Ok what gives? Guests had FIVE 5-Star reviews but they certainly were at the

On Airbnb it’s fairly simple to disabuse them of this attitude prior to check in. Ask for names of all guests prior, citing “for the insurance” and reiterate the numbers they’ve booked for and inform them that no unregistered guests are allowed on the premises without prior authorisation, add it to your house rules even.

Refine the wording etc to suit your situation.

JF

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This is what I do at time of booking, ask 2 days before if there have been any changes to the group numbers and remind them that I will be there to meet and greet and live very close by so will be very aware of any issues! Amazing how often things need to be updated!

@JohnF … We do ask for all names and they have no issue providing - we say “we need all names of those staying and any visitors on site (Maximum of 6 including children and infants) NO EXCEPTIONS!” … but it doesn’t seem to deter them from bringing more after the fact.

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@Debthecat … yep… we do that too… we also remind them 2 days before that we have video/surveillance live 24/7…

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Then you need to look at your whole business process, and try and work out how you can stop this happening.

JF

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And that’s before they’ve met you… :rofl:

JF

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I would suggest you eliminate that. “No visitors” is a better strategy. Why do they need to have visitors? If they have friends or family around, they can meet them somewhere else.

If you give an inch, they will take a mile. And they’ll “interpret”. The brother and sister-in-law who were just coming over for dinner ended up drinking too much “and of course it wasn’t safe for them to drive, so they spent the night”.

Meantime “visitors” are using up your toilet paper, soap, dirtying towels, charging up their phones, etc. etc.

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@muddy … thanks for the tip… we just removed that part going forward. No visitors allowed! Only those listed on reservation allowed on property! Geeeeeessshhhh! :rofl:

Same (in the written HRs). I know there’s been other thread discussion where some said they’d not stay in a place they had to ask permission to have visitors or how it’s good for biz (hey, come look at this great ABB I’m in). Not in my book (or rental!)

They have to ask me and usually I say yes BUT they have been quite respectful & kept things cool. My last checkout had a local friend (older lady) over and she and her daughter made the friend dinner. No issue.

In my early, less experienced days……

  1. Had one that booked 4 and wanted 2 over for dinner…nightly. They feasted and left an insane amount of smelly trash for me to deal with as well as used every item in the house. Added a visitor fee to HRs after that. Haven’t charged it yet but my rules are quite clear now as they were not then.

  2. 1 dude who claimed to be a former host (sucker me fell for it) had family for Christmas. Left a ton of trash, insane amount of cardboard to breakdown, candy crushed in the carpet, damage, food stains in rooms, glitter up the wazoo & took tables/chairs out of the garage to facilitate their feasting. Result: footnotes added to HRs re extra cleaning/garbage fees, garage no guest access & going back/forth on blocking Christmas Eve and Christmas this year.

Live and learn….I actually have not ever said no to a specific visitor request (small only…1 or 2 people kinda thing) yet…now I just emphasize rules and fees I will charge if I determine I need to. So far we have managed to balance The Force (“happy guest” and “happy me w/o extra work I didn’t get paid for”)

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For sure hosts don’t have to take a hard line on the “no visitors.” Some quiet older couple wants to have another couple over for a game of cards, no problem. Grandma and Grandpa want to have their 11 year old granddaughter over for the afternoon, fine. Just as hosts appreciate guests who are adaptable, it’s okay for a host to be adaptable according to the circumstances.

Even if you say no visitors, some guests will ask, and that’s fine- host’s call.

But listing wording about allowing visitors “with permission”, or for an extra charge seems like a bad idea.

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The extra charge is not the cost to have visitors but the penalty for sneaking them “w/o prior written approval from the host” ← my HRs wording.

And it gives me room to charge w/ the permission given if I think it’s warranted (less than in my HR because penalty fee is high) or it shows a little goodwill to the guest when I don’t, which has always been appreciated to date.

And it gives me something to show Air CS if I have to “go there”. Try not to.

So I guess that’s the same as saying “with permission”. It’s worked out well for us so far but I’ll rat on myself to y’all if it goes south :sweat_smile:

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Stating “No visitors” seems like it might be a little offputting.

I’ve put “No parties, or noise that can be heard outside of the property” in the description, which I think is vague enough but still has some clout. Once I’ve met the guests and scoped them out, I almost always tell them, “We say ‘no parties’ in the listing, but small friends and family gatherings are always welcome.” That’s always worked out for us. Haven’t been burned… Yet. :wink:

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Guests. Don’t. Read. I do NOT allow additional guests/visitors. If I were a different person, I’d see this as 6 free extra people.

Whole house listing. NO additional visitors. Insurance issue.

This is a tricky one … there are many, many posts about video and where it can be.

Start with NO additional guests or visitors. Cite Air doesn’t allow parties or guests not on reservation and your insurance.

Next, when you see that 17 people are having coffee in their pjs in the morning - OR the second you see additional people staying, contact the guest via the messaging app, text, and tell them to boot the other people. No exceptions. Then contact Air via the messaging app for them and document the additional guests.

All in my HR: My garage is locked and no guest access. Fees for extra cleanup (food in guest suite means automatic $80 for the pest control guy)

Christmas Eve through Jan 2nd blocked on my calendar every year. I need to rest at some point!

Nope, my house, my rules and INSURANCE issue. It’s a home, whether shared or not, and not a hotel. Want visitors? A hotel will boot you, too.

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What? I’ve often had visitors at my hotel.

Not saying you should allow visitors, I just find hotel policies to be largely irrelevant in relation to Airbnb, especially home share.

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If you bring 6 more people to your room, hotels will “have a chat.”

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That’s not having visitors, that’s having a gathering/party etc.

I know a lot of hosts don’t allow visitors and I haven’t had an occasion to have visitors at my rentals but I’d definitely look for that kind of rental if I were going to a town where I had friends. I’m in the category of “I paid for the house, I should be able to have visitors.” I don’t like being punished for other people’s misdeeds.

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Yeah, do you remember we talked about this last week or something about my rude pig of a guest. So his review time finally came up.

He had a 5 star rating in Cleanliness with 4 other reviews (5 x 4 = 20). I gave him a 1 star in Cleanliness (20+1=21) and now his rating is 4.5 but (21/5 = 4.2) so Airbnb rounded 4.2 to 4.5 instead of to 4 which is the real math. Urgh.

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I’m pretty sure that’s against Airbnb’s discrimination policy.

I’m wondering why you think it could make a difference? One of my favourite guests was an eighteen year old girl travelling with her seventeen year old boyfriend.

In the UK the majority of my guests were squaddies or police cadets - usually under 21 or so.

Only where prohibited by law. That is their stance on age and familial discrimination. Those two things are specifically left out of the main part of the nondiscrimination policy and dealt with separately and tempered by where prohibited by law.

And it usually is not prohibited by law for various reasons. And most hotels and resorts have a minimum age. And fair housing laws don’t apply to short term rentals and many hosts are not subject to fair housing laws anyway. It surely varies by location and whether or not a host does STR or LTR but it is not usually prohibited by law and therefore not against Airbnb’s nondiscrimination policy.

And it’s not prohibited by me for many reasons, one being that I want the largest possible customer base. :wink: