Good morning all! Just had our very first airbnb guests leave. Very nice folks. A question though…it is clear in our advert that at this time of year the price per night is low and we charge for gas and electricity at cost payable on the day of leaving. I emphasized this with the woman who booked to make sure she understood. She said that was fine. On the day of departure the guest told me that this bill had to go through airbnb? Sadly the person that made the reservation never actually arrived. I have email correspondence with her ongoing now, she is “investigating” What should I do?
Send a resolution request through the system for the amount owed. I’m not sure exactly where to find it but try to pull up the reservation and see if there is a button called resolution request. Send the amount for her to accept it.
Not sure if she is really “investigating” or what. But you said it in the advert.
Who have you been communicating with? The person who booked? Did he/she just not show up with the other person who arrived?
I’ve been communicating with the person who made the reservation but never showed up herself
Unless it’s a business account you accepted a third-party booking which Airbnb does not support nor would I. If there’s any damage, there’s no one to hold accountable. If it is disclosed that it was a third-party booking, Airbnb will most likely not support your claim. You can send the request in the resolution section and hope she honors her word.
I require Govt. Photo ids of all people sleeping and visiting my suite send within 48 hours of booking and verify that they are there people they are with a camera when they arrive. This would have alerted you to the booking was a third-party booking. Good luck.
Why not just charge enough to cover the utilities up front so this is not an issue?
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Because it is impossible to know how much the utilities will cost! It is a large house with gas central heating and a hot tub. We have tried all inclusive costs in the past and find that guests turn the heating up to full blast and often leave on all day and all night, plus not respecting replacing the cover on the hot tub, (increases cost of heating) to the extent that we make no profit at all. That’s why we keep our nightly price affortdable and ask guests to simply pay for what they use, ecologically sensible too
Gosh! Sounds extreme! If it works for you that’s great, I’d wonder if this would scare people off! Keep in mind, this is our first experience of airbnb so we are learning! I do not want to allienate people and communications have been good, so am hoping for the best, just wanted to find out really if it is correct that “supplementary fees must be collected via airbnb”
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You are not alone in this. It’s a problem we all have - you are not unique in this at all. When we all do our figures to arrive at our per-price night we have to take the annual utilities cost for the previous year, add a small percentage for contingencies, then divide that figure by the number of night occupancy we expect. Add this to your other figures. (I’m assuming that you didn’t do this for some reason).
We have guests who never use the AC, for example, and guests who set it to a freezing and electricity-gobbling 65 degrees. You have to take an average.
If I were you, I’d spend a lot of time reading this forum and Airbnb TOS and help pages. It seems that you started hosting before you were ready.
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Surely you can look at previous months/years of utilities billing and figure what an average amount per month/day would be. Then add 20% for extravagant guests who actually want to stay warm all day and all night (gasp!).
I certainly would not book a listing where I had to pay ANY fee outside the Airbnb system. IMHO that’s just wrong. Our rates are supposed to be all-enclusive, not add-ons here and there that magnify what you’re supposed to pay.
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I’m pretty sure that after a guest has checked out you have to send a resolution request. It’s too late to adjust the reservation.
As far as I know I have only had one potential guest that asked me to waive the ID require for which I refused. It has saved me more than one time of having inappropriate guests.
I really think you should do peruse the forum to learn how to prevent the bad actors. IMHO
Thank you Lynick4442
Yes!! That’s what I meant to type @Lynick4442, not a reservation request. I edited above. Thanks for pointing that out!
I agree with @KenH, most guests will be turned off if required to pay an additional charge at the end of their stay, so if you find that more guests are disapproving of the extra cost, you really should consider rolling it into your nightly rate.
Having said that, even cheap hotels tally up extra fees at the end of a guest’s stay (e.g. minibar items) . So, if Airbnb really wants to be more hotel-like, they really should have a system in-place that allows the host to charge the guest at the end of their stay for consumed items that aren’t free.
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AirBnB TOS does not allow 3rd party bookings.
You seem to be eager to over accommodate yet also penny pinch. I agree with @jaquo that you may want to familiarize yourself with AirBnB before continuing to host. Extra fees is more alienating that firm house rules.
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Penny pinch? I don’t think so. I tried to offer an affordable nightly price and only expect people to pay for what is used in energy. This is to encourage thoughtful use of gas and electricity for ecological reasons…I cannot stand profligate use, this has nothing to do with the cost. I don’t much like the idea of hiking my price to accommodate those who do not care for the planet. However I do take on board that extra costs are not welcome.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed here, I have learned a lot. I don’t think there is any more to be said.
Just because you do not like what you hear does not mean there is nothing more to be said. Your approach seems off base to many here, it is very unusual to charge for energy use and as you are finding out likely very hard to collect once the guest has checked out.
How to you even begin to charge for energy are you metering it and checking before and after each guest?
You must be vastly underpriced for this to even be a consideration, and if it is truly about mother earth perhaps offset the carbon footprint in your life another way. Stop eating meat, stop flying but if you try and hold your guests to your standards you are doomed for failure.
Good luck
RR
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There are plenty of ways that hosts can be environmentally-friendly. And if they are, then they can advertise their rental as such. For example, you can make your own household cleaners to use for turnovers and never use any commercial products. There are many people who are sensitive or allergic to scents.
You can make sure that you always buy recycled items such as toilet rolls, use LEDs, ensure that you have a regular trash bin, one for recyclables and one for compostibles. Don’t use any products that aren’t manufactured or grown locally.
Never have anything that’s packaged in plastic in the rental (for instance, don’t leave water in plastic bottles for your guests), make sure that taps and showers don’t drip and put a brick in the toilet tank. Limit the hot water or better, turn down the thermostat of the water heater.
Be sure to line dry your guests’ bedding and towels rather than use the dryer. And always wash them in cold water.
Make sure that your rental doesn’t have new or nearly new furniture (especially any that’s been imported - Ikea for instance) and have all second hand, thrifted items in your home and the rental.
Leave multiple use shopping bags in the rental so that guests don’t use plastic bags and make sure that you provide them with a list of farmers markets, vegetarian restaurants and planet-friendly outlets in your area.
There are plenty of other things too and that way you can advertise your place as being for people who want to show that they care about the planet.
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This thread reminds me of the host who said she doesn’t “allow” plastic bottles. A great idea that isn’t congruent with Airbnb as it is now.
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While I can not imagine charging a guest for utility charges, we have whole home rental with Gas heat/ Electric A/C which we simply control by a locked thermostat (or you can get a remote control t-stat) and set it at a certain temperature and then you can estimate your usage and include that in your nightly cost. And how do you figure your usage? Do you know the exact rate per usage? Do you write down the usage before and after the guest arrives/leaves and within their site and approval? I would say if they want to use the Hot Tub there would have to be pre-approved usage amount ($XX per usage) and then include that in your fee. The problem is you can not prove actual usage which could hinder at fee collection. Just raise your nightly rate and don’t go thru the hassle…