This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
Jane, this business has a high learning curve so you are in the thick of it right now! Don’t beat yourself up too much. Now you can change things so they suit you, just remember…
Your house, your rules
Take charge
Don’t let guests run the show or they gladly will
Take our advice because we have all BTDT, and we don’t post here to be bossy buns but to save new hosts the learning curves we painfully endured. 
K guys so the house was nice and clean, they left a nice note in the guest book!..Maybe they just didn’t realize that extra people are not ok because they were first-timers? Tgey did run out of toilet paper ( because u left enough for 3 for one night, not 8). It did take me forever to clean because it seemed like they had a lot of hair and my stupid vacuum malfunctioned and then I saw an ant on the couch(!!!) So I went nuclear on deep cleaning, but that is another deal all together, since I don’t think I can blame one ant on them. In summary, now what? What kind of a review to leave for generally polite people who left the place clean but brought extra people ( some of whom stayed the night, some not?)
P.s. Sorry for the run-on sentences.
Guests were tidy but brought 8 people without permission when four is the max.
When they break a house rule, even if they left it super clean, that’s unfortunately negated.
Or you might want to give them the chance to pay for the extras before reviewing.
Hello guest,
Thanks for staying, the House was left very clean. Thank you. One issue though that I do need to bring to your attention.
I just noticed on the security footage that you brought 8 guests when you booked for four. Please pay an extra $25 per person per night for a total of $100.
If they pay readily, leave a review about how tidy they were.
She didn’t have an extra person charge; you can’t change the rules after the game begins.
I’d chalk it up to honest mistake on both side. I would mention they reserved for 3 and brought 8. I would have confronted them via message and or in person. Now complaining about it only in the review seems wrong.
But that is still quasi breaking the rules, because she booked for four and brought 8. It’s not okay.
It’s also a fire hazard. She could have told the guests extra people aren’t allowed because it violation of fire regulations.
I wish they would fix this in the software. It defaults to no charge.
The guests deserve to be called out on this. Sorry, disagree they get a free pass on bringing double the guests they booked for.
Sometimes you don’t know. We’ve had threads on here where hosts admitted it’s confusing about the way it’s worded because it says there is no additional charge for more people. I once heard of a very knowledgeable host who forget to read the rules and wore their shoes inside their rental! 
It happens.
Jane, did all 8 people end up spending the night? I think you’d be within reason to charge them. I know it wasn’t in your listing that you had an extra guest charge, but you also weren’t anticipating guests disregarding your four guest limit. You can always call AirBnB to ask for guidance. I don’t think you should be sorry-out-of-luck because you hadn’t planned for rule-breakers. But I’d also understand if you want to move on. I do hope you mention the number of guests in the review. Something like, “I was expecting 4 guests, but 8 arrived” will warn future hosts.
In terms of whether or not to charge a fee for extra guests: more people use more utilities, create more mess and laundry, and contribute more wear and tear on your home. I would charge for pets for this reason too if I allowed them. Take a look at your local market and compare what people are charging for units that sleep 2, 3, and 4. My suite sleeps four, but I have a $15 charge for extra guests after two. The average price for a rental that sleeps 3 and 4 is quite a bit higher than it is for one that sleeps 2, and I want to take advantage of that price difference. This is still a deal for my guests, as many hosts in my price-range charge $20-40 per night for extra guests. My second bed is an old pull-out sofa, though, so I don’t feel like I should be charging more than $15 for the privilege of sleeping on it!
It may not be a rule that is written out but it is a rule that is understood.
You don’t book a hotel room for two and bring six in. If you do, you sneak… right? Why do you sneak? It’s because you know it’s wrong.
If you did it at a hotel you could be accused of “defrauding an innkeeper.”
I see no evidence that this guest was sneaking. I don’t know if this guest is sneaking or not. What I do know is what the listing said when the guest booked it and that is binding.
We aren’t hotels.
Of course we aren’t but that doesn’t mean guests can feel free to bring more guests than they booked for without asking permission.
If they didn’t wish to sneak, then why didn’t they book for the correct amount of guests? Why didn’t they come out and ask Jane if it were okay, which she has told us it is not.
Jane has every right to ask them for payment. All I am saying is give them the chance to pay for their extras before putting it in a review.
Obviously they thought they were not being observed.
She has a camera which is disclosed. We aren’t going to be in agreement on this one.
I don’t know if these guests are innocent or not but let me give you an example of what could have happened. I had two girls stay here the night before they flew back to Boston. In camping and hiking in the Guadalupe Mtns NP they ran into some guys from El Paso who they became friendly with. They then went to Big Bend and then to El Paso. They went out at dinner time and one came back and stayed overnight, the other did not stay the night; they paid for two.
I could easily see a group of three friends making new friends who say “we wanted to stay in Carlsbad but we can’t afford it/there’s no places available.” The three that have booked say “hey we have a small house you can stay with us.” Completely innocently. That doesn’t mean we have to like it or let them get away with it but it also doesn’t mean they are bad guest sneaking around.
I’m all for the extra charges, after they’ve been disclosed in the listing.
An imagined scenario that I’ve posted here before…
Our rentals have a maximum occupancy of two people. So Jane and John rent an apartment. All good,
There’s a fire and the (hunky) firefighter says to me ‘we rescued two people from the apartment’ and I say ‘excellent. there were only two people in there…’
But unknown to me Jane and John had sneaked in Bob and Sue who are now frying to a crisp…
I can see where you are coming from. But what you shared and what happened with Jane’s guests are a world apart. Before I changed my rules I had the couple who had their brother stay over. I was out in my carport and this guy walks by. “I’m just here to see my sister,” he said. I was like what the what. It was already 9 at night and shortly after they went to bed. So I let it go but I was pissed. I mentioned it to the guests the next day who said they didn’t know and he didn’t want to drive that night to Hilo. This dude then proceeded to lose snorkel gear, in fact all three did. They paid for it, but that is a hassle. Meant I had to go to town to purchase new, etc. immediately after that I made my rules EMPHATIC. No extra guests at any time either on the property or in the apartment. Even though it was innocent, seemingly, the same way that you described it.
That’s very different than deliberately bringing in double the guests without paying for them. Not at all innocent.
I think it was either 5 or 6 who spent the night, and 2 that just visited til 11 pm, and then returned at 8 am for several hours. I do think they were trying to be sneaky and just forgot about the camera or didn’t read the listing. It was a group of family, not really a party, and I believe several of the visitors were locals or ex-locals who had moved away. I think they thought they got away with it because they ran out of toilet paper and had some minor issues that she mentioned to me in several messages after they checked out, but she still never mentioned the extra people when I sort of tried to lead her there.
She gave me a 5 star review overall. I gave her an ok review I think. I said “Lisa and her group were good guests overall who left our home very clean. They did however exceed our home’s maximum occupancy without giving us notice of their plans to have visitors above the stated guest count. They were otherwise pleasant and I would host them again if we could establish the number of expected visitors in advance.” I also gave her a thumbs up, which was the hardest part of the decision. I imagine in general though it will not be a problem unless they happen to visit this particular area again for a family event.
I wrote in more detail in the private comments basically saying “Perhaps you didn’t know as a new user, but bringing extra people can cause problems with airbnb/ insurance/ safety reasons, and that it is considered courteous to ask the host about visitors, and if you act like this you run the risk of being booted.”
Overall I think I am happy with the way it turned out. I do feel a little bad for kind of blindsiding her with the review, but then again they tried to trick me and honestly if it was just a 5th person sleeping over and some late guests I would probably have said it was fine ( I am still not sure exactly how many slept over- at least 5, and I have no idea where they all slept). And all things considered it’s not even that bad of a review. I perhaps should have said something last night, but then I think I would have gotten a bad review and that seems kind of unfair since they were the ones to break the rules. And I don’t think an extra fee was really an option since I didn’t have it in my rules. Really if I was following my own rules I should have just kicked them out but I didn’t really want to deal with it/ get a bad review over a one night low key get together (and I apparently need to grow a spine). In any case, I added an extra fee to my listing now so that if it ever happens again I can choose to charge.
It’s not a mistake from
Host side .No extra charge" means nothing . It doesn’t mean they can bring unlimited amount of guests. The limit of guests is set and they couldn’t not bring more than that
Yes but once they have brought more, it kind of means the host has to “man-up” and enforce it, or just let it slide. I think the fee gives kind of a middle ground where you let it happen, but you get paid extra to compensate you for the unhappiness you feel about the whole situation.
According to Airbnb rules when people bring more guests that they booked for a reservation is cancelled on guest’s side and host is paid according to cancelation policy. I know this for sure because it happened with me ans not once. I got paid when guest’s broke this rule!