Airbnb guest problem: unauthorized guests and possibly a party

[Mary Pastoral]

New to hosting and currently hosting our first problem guest. 

A guest with no reviews asked to book our place for two guests since she will be spending time with her sister for her sister's birthday. I asked if she read the no party policy.  She said that it is no problem since there will be no party. 

We have security cameras in the outside of the property. Since 6 pm last night up to 4 am multiple guests came and went and there are 6 cars in the driveway up to this morning. Property has no smoking policy, and they were seen smoking at the porch and I am not sure if they are smoking inside as well. There's a quiet time of 10 pm to 6 am written on our listing, which was not followed as well. 

The guest checks-out tomorrow. What do you do in this situation?

1. Wait until check-out and just call the guest's attention if there is severe damages on the inside?

2. Call their attention today and say that we will not charge extra guest fees as long as they clean up? (I am not sure of this since they clearly do not care about rules. They were smoking weed while looking at the security camera. ) 

Also, will Airbnb penalize host if we just accept guests with prior reviews from now on? Thank you. 

[Ken Boone]

Ok so after getting burned twice by the "extra guests" issue I have totally changed my stance and now I immediately evict.  First let me say, if just 1 extra guest or say one extra adult and a small child I'm not worried about that, I am talking excessive guests beyond the max occupancy of my cabin.  I no longer tolerate it at all.  i.e. 10 people in a 6 person cabin, or 23 people in an 8 person cabin.  

To start off with I have explicit language in my digital rental agreement. I collect the names of all guests that will be staying at my STR. It explicitly states that no one is allowed on the property other than those listed in this agreement without my approval. It also states that breaking these rules is grounds for eviction with no refund.

What I have found is that when someone breaks this rule and brings an excessive amount of people on your property, it means they have no respect for you, your property, or your rules.  Like I have said I have been burned twice by the idea that oh it will probably be ok.  When they grossly break this rule, there is usually damage.  period.

When this happens, I call the OTA and explain that my max occupancy is X and that the guests signed my agreement stating that they will only have X number of guests. I let the OTA know they have broken my house rules by bringing in additional people over my max occupancy. I get the OTAs agreement on this and verify with them that I can evict with no refund. Once I have that confirmation I call the guest. Usually they will not answer their cell phone. I also have phones in each STR so I proceed to call that phone and let it ring until someone finally can't take it and answers the cabin phone.

When I call the guest, I remind them of what was stated concerning max occupancy and the items listed in the rental agreement.  I let them know they broke the house rules and let them know they need to start packing and vacate the premises immediately.  I also let them know that I have the backing of the OTA since they grossly broke my house rules.  I also let them know that I have contacted the authorities - this keeps trouble to a minimum going forward.  I mean they already know what they did so this is not a huge surprise.  I also let them know that they will be billed for any damages (in case of retaliation for eviction.)

Then my cleaner and her husband park near by and watch them pack and leave and then they do an immediate inspection of the cabin.  The guest usually figures out they are being watched which I think aides in them getting out without a problem as well.

I don't tolerate this anymore. These are not the kinds of guests I want in my cabins anyway. Again, I don't mind extra people, so a group coming contacts me and says hey aunt sally now wants to come too would that be ok, I say yea thats great, thanks for letting me know. A guest that asks permission is a guest that respects you, your rules and your STR.