Airbnb: Hosts Can Charge Double for Overstaying Guests

• July 16, 2015

by Tianna Mañón

A Bloomingdale room listed on Airbnb

Airbnb, the service that individuals use to rent out their homes or rooms in their homes on a temporary basis, will start allowing hosts to charge twice the nightly rate to any guest who overstays their welcome.

Starting in early August, hosts will be able to charge guests double the nightly rate for each extra night beyond their reservation. Hosts will also be able to recover any costs from removing the guest through Airbnb.

“In the rare event when a Guest overstays their reservation without the Hosts’ consent, the Host is not only entitled to require the Guest to leave, but is now also authorized to charge the overstaying Guest twice the original average nightly Accommodation Fee, plus applicable taxes and service fees, for every day the Guest overstays without the Host’s consent,” AirBnB said in an online statement.

Overstaying guests and how to respond to them is a problem that highlights a few of the legal issues surrounding the hospitality company’s services.

In July 2014, an Airbnb guest paid for a 44-day stay in a California condo. As soon as he arrived, he requested a refund due to cloudy tap water. After he was given the refund, the guest elected to stay the full 44 days. When the host threatened to shut off the electricity, the guest pursued California state protections that protect any “renter” after 30 days, essentially treating long-term Airbnb guests as renters and the host as a landlord.

The changes to service announced today will take effect August 6 and users will be prompted to accept them when they log in to their accounts.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/airbnb_hosts_can_charge_double_for_overstaying_guests/10122