Violation of maximum occupancy

Yup...that topic again
what's your advice regarding guests who violate the maximum occupancy? We can't keep throwing guests out all the time? We have not thrown out anyone yet.
Thank you

Are the extra guests showing up after?

What do YOU want to do? If you are willing to take the risk and clean the mess for the extra $$ that is one thing. If you want to act to stay legal and give up some $$ that is another. Personally, I think of the worst case scenario and see if I could get through the stress of that situation. If the answer is "no" then I act accordingly.
Personally? We have only exceeded our max occupancy once in 25 years, for 2 days, with guests who have been here many times. They made their reservation months in advance but we filled up fast that year and we could not find alternative accommodations for their party of 3 for the first two nights of their weekly stay. So we allowed the 3rd person to sleep on the sleep sofa in the cottage for those nights and then moved her into the main house for the remaining 5 nights. This was worth it to us as their was little/no risk to us with this arrangement. Everybody was happy...they are back again this year...their 10th with us.

Silverspoon said:

What do YOU want to do? If you are willing to take the risk and clean the mess for the extra $$ that is one thing. If you want to act to stay legal and give up some $$ that is another. Personally, I think of the worst case scenario and see if I could get through the stress of that situation. If the answer is "no" then I act accordingly.
Personally? We have only exceeded our max occupancy once in 25 years, for 2 days, with guests who have been here many times. They made their reservation months in advance but we filled up fast that year and we could not find alternative accommodations for their party of 3 for the first two nights of their weekly stay. So we allowed the 3rd person to sleep on the sleep sofa in the cottage for those nights and then moved her into the main house for the remaining 5 nights. This was worth it to us as their was little/no risk to us with this arrangement. Everybody was happy...they are back again this year...their 10th with us..

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Our goal is keeping the rest of the guests comfortable. Our rooms are large, so we keep the maximum occupancy of 3 with the rollaway. However, the parents don't count their kid as another person, specially the little ones. They don't walk, they love running specially the rooms upstairs.
We change our policies again down to maximum of 2 guests now.

It depends on how you want to handle it. We are careful not to leave extra bedding around, so it's really uncomfortable to try to do it. We had guests bring an extra bed for it. Tried passing an extra at breakfast only to find out that I precount my serving plates and I announced that I was done. And then I played mind games with them. They put the bed away so I wouldn't see it, so I rearranged the furniture back to it's original locations, so they would have to redo everything again. But by not charging (and it's a pittance), it meant that I didn't have to give them towels, sheets or breakfast. Likely cost them more just for breakfast
In some cases, we show them the amount of people booked and charge. In some cases we keep their money and tell them to go elsewhere. It depends on the situation. In all cases, they get caught. I just do what's best for us.

Madeleine said:

Are the extra guests showing up after?.

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We have a few times where they sneaked them in at night after hours. One lady sneaked in 7 kids with here at night for the soccer tournament...until the morning they checked out we realized how many of them in the room.

If it is your 'max' and not the what the gov. has imposed on you, then you need to decide if you want that additional wear and tear on your room.
Are they paying for the additional people or do you have 1 price that covers the room. If the later and this is a common occurrence, I suggest adding a cost per person above 2. Show max occupancy is #
This is another reason to keep #s at bay: Every extra body has an effect on the experience. More bodies more crowded less good experience. If they review it will be reflected in the review and they will not say they had extra people.
Once we turned away a group of guys as they stated 3, came with 5 this during big festival in big city near by. Late self check in, had been sketchy during phone conversations so DH had stayed up. He allowed them to stay that night but that I would speak with them in the morning. (Yeah, I am the policy bad guy here). The next morning they tried to avoid us, no way - I was watching. I pointed out the confirmation where it said the # of people. i told him, hotels may not care, but this is not a hotel.

No review, no chargeback attempt.

Madeleine said:

Are the extra guests showing up after?.

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I would guess you have a fire station and insurance company that you would have to comply with . What do they say? How many people are you allowed? For us. If we have one bed in the room then couple can stay in. If we have a bed chesterfield in another room with a window or a door escape then depending on the size of the sleeping Chesterfield then 2 may sleep there. There must be an route to escape It must be marked on the door out , there must be a diagram of escape. Here we are held by the hotel code of hotel ethic. PLUS we must put the code of hotel ethic and fire escape diagram well marked out and displayed where it can be easily seen.
this piece of paper is called the provincial Hotel Keepers Act.

The one time I REALLY exceeded the max was for a Lord's Pantry fundraiser. It was a call asking if I had rooms abut 15 minutes before they arrived and was totally unplanned by all. Although the Pantry said they were paying, I truly believe they knew what I was going to do. They DID say the couple had kids - but it wasn't until my antennae picked up vibes and i asked that I was told how many - 9 (yes, nine).
I had 2 rooms available and threw every pillow I had into a pillow case, tossed in a few quilts and let them sort it out.,

BNcruz said:

Madeleine said:

Are the extra guests showing up after?.

Click to expand...

We have a few times where they sneaked them in at night after hours. One lady sneaked in 7 kids with here at night for the soccer tournament...until the morning they checked out we realized how many of them in the room.
.

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BNcruz said:

We have a few times where they sneaked them in at night after hours. One lady sneaked in 7 kids with here at night for the soccer tournament...until the morning they checked out we realized how many of them in the room.

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Ok, that beats the 2-3 we've had snuck in here after a wedding!
I'm not even sure at that point what you could do.

this is why despite trying to only take 21 max we are insured to 30 - its to cover for sneaky buggers and people who are just plane disorganised