It would seem there is NOTHING AirBnB nor local law enforcement can DO about this!
I you have a charge for extra guests charge them. If you have a rule that all guests must me declared you can cancel the reservation without penalty. It’s your listing, you are there, you have to take control.
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Charge them or cancel them. Up to you
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Make them pay or make them leave. We have threatened to make people leave before if they won’t pay and have had success.
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@Kim_Lippy – It would seem you haven’t tried very hard. Call Air. Don’t hang up. Keep bucking things to the next level supervisor until you get satisfaction. Tell them to cancel the Guest Immediately because you are “Uncomfortable with any Guest who blatantly violates your House Rules”.
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I am with Ken here. No one should have to accommodate someone undeclared in their own home.
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It all depends on WHY you don’t allow undeclared guests.
If it’s because they are trying to avoid the extra person cost, then tell them that you’re charging them via the Airbnb system.
If it’s because it’s in your house rules that undeclared guests are not permitted, then tell the guest that they must leave for breaking house rules. Then cancel them at once.
It’s up to you to determine why you don’t want extra guests and how it damages you and your business. Then act accordingly. Determine whether you accept that your guests can have visitors during the day or not. Can the guest bring visitors at all? Is there a time limit? Is it a noise issue? Decide what your rules are and stick to them.
You’re right in that Airbnb or the police are not going to run your business for you. If you have strict rules then you’re in a better situation but even then it’s your job to enforce them.
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Yes. It is clearly indicated in our house rules, "Anyone bringing an undeclared pet or extra person will have their reservation cancelled without refund. " However, it is my understanding, anytime a host cancels a guest, it is the HOST that bares the brunt of the penalty (i.e. guest automatically refunded, etc.). You say, “Airbnb or the police are not going to run your business for you”. To me, my end of being a host it providing what I said I would, and I do that, above and beyond. I am not asking for anyone to “run” my “business”; I AM asking for transparency from the guest, the same as transparency is required from host. I do expect there to be SOME recourse for host to be able to rid themselves of guest who are in clear violation of the house rules.
Greetings KenH. You have no IDEA how hard we tried. At least 10 phone calls, FOUR case managers and multiple text with AirBnB. From the get-go, I told AirBnB, I wanted the undeclared guests off my property IMMEDIATELY. It took 24 HOURS to get that accomplished. AirBnB’s solution? They paid for their hotel room the last night of her booking (tonight). Zero penalty to the guest who left our cabin a pigsty. Cherry on the Sunday? She is a very, very experienced host.
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Why zero penalty? Send them a bill through the resolution center for the extra guest and the mess.
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In 6 yrs of hosting, I’ve never had to do that, but I am willing. Everything I’ve heard, it is almost impossible to recover anything monetarily.
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Nope, it’s not. It’s really, really easy. If the guest refuses to pay for something and you can show that they broke house rules, Air will cover the costs and pay it for them.
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If you take pictures of the mess it is possible. We had some really rude people once who got food all over the place and we charged them for it. Sir reimbursed us themselves instead of making the guest pay but we still got our money.
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I’m trying to get my head around something here…
If the rules says that the stay will be cancelled without refund, does Airbnb honour that or not?
But it’s you who initially interacts with the guests via the platform. You who accepts them. (Unless you have IB). It’s you or your co-host who greets them and lets them in and that’s the time when you become aware that they have extra guests or a pet. Therefore shouldn’t it be you or your co-host who deals with it and tells the extra guest to leave?
I know, it’s all very well saying that guests should be better but the fact is that they aren’t. It’s we the hosts who play the part of mother, schoolteacher, whatever. We’re the ones who are in the first line when it comes to dealing with guests.We’re the ones who have to cut off unacceptable behaviour before it escalates.
Airbnb has a help page entitled ’ What should I do if my guest brings extra people?’.
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1515
Hosts have read it and nowhere does it say call Airbnb or call the cops. It explains what we should do. As I said before though, what’s important is why you do’t want that extra guest and making sure that you’re covered for that.
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Well it’s crap advice. It says to change the number of guests but you can’t change a reservation after it’s started. You can’t add people or days. If the guest tells you before they arrive they are bringing more people you can change it but if they actually bring more people then you have to go through the resolution center.
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The thing is though, it’s all we have as so-called support from Airbnb should guests being an extra person. I prefer to not expect Airbnb to do anything that they haven’t put in writing. Less stressful.
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I don’t expect them to do anything even if they put it in writing. But we often tell folks call Airbnb or look at the Help Center. I’m with you, the less I need them to do the better.
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Will Air cover the extra Guests fee? The HEPA cleaning required when Guests bought & brought new puppies at Fair, signed Pet Agreement indicating $150 fee approved? That IS fee for HEPA cleaning, to to protect next Guests w allergies.
These Guests “declined” to pay fee, sent via Air System.
Tell me how to escalate it so Air WILL pay it.
Thanks for educating me! Kathy
In your situation I would give Airbnb a call and ask for their advice on how they will recover the amount for the guest.
If the guests are still there and have declined to pay, I would ask Airbnb to cancel their booking (but that’s just me 
)