Help! What would you do? Guest booked Saturday to Sunday but are arriving two hours after midnight of Friday at 2:00am

It’s the guests problem that they are arriving at 2AM and your check-in is at 3PM. They need to find something to do for those 15 hours. Not your responsibility. Since you have guests already, you can’t put them up at your place. They can try to find some other place (hotel?) to stay for the one night. Perhaps AirBnb will help them find a place.

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I had a very similar situation recently. Guests made an inquiry for Saturday to Saturday. Everything is fine, we had back and forth on some points. One of the points was to tell me they are flying from Zimbabwe and are set to arrive at midnight, and would that be a problem? No - key will be in lockbox. They make the booking, and once the booking was made I asked for their flight details. They send them to me, and I see that they arrive on the Friday at midnight, not Saturday at midnight. I go back to the guest and say - hey, have you made plans for your first night? Because you arrive Friday night but you are booked with me for Saturday. They huffed a bit and said - but we told you we arrive at midnight… I had a bit of a laugh and said yes, but that’s not how it works, you arrive at midnight one full day before check in. In the end, they accepted the reality, we amended the booking to show an extra night, and it all worked. The lesson that I learned is to ask for absolute clarification in any situation where someone is asking for such a late check-in. The guests may be very green travelers and have no idea how things work, and it’s sometimes our role to hold them by the hand.

@Family20 you’re miles ahead of many hosts by coming into a forum of peers and asking questions. Good for you. It’s also really important to learn as much as you can about how Airbnb (or any other platform) works, especially as it relates to cancellations, guest disputes, etc. This won’t be the only time there’s a funny situation, all kinds of odd things can happen, most of them are fixable :slight_smile:

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I can’t believe the guest is trying this! They know exactly what they’re doing. There’s no way Airbnb with side with them

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Its possible the international flight with the time difference threw them off. No excuse. But you should explain firmly that the check in time is 3pm and you are sorry they’ve made an error in their booking but you won’t be able to accommodate them before 3pm. Be firm, do not let the guest push you around!

Thank you Everyone! For all the great advice

Just to add my twopence worth. I would contact your guest and say you are sorry that they made a mistake with their dates.

Suggest as others mentioned that they can arrive with you for the night booked after your check in time and that when they arrive the night before they can find a hotel room for their first ‘night/early morning arrival’.(as this has already been booked by another guest)

Alternatively they can contact BNB explain the situation and see if they will cancel.

Do make sure you do this through BNB messaging so there is a record.

@Family20 - let us know how this resolves. I’ve had great experience with airbnb customer service being helpful in such circumstances.

As others have said - since you’re new I’ll repeat it - always do this communication through the airbnb system. Twice I’ve had CS folks read the messages and make decisions based on what the guest said. No other questions asked.

This is a very silly situation - shame on the guest for putting you through this!

I had a very rude South American try to swindle me the same way. I just told him no way. He got mad and said I was a horrible host and he was going to report me to Airbnb. Lotsa luck, I said.

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They have to pay.
And if the place is already occupied that night and they can’t stay, just let them know.
Same woukd apply with any hotel. Something tells me they knew exactly what they were doing, but even if they didn’t, they can’t blame you for it.
Have they never travelled anywhere before to any hotel or elsewhere?

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First, always verify the date and time of arrival. Second, always send an email outlining the reservation. Your own email via the the AirBNB interface. I also send a check-out email to the guest 24 hours before they check out. Third, call AirBNB and tell them the guest doesn’t understand the terms.

It is one of my house rules that you have to tell me what time you will arrive. We have it set up so that every guest who books receives an email from Airbnb requesting the arrival time. I ask for the arrival time via the Airbnb email from every guest who hasn’t told me. I still get many guests who don’t give me their arrival time.

I specify 9pm as the latest check in time. That way no one can check in until the following day. I need this policy because people coming in on late flights from abroad can often be very very late, and we retire early. This is listed under my conditions for the room but when someone inquires about the room, I always repeat it to them in my reply: please confirm that you will arrive at our house no later than 9 pm. If foreigners have a flight that arrives at a NYC airport, or
Newark airport after 6 pm, there is almost no chance they will arrive at our house by 9 pm, given immigration and customs and taxi and of course subway or bus. A 5 pm arrival at an airport, even with two hours at the airport and travel, means they are likely to arrive at our house by 9 pm, assuming no emergencies or blizzards.

I’m open until midnight for late checkins. People arriving to Hawaii Island on direct flights from the US mainland or Europe almost always get in after 8 or 9. Sometimes as late as midnight or even 1:00am. They need time to get their rental car and perhaps stop off at the market first since we are out in the country aways. I have to stay open because of my location in the middle of the Pacific but I totally understand hosts that would rather not wait up or stay up late for guests.

Good strategy. If someone is trying to mock you, retaliate.

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