Hi there,
We had guests check-in today. They registered for 4 people.
Our house rules state no unregistered guests on the property. Our max capacity for sleeping is 5 people. So not only do we have unregistered guests hanging out, if they stay over, they won’t have beds made up. Since there were only 4 registered guests we only made up beds to sleep 4 and provided towels, tp and such for 4 people, not 6!!
I’m assuming we will get a bad review if we either go over and ask the extra guests to leave or charge them extra fees. At the time they booked, we weren’t charging for over 2 people per night and we added the extra fees a few days ago- so after they booked but before they arrived.
Advice? Anyone deal with this and how did it turn out? Ty 
Hi Guest
I note that there appears to be a few more staying than was booked on the platform.
Delighted that you have brought more to make your stay more enjoyable!
You would remember when you booked my listing that guest numbers are limited and having unregistered guests will make my insurance a complete headache.
All of your house rules and fees are tied to the time of booking, so I wouldn’t try to impose fees that you’ve added since then. However, going over the max capacity is a rule violation. Unfortunately, you won’t get any help from Airbnb since they’re unlikely to even respond for a couple of days.
I think you already know your choices and the risks involved. How it ultimately turns out really depends on how you go about it and the guest’s mood and personality.
There’s no real reason to suppose that but even if that’s the case, it’s still no reason for not talking to these guests.
Simply knock on their door and tell them that although you have no objection personally (and I’m sure that you don’t) your local business licence and your insurance insists on 4 people max. “So how are we going to sort this out”?
Include the guests in devising a solution. They caused the problem so involve them in the outcome. Guests are just people.
I don’t have a problem with extra guests. (Our apartments are small so even one extra guest isn’t a comfortable situation for them). Like you, I only supply what’s needed for the booked guests so any interlopers have to fend for themselves.
Therefore extra guests don’t actually cost me any more than the permitted number of guests - just a little extra electricity for showers - and I charge enough to make sure that an extra guest or two every now and again won’t mean I’m out of pocket. So I don’t have an extra guest fee - many guests see extra guest fees as being a bit of a con anyway. They see a place advertising at $x per night yet the extra guest fees ramp it up.
I ran into the same situation last week. My max is 12 but how I found out is that I have a door sensor that would alert me if it’s been opened more than a certain time. Don’t want pest or AC overworking. Did not hear from them to close it so I stopped over and found out that there were about 20 people in the house, with air mattresses everywhere, including the closet! The main guest was apologetic and told me a story of how their nephew will be going for cancer treatment and this is an unexpected gathering/sendoff and so on. I told them they broke the rule and will send them a fee that night and also called airbnb immediately to report the situation. They did pay the extra fee that night and actually kept the place clean. In your case, I would let them pass since it’s not too many extra, but I would send them an airbnb message stating that they broke the rule and also let airbnb know. If they leave the place clean, let it pass. If not, send them a fee about breaking the guests rule. Make sure you have proof about extra guests, which is why you sent them a message about going over the guests limit. I did give them a 4-star review and they also gave me a 4 star review (unfounded but whatever) on communication but 5 star overall. I could have not bother with giving them the review and not worry about them retaliating, but I felt I just have to do it because I wasn’t happy of how much guests they exceeded. It’s part of the business and you have to have a thick skin to survive and move on. Onto the next reservation!
How many nights did they book? If it’s only for one or two nights, I probably would look the other way unless they’re being disruptive. Like someone else mentioned, Airbnb will not be there to have your back. By the time they get back to you, your guests will be gone.
So…a recurring problem with Short term rentals it seems. I believe this will continue to happen regardless of what you do.Ours is a duplex and we do not share space so Being respectful to the neighbor by not overcrowding is important to us.
I decreased the number of guests from 5 to 4 to try and avoid the 6-7 that might follow. I added a blurb at the bottom of my listing summary: “We are firm on a maximum of 4 guests”. We added a front porch security camera. We are greeting guests now, if not at check in, then sometime during the visit — mask on— and added a blurb that we will be doing so, just in case they actually read the entire listing info. Lol. I believe the push by the platforms for self check in with key pad self-selects guests who don’t expect or want to see the host and plan on bringing more than your max. So let them know you may be stopping in.
I added an extra fee if guests bring more than 4–30 dollars—airbnb platform has this option. I couldn’t find a similar option on the VRBO platform. I will probably only use it selectively, possibly punitively for bad guests.
I wrote a bad but honest review for a guest that brought 7–instead of the 5 maximum— one was a 3 or 4 year old “infant”—and she never reviewed me back, which is a lot better than a bad retaliation review. But for newbies, you do run the risk of losing a review early on.
I honestly don’t believe it’s a recurring problem, but it is something that will happen from time to time. It’s how we deal with it that’s the main thing.
Hosts who spend time and create stress by chasing extra guest fees and worrying about it could be causing more work for themselves than they need to. And the easiest way to solve that is to not have extra guest fees but put nightly rates up slightly.
Work out how much an extra guest costs you, round it up and add it to the nightly fee. For the majority of the time there won’t be extra guests so it will balance out if not show a profit.
As hosts we have lots to do for our guests and need to wear plenty of hats but it’s important to look after ourselves and our bottom lines too.
Nope. It’s a recurring problem with certain hosts I’d say, not with the STR property (or sector) itself.
JF
I think new hosts are always a target and the advice given on this forum will definitely help them. The safe gaurds I recommended were recommendations from this forum and will probably stop 90 percent of the “extra guests”. I am happy with that number and I am not worried about the rest…There will always be a few…
“I’m assuming we will get a bad review if we either go over and ask the extra guests to leave or charge them extra fees. At the time they booked, we weren’t charging for over 2 people per night and we added the extra fees a few days ago- so after they booked but before they arrived.”
First – stop worrying or assuming anything about a “bad review”. They happen. An occasional bad review will not kill you or ruin your Air reputation.
It is YOUR place. Your rules. Take charge of it.
I say YES go confront them. Don’t ask! Tell them that if they do not agree to the extra charges that you will be calling Air to cancel their stay effective immediately.
I have had guests do this. Either they show up with too many people, or somehow, they end up having a couple friends over, and the people stay the night. A few times it didn’t put me over the max, but regardless, it bugged me. It’s rude and disrespectful to conceal the truth.
I did confront the one person who put me over the limit and it was very awkward. She was nice about it, but I noticed she purposely waited to respond until it was basically too late for me to do anything. I wasn’t going to put them out on the street anyway, so what was the point in making a stink? They were nice enough people, just very self-centered and didn’t think the rules applied to them. I felt cheated, but in the end everything was fine. They left, the city never knew… we gave each other cordial reviews, but no way I would ever rent to those people again. They had too many people staying here, they had too many friends over in addition to already being over the limit, and they parked way too many cars. It wasn’t a “party”, just a few people, but I don’t allow it and they put me at risk for losing my permit. Totally inconsiderate. Everyone always say if you rent, you have to expect these things, and I think it’s true. The shorter the rental, the worse too. Two and three nighters tend to be the worst quality people.
I have 4 max occupancy in my listing because our POA limits each condo to 4 guests in public areas (pool area, tennis courts), and because I don’t want extra guests sleeping on my couches and chairs, etc. When I was a brand new host I had quite a few guests show up with extra people, but then changed my house rules to say “violations caught on Ring camera will result in immediate cancellation”, as advised by people on this forum, and it works about 90% of the time. I’ve had 2 with extras in the past few months who I suspect neglected to read the house rules and then noticed the “violations caught on Ring camera…” blurb—which I also include in the check-in information I send the morning of arrival—and by then they’re already on their way. I had to message my current guest yesterday for having 3 extras. It appears the extra 3 are now gone, but I’m curious what kind of review I will be getting. Regardless, I’m not sorry I said something…and now I’m trying to come up with a nicely worded response to booking requests to send before I accept the reservation, asking people to acknowledge that they understand the maximum occupancy rule. Crazy how people don’t read.
You’re right about that, but then again, we’re all humans. Literally no one reads all that shit on a listing, including me when I book another place. My wife and rented a few weeks ago in another town and the host had a dog and cat. My wife’s allergic to cats, me to dogs. They mentioned the dog in the listing but not the cat. Didn’t matter, we didn’t read the nine paragraphs of property description and it was our bad. We politely suggested the host list the cat in their listing due to allergies and gave her 5 stars.
We’ve also had people give us 4 stars for location because we’re a few blocks away from train tracks. Our listing very boldly says tat we’re located a 200 yards from a busy train line and that you WILL hear train horns frequently. Yet, people don’t read it and ding our reviews for it. That can be frustrating.
It really depends on you… I recommend doing what feels right to you, not what everyone else tells you to do. You will get wide variety of replies. @KenH would burn their car to the ground then charge them for cleanup (I’m kidding, we all love you Ken). Others would make them a cake. I’d like to think we’re somewhere in the middle. No sense in making an issue out of a non-issue.
I send a welcome email 2 days before the booking start date, asking to confirm the guest numbers, including ALL children and their ages. I heavy hint that I am very close by and will be aware of any increase in numbers. I do a meet, greet and tour, literally standing there with a clip board counting heads… it works!
I never understand when people say things like this. What’s “nice” about people who are self-centered and don’t think the rules don’t apply to them?
well, what was I going to do? Boot them on the street because they were “above the rules”? I actually probably would have evicted them at the moment of anger if it were appropriate to do so.
I put a “no” i wouldn’t host them again though - so I guess they weren’t THAT nice.
If you think those types are not nice, you might as well just be like me and dislike everyone because it really is everyone.
Why would I want to be like you? God forbid. Your experience is nothing like mine. You keep insisting that “everyone” is some entitled, self-absorbed person, but ALL my guests since I started hosting almost 4 years ago have been totally lovely people.
You seem like am angry person. If I knew how to use the block function I would use it on you.