extra guests turning up
Hi
We have recently had groups bringing extra guests to our property which sleeps 10.
We have a signed contract with the names/ ages etc of each guests, but as we operate a key safe arrival, we do not personally meet the guests, however our housekeeper has reported several times that extra guests have been seeping on sofas and blow up beds at the house which is strictly forbidden under our terms of booking.
We have reminded the guests that extra people are not allowed, and in each case they have either denied it happened saying one of the children wanted to sleep with the others (hence extra bed) or that it was someone who just came for one night. When we have said that this is not permitted, they have said we are unreasonable and said they would write a bad review
Short of putting a web cam in the main hallway area to check numbers, how else can we make sure this does not happen?
This happens to me last time. A single person booked and after the check Inn. She comes back with a friend. We say nothing because maybe a visitor. But later this evening. She brings her friend again to the room. And the person staying the whole night. In the morning I saw the strange person.sunbathing in the garden. I tell my guest. That for a 2nd person they have to pay for a dopple room. And we don't know any names Adress from this friend. They don't want to pay for the 2nd person. And check out a hour later. I call by the service center for help. Because the guest who has booked. Ask me if I give the money for the the 2nd night back. Because they want to leave now. I say that is against the booking rules.
on the end he wrote a bad comment.with 3point.
May I just comment on the the last bit of your comment - the fact they gave you a bad review because THEY broke the rules. Weaponising reviews is a pet hate of mine and I have crossed swords with Booking.com before on their policy.
Basically - here was the reply I received for someone who posted a review that said we did not provide sheets (we obviously provide full bedding), the room was small (it is 25 square metres), and the pub across the road was noisy. (there is no pub across the road). I reckon the wrong review was submitted as it does not describe our accomodation - and their score of 5 harms us and looks ridiculous amongst the 10, 9.6, 9.2 we usually get.
Booking replied:
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Dear Neil, Thank you for working with Booking.com. Booking.com posts as many guest reviews as possible to make sure that potential customers can get a realistic picture of the property. In our experience, displaying a mix of positive and negative comments adds credibility to your review set; publishing only positive reviews could seem suspicious and discourage customers from booking. Comments are removed only if they go against our policies, namely: • Contain profanity, sexually explicit or violent content, hate speech, discrimination, or threats • Mention full names (first + last names), or include personal attacks relating to named personnel • Promote illegal activities (e.g. drugs, prostitution) • Contain content that is exclusively about a competitor and/or Booking.com, with no relation to travel • Mention websites by name, include emails and/or addresses, phone numbers, credit card details • Contain politically sensitive content The review of this reservation, was not going any against of these policies, so we inform you that we can't remove it.
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This will mean that this person who visited your establishment, broke the rules and makes up a bad review cannot have their review removed FOREVER because it did not contravene the above rules.
I strongly urge Booking.com to establish an arbitration service where reviews (which are vital to the property's success) can be looked at with consideration for the content other than those listed above.
It happened to us too,
Instead of 15 people as per reservation, we had 20. Service center advised us to try and accommodate them, which we did. But we reported them for misconduct for partying outside the permitted hours.
In the end they left a review of 5. (Our score is 9.8!)
We argued with booking.com for the removal of the malicious review, but no result.
In the end, booking.com decided to close our account. (probably punishing us for having a different oppinion)
Does anyone think booking.com feels like a dictatorship? I certainly do.
Under the booking.com terms and conditions, basically the owners have the right to remain silent no matter what, work hard and pay their commission, otherwise there will be repercussions!
Yes. Its a difficult one as we all rely on great reviews
We have a contract and it states the number of people allowed and who have paid. I am thinking of installing g a CCTV in the main entrance to monitor who is in the property
I also think the booking.com should not allow the guest to leave a review if they have themselves broken the booking terms. That would at least stop them using the threat of a bad review against us owners
CCTV might be too expensive,time consuming and causing you stress!
In the first place, you should not allow unauthorized people to come in.
I know, it's hard to do, but there should be a way!
Housekeeper, if you have one, or security deposit might work.
Also, I noticed, that the property that can sleep 10, will have 15. Unlike those properties for 2 people only. The more beds/space you have, the more cases of non authorized guests will appear.
One option is to make the guests sign an Agreement upon check in, where they will see in black and white extra charges for add on guests and penalties for non authorized guests.
Yes I agree. The larger the property, the more this happens with extra people!!
We always do a signed contract. Its very clear.
We had thesame problem . Room was booked for 2 person and late night checkin they showed up 3 people . My understanding was they said she missed her flight and we beleived she was there just for a night but end up staying there all 4 nights.
This happens to me frequently and because of it, I am going to install cameras on the outside of the entrance and let the guest know before check in that the camera's are there for their safety.
We have "lock up and leave" properties where guests arrive and let themselves in with a key in the key safe. We charge per property, regardless of the number of guests in it. We never meet the guests (except by chance or if there is a problem and we have to visit the property). We don't provide food or any extras.
Over 50% of our bookings are for 2 people only. About 40% are for 4 people and 10% are for 6 people. Sometimes we find that someone has booked for 2 but all the beds have been slept in. Not a problem - we've charged per property and the pricing allows for maximum occupancy - anything less than maximum is a bonus for us.
If guests are dishonest and over-occupy a property, they will find it very crowded and not very comfortable. That is their problem. Our insurance has an occupancy limit - if they exceed that limit and have an accident, they may not be covered - but because we have done everything correctly, our property will still be covered.
Yes, our own insurance is the same and they will not be covered if they exceed the occupancy
We could increase our prices to cover any extra people, but we want to remain competitive too, to groups who are only 6 or 8 people
More likely to install a camera on the hall area to be honest, and if there are extra people, remind the guests that under the conditions of our contract extra guests charges will be taken from the security deposit
We charge per room as well - it keeps things stress free - it definately works for us....
This is not good at all. You ould have to charge 3times the going nightly rate to make this ok. The more people the more damage. Also having tones of people in a rental is the fastest way for the city to shut you down. If you have neighbors it's only a matter of time
Do not be blackmailed by threats of bad reviews. We have competitors with a lot of very bad reviews, they still get lots of bookings.
We have a 4 rooms B&B and have experienced extras turning up, more than once. Sometimes it has been a genuine human error, others not so. But because we always personally greet guests we are always aware of how many there are. If there are extras then we ask for the extra to be paid. We have experienced 2 negitive reviews as a result, and have reported it to Booking.com (who sent the same reply as above) . We are now very aware and ask for payment upon check in if there are extras, if they are happy to pay and we have the space, fine. If the extras take us above our consented limit then we do not accept them. Simple. We will not breach our consent and we will ask them to leave and cancel the booking. We are within our rights and in that case they can not leave a negitive review as they have breached the terms and conditions. If something was to go wrong and we had more than our consent allows then the implication of liability and insurance is too great to risk. It always pays to greet your guests !
We are a small Motel and thankfully we have cameras to record and see how many people stayed. We clearly state on our terms that guests will be charged. Never really had a problem with them not paying or disputing it but we do have cameras to proove it. If you don't have cameras, tell them you do and can proove it.
As a B&B owner, it happens but thankfully it's rare to happen...2 would check in but 3 check out. It happened again a few weeks ago and the 2 men ran out really fast and the girl came own the stairs at her own pace, she was cheeky enough to say it was a lovely stay, lovely room etc etc and I informed her she had to pay for the 3rd guest. She said he arrived that morning and she just walked out the door and they drove off, I was never paid for the 3rd guest as their booking card was master card and b.com dont give us the last 3 numbers on the back (CVC) so I didnt get paid for the 3rd guest. At check in the evening before, they insisted on paying by cash for 2 people....now when guests insist on paying on arrival..I get suspicious!
I do have CCTV but I had it installed years ago, long before I ever decided to do B&B and yes, the 3rd guest arrived back with them the night before.
I reported it to b.com but still to this day no one got back to me about it, about 2 weeks later I get an automated email from b.com asking me how I would rate their response to my complaint, I told them they NEVER got back to me...and still to this day no one from b.com got back to me about my complaint.
So complaining to b.com about anything...not worth the while!
There are cheaper CCTV's to be got, they are called ''field cams'' and are mainly used by hunters. I have them too..but beware..if a guest finds them, they can take them, but they record..date, time (hours, minutes, seconds), and sound. You can set them to take photo's and movie. They start taping when motion is detected.
Isle,
Can you please tell more about key safe? How does it look like and how does it work?
Google "Master Key Safe" - although it may have a different name in your country!
You fix it to the wall - it is opened with a combination, which you can change when you want to - they key is inside. Very simple!
Hi
We had this problem too so I installed a blink device (amazon Product) over the entrance door For security !!!). In my description of the property its listed. No problem since installation! Blink is accessed via a smartphone app from anywhere with WiFi.
hope this helps
Steve
What do u do when guests have "family" who might be spending some nights? I charge extra over 2, sleeps 8.
I have had a booking for one person and when I enquired was told they intended to bring up to twenty people more for a party. And just how a family who made a booking for two adults and two children brought three children with them. We don't have enough beds for that. It is so frustrating when people just ignore the rules and try to take advantage of the situation. And then if you don't concede the person who made the reservation writes a bad review. For these types of situations Booking.com should not include the review. But Booking.com does not necessarily care because it is not their accommodation!
This happened to us tonight it's a booking for 2 but they hav 8 possibly 9! They also have not paid the deposit and I have no support from the app. I am very unhappy with the complete lack of support from booking.com they also take a lot more money then other apps but give back 100% less support
Hi Beverly, what other apps work? Air Bn b is practically tumbleweed. Thanks!
Hi all, I see this post was from a while ago. Has there been any improvements on super here? Relatively new partner and this just happened. I was thinking of sending a message to each person who booked to state some of what partners here are suggesting eg security cameras installed for protection of both parties, only number of guests booked are allowed etc. Anything I'm missing?