Just received a booking for my apartment which only sleeps four with one queen bed and two single beds. The upcoming guest then clarified that the booking only indicated one person but I said I can accommodate up to four for the same cost. They then said oh it’s a married couple with three boys and so that’s five. Should I charge for the extra person even though it’s likely they’re going to have to sleep on the floor or the couch? I’m going to have to provide extra towels and stuff I guess?
You priced your rental for four. They are asking you to break your booking rules, either charge more or decline.
I would be inclined to decline because starting the rental by asking to disregard your booking rules makes me feel they will continue to push.
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I decided to ask for more money. I couldn’t decline the initial request because it’s an instant booking and and it was only after they called me to say the reservation only said one person and I said I could sleep up to four for the same price. But then I looked at the booking message in Airbnb and it said married couple and three boys.
And they do have a five-star rating. Let’s see if they respond to my funds request.
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If you can only sleep 4 I wouldn’t accept a booking for five as you have no space for the fifth person to sleep.
You can absolutely ask Airbnb to cancel penalty free as the guest has now disclosed they want to bring more people than your listing can accommodate.
Trying to overcrowding people into a listing that is set up to accommodate to 4 is likely to lead to a mediocre review .
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You have broken one of your own important rules so it wasn’t a good thing to do. And you can absolutely cancel an IB booking that contravenes your rules.
However, I have let repeat or referral guests have an extra person over (usually for one or two nights. Not the entire stay). I don’t charge any extra for this. That’s because the question should be ‘how much is this extra person costing me?’ If nothing, as in my case, then I charge nothing.
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Won’t the children’s ages matter to Airbnb’s calculation of “people”? If I remember right, children below a certain age don’t count, but I don’t remember what that age limit is.
So maybe in Airbnb-speak, these three children count as three, two, or one. Or maybe none.
I was caught unawares when they called me to ask why AirBnB had only confirmed one guest. In later conversations with them they said they has looked for 5 guest locations and mine had come up but I checked my listing and it says maximum of 4. Then they said they would bring beds etc and I said the only beds I would allow guests to bring would be a baby cot. Anyway they have agreed to paying extra so I hope I receive that before they check in in Christmas Day!
As I noted earlier, my listing says max of 4. In over two years of hosting this is the first time this has happened.
I would tell them no.
RR
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And then put the local Sheriff’s department on notice in case they IB’d 
JF
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Why would you allow them to check in if they haven’t paid for the guests on their booking. @lchiu7 hope you are going to check them in personally to make sure only those who have booked stay.
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I did an extra payment request via AirBnB and also involved AirBnB CS who called them directly. Since they have 10 5* reviews they seemed to be quite genuine in their belief that the apartment could accommodate 5. They also said they have approved my payment request but I haven’t seen anything yet. I won’t provide the door codes until I see the funds have arrived. As they are checking in on Christmas Day I don’t plan to meet them as I have family commitments 
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The funds will not arrive until post check in.
RR
But you can see if they have accepted the change on the booking to accommodate the additional people?
I can see they have accepted and AirBnB CS have also confirmed.
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the reservation is over. the additional payment was made by AirBnB on the day of the check-in and of course the rest of the payment was made 24 hours after they checked in.
The guest did leave the apartment in decent shape although they did take all the condiments like tea bags, jam and butter.I don’t think they actually used them more but I don’t really care. And they left behind an iPad which I’m going to have to courier to them. Of course they will be paying the charges.
So with the extra charges and extra work do you feel that this reservation was “worth it?” Or do you wish you’d just refused the booking and hoped for a booking better suited to your space?
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I just had this happen, middle aged couple and a dog stayed 2 days for Xmas. They took all the paper towels and toilet paper and all the shampoos, soaps and conditioners as well as the toothbrushes, shaving kits and pads. Cleaned it all out. At least she gave me 5 stars.
Next!
RR