Extra guests?

[Kate24]

Hi all, we started letting our apartment last week and have had a couple of successful 2 night stays booked through AirBnB over the past week.

I have listed the property on AirBnB as holding a maximum of 5 people. It is quite a spacious 2 bedroom apartment (1 king and 1 twin/superking) with a small double sofa bed in the large lounge and a travel cot available too, but it only has 1 toilet and a separate shower room.

Out of our first 7 enquiries I have had over the past couple of weeks, 2 have been for over our maximum number of guests. The first I rejected (3 couples), the second I have yet to reply to. They are a family of 6 - 2 adults and 4 children, one under a year old.

So . . my long winded question is - what are peoples opinions on accepting additional guests? Babies, children or adults? I feel like I wouldn't mind extra kids as much as extra adults, as they are still one family unit. But am I being naive? Having just started out I have no experience to go on! . . . .

Many thanks, Katharine

[zebedee]

Are you all set up for children? Waterproof mattress covers on all the beds (children will often climb in with parents).

Are there any safety hazards that's would make children ie young children problematic? I ask this because you don't mention single beds and may not have thought as much about children as adults. Apologies if you have considered all options.

Are you charging enough to make the extra guests worthwhile, or just pleased to be getting enquiries?
I think these are 2 questions you need to mull over in your mind

[Sam V]

I would question the ages of the children too from a safety and potential damages issue. I only discovered last week that our friend's two kids, three and eight, scribbled on our white bamboo floor, most of it came off but not the silver marker pen!

Also, is the shower room going to be big/safe enough and will be it be flooded?!

Have this family any previous feedback?

[tavi]

I agree with what the others have said. Consider both safety and damage. More people, especially kiddos, means more wear and tear, cleaning and maintenance.

It's tough when you're starting out as you feel grateful for any bookings, but as you get more confident you might find you're able to refuse bookings you don't fancy.

One of my apartments I can fill all year with just couples - I did allow one set of repeats with one small child. Ended up with ketchup stains on my white table mats and sweets under the sofa!
Not the end of the world - but why make more work for yourself if you don't need to.

[Musetta]

Nope. I never do it any more. I had some bad over-occupancy experiences over the years! Mainly my USA house that slept 8. I regularly got groups of 10 enquiring and sometimes more (!) It, for me, seemed to be an airbnb thing (as I also got a lot of bargain hunters.) I deactivated the listing almost as soon as I had it up because of the quality of enquiries for the large property. (I'm hoping my little Italy house has different results!)

[Kate24]

Thank you everyone. All really good points that I will take note of. We are child friendly (having previously lived in the apartment with two small children ourselves) and the second bedroom can be either a king or twin.

Although I have been pretty impressed with AirBnB so far, I have heard of some over occupancy horror stories. Because this is one family and one of the guests is a baby (and I am new and still grateful!) I have approved this family, however I have added a security deposit and I will be clearer and stricter with our future listing.

Thanks guys

[PW in Polemi]

A further point to consider ...

Why set maximum occupancy if you're not going to stick to it?

And, of course, those who enquire about over occupancy would NEVER ask the airline or cruise company to allow over occupancy, so why should they expect you to allow it?

[Bunny]

I feel like I wouldn't mind extra kids as much as extra adults, as they are still one family unit. But am I being naive? Having just started out I have no experience to go on! . . . .

I don't allow over occupancy, but in my experience I'd rather have more adults than more children. 4 children is high risk, particularly if they are toddlers or pre school. Older children are not so bad, but I don't think I've ever had a let with multiple young children where I haven't had damage or excessive cleaning. I've recently restricted child guests to no more than one child under the age of 5.

[russellt]

I often surprise myself at how touchy I am on this topic.

First of all, i never do over-occupancy. If the cottage sleeps 5 + cot, that's it. Max.

When the booking is being confirmed, i insist on knowing the number of adults, the ages of any children under 17, and the names of all guests. From this information, it is relatively easy to guesstimate the party profile, ie mum/dad/2 kids, or mum/dad/grandma/1 kid, or party-time for 4 blokes.

I agree that more adults are better than more kids.

I understand the desire to attract any bookings when you are just starting out, but don't go down that route. IMHO, it can end in tears far too quickly(noise, damage etc, etc), and if you upset the neighbours early on in your venture, due to over-occupancy or poor party profiling, you may never get them on-side.

As an aside, I currently market via HolidayLettings/TripAdvisor. On the question of party profile, it bugs me that their systems do not talk to each other.
A TA booking enquiry could say 4 adults, but when it gets handed over to HL, the system could say 2 adults/1 child. I have pointed this out to HL/TA, but they ignore it. Yet for me, knowing the party profile is very important because I want to have the option of declining enquiries if I think the party profile does not suit the layout of the property, location, etc. Therefore I check every HL/TA booking enquiry with the enquirer before confirmation.

Obsessive? Paranoid? Bossy? Do I need help? What do you think?

[Bunny]

Obsessive? Paranoid? Bossy? Do I need help? What do you think?

Nope, sums it up nicely. Glad I'm not the only one needing help.

[Nemo]

It's a good point about keeping on side with neighbours. You don't say where you are, but if you are in the UK for example, do you have permission to sublet, or let out to holidaymakers? If you don't then it's critical to stay on side with neighbours, as they will be the ones who will complain to your landlord if the property is leasehold, in the event of any guest issues.

I agree that I would definitely not allow over occupancy. You will almost certainly get more wear and tear and four kids compared to two is double the fun! You need very disciplined parents to ensure that your property is well looked after. With Airbnb, the difference to many sites is the ability to review the guests. Have you checked them out? Do they have good reviews from staying elsewhere?

[Bunny]

I often find that people with babies who can still sleep in a travel cot, don't think that a baby counts towards occupancy, so in her mind she probably thinks sleeps 5 is what she wants. In my case my maximum is 8 of any age, no matter where they sleep. And no I don't allow sleeping on the floor on a blow up mattress, on the sofa, in the car on the drive, or children head to foot, all of which have been requested in the past.

[Musetta]

Actually, thinking back, yes, I have made exceptions for babies under age 2, sleeping in the cot or with mom and dad. I've never had a problem with that - I've spoken to them on the phone though - not through airbnb or any instant-booking site.

[salmoncottage]

We once got 'told' by a guest that his 2 nephews were 'in town' and they'd be coming with them (max 4 booked already so that would have been 6) "but it would be ok as they would sleep tops n tails". We refused this and he got very aggresive on the phone using bad language so we sent his deposit back to him and cancelled the booking without further ado. Next thing there was a trip advisor review saying what a bad place the house and the owners were ..... they hadn't even stayed! It took us quite some time to convince tripadvisor that this was malicious, they did however eventually take the review down. Hence our T&C's

[Cassis]

If a property is set up for a maximum X number of guests (adults plus children) then what more is there to be said?

If I were happy to consider taking extra guests on airbeds, in hammocks and in hanging baskets then I would say so in my listing details.

Otherwise the answer should be NO.