guests (YAY!) and need some advice on the following…
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The itinerary says “8 people going on this trip”, but only the lead guest has a name. Does Airbnb allow him to fill in the names? Is that what we mean by “registered guests”? Or do I ask him to let me know their names by replying inside the in-app messaging?
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With a No Visitor rule (thank God I added it yesterday!), should I even be fussed about who is staying at the house? After all, if the maximum number of guests is 9, the main thing is that the lead guest (who agreed to the terms) is there and that they don’t exceed this at any one time, right?
Thanks as ever for sharing your wisdom and experience.
Actually, people come to London for all sorts of reasons. Weddings, theatre or gigs, birthday/anniversary treat, city breaks, business, visit a child studying in London just to name a few. My son’s upmarket place is in the heart of London, I check them in and I check them out. Only once did I suspect that there had been an additional person in the apartment but it seemed as though of the original couple, one stayed one night and this “extra” person seemed to have stayed the second night with the original booker. Both were professional, mature women in London on business. Place immaculate on departure so I said nothing.
I have no unregistered guests or visitors rules and I have had to remind a few guests and had to enforce it with my last guest. He tried to bring a woman in and I caught him in the act and made her wait outside.
If I came home and found several visitors, I would evict everyone with no hesitation and notify Airbnb. It’s trespassing plain and simple.
Sneaking in extra overnight guests is theft of service as well as trespassing and I wouldn’t be forgiving. Allowing them to pay after they get caught is no different than paying for merchandise after getting caught shoplifting. As far as I’m concerned they should be prosecuted. Who would want these thieving rule breakers in their home?!!!
This is posted in my house rules, in my check in message and just above the lock on their private entrance and again in the house rules posted in each room.
I haven’t evicted anyone yet. I ask them to have the visitors leave and back it up with a message via Airbnb to create a record. It definitely goes in their review on communication and breaking house rules.
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Even with an IB, particularly a larger group coming to stay in my home, I ask them to consider the following;-
"We live here too it’s our home; we are not an entire property to rent. We also have two cats and thus not suitable for some people with allergies. If we are not what you expected, please can you cancel you booking.
“Can you confirm that all of the guests accompanying you are fully aware of our house rules, as detailed in our listing, and agree to them please”.
Some hosts do ask for all names from the lead guest. I think I probably would if I hosted remotely.
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https://airhostsforum.com/t/should-she-leave-massive-breach-of-house-rule-that-scared-me
The link above is about my own recent experience of a guest breaking my 'no visitors 'rule.
I state it in house rules and say it loud and clear when they check in, so there is no doubt they are aware of it. I had my last guest removed and kept 50% of her payment after she brought a guy back in the middle of the night. Thank god I have a camera with motion detection recording the door to the flat so I can see who walks in and when.
I agree with the poster who said that letting people pay for extra guests they’ve sneaked in is like paying for shoplifted items.
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Holy Moly! Fortunately, you were okay. And, fortunately, you had the rule to stand on when she broke it.
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Yes, it’s in my house rules, and I do enforce it. Had to do it last weekend, as a matter of fact. “EXTRA GUESTS + SECURITY: As you can see in the listing, the maximum number of guests is 4. When you book your reservation, you need to book for the correct number in your party. Please don’t bring extra guests in overnight, and please check with me before inviting anyone over. If you have questions about this, just ask! Thank you.”
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I state they arent allowed unless there is a prior agreement (due to this being a home and not a hotel). I havent had issues. We have allowed guests over but nobody has overstayed.
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Before I joined this forum it never occurred to me that if I rented a holiday property (not talking about a homeshare) I might not be able to have friends around for a drink etc … So when we started visiting Cape Town and renting Airbnbs there I got terribly nervous and always made sure to ask beforehand if we could invite son and daughter-in-law and perhaps co-mother-in-law for dinner occasionally. In all three places we stayed the answer was “Of course, and do you need to borrow any extra pans or dishes?” One host even offered to ask her cook if he would be willing to come and cater for us !!
We only occasionally get guests asking us this and have always welcomed them …
Except … our one bad experience! Local Spanish lady came to check us out for her son and his wife coming from Australia with new baby to meet the grandparents (and, as it turned out, everyone else …). Everything was lovely, the young couple (He Spanish, she Chinese/Australian) were delightful, the baby good as gold, the grandparents charming, so of course the family could visit!
And they did … all what seemed liked 50 of them … cousins, uncles and brothers-in-law took over the whole garden and pool for the weekend. There is a certain type of elderly Spanish gentleman who has ruined his voice with cigarettes, red wine and flamenco singing and has a voice to break the sound barrier - when there are two or three of them you really want to leave home if they’re in your garden. I hid in our bedroom in tears (yes, no backbone!) and the Husband strode out manfully to say politely that ma- , pa-- and brother-in-law could stay but everyone else was definitely not welcome!
Of course we expected bad vibes and reviews, but the new Dad came up to see us an hour or so later to thank us profusely - his wife had been completely overwhelmed and was desperate to have some quiet time with the baby but didn’t feel she could tell the family to go!
No moral to this story really, except to point out that, as in so many hosting situations, there is no answer that’s right for everyone. All our situations are different and only time will really tell what’s right for you. I tend to err on the side of permissiveness and may find I need to tighten up sometimes, while you may want to start off with a tough policy but feel able to soften it at times …
Re-reading the above examples, overnight is of course different, and inviting people without checking beforehand is just rude!
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I’m thinking that a good way to word the policy would be…
"No unregisitered guests/visitors without explicit permission from host."
Any thoughts?
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That sounds pretty good. In mine I also state that unregistered guests will be asked to leave immediately.
Here is my house rules and I did confronted guests from Brazil (he didn’t read anything)
For liability reasons, ONLY REGISTERED GUESTS MAY ENTER THE PREMISES.
Failure to do so will forfeit your reservation without any refund
I told them it is my house and my insurance and against fire safety regulations.
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