Good point - I do state in my listing ‘check in time to be agreed upon in advance between 12-10pm’ but maybe need to also put can be flexible an hour or so either way but outside of that I have other commitments to plan for.
I don’t see any bitchiness in my posts, just my point of view 
and a small exaggeration 
(unrelated to you) to get my point across.
Unless you told them at the time of booking that you would be away from home the day they arrived after 3:30 then they have no reason to think changing their arrival time would be a problem. Communication has to be two way and I’m sure you realize people who are traveling might not have full time access to their email or text. I get a lot of people who are driving here. They message me and I frequently don’t hear back right away. No signal, dead batteries, just didn’t see it.
I just don’t think it’s crazy for a guest to assume they can check in whenever they like, _as long as it’s within your listed check in window. If you did tell them when they booked that you had evening plans and they disregarded that then you should mention it in the review. Regardless if it’s in your review or in a response to their review, keep it short, factual and unemotional.
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Ahh, I see. Well thank you for your point of view. I realise now I was being too harsh so I’m glad I came on here to get people’s perspectives. Bear in mind though that I was concerned for them that they would not be able to check in if they simply rocked-up hours after I had to leave the city (mental images of them pounding the front door down). That’s why I got air involved, thats why I got anxious. They did not seem to care or appreciate this. Maybe it was to do with them being newbies (no reviews).
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Hi Karma, yes I had told them in initial communications that I had evening plans. Should have mentioned that.
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In that case they were out of line. Maybe they just forgot because they have many places booked on their tour. So I’d just matter of factly state that they changed their arrival time at the last minute despite being informed ahead of time that you wouldn’t be available. Leave out snarky comments about reception desks or lecturing about respect. It just makes you sound high maintenance. As a guest, I avoid hosts with defensive sounding reviews or replies.
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Did you take drama classes when you were in school, back then? This sounds funny, but perhaps you are exaggerating just a tiny little bit …
Yes I’m exaggerating just a tiny bit 
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I am not normally so harsh in terms of either my expectations of guests nor my reviews of them. I’ve had more than a handful of guests who wouldn’t communicate arrival time, kept me waiting, changed their minds, got delayed in traffic and so on. I accommodate as many reasonable requests as I’m able to, to the point of totally rearranging my day in order to be available for guests checking in. I’ve missed dinner plans with friends and family. I am easily placated with genuine or even genuine sounding apologies.
It was the overall attitude of these particular guests that prompted me to suggest the review I did. Assuming I correctly interpreted the tone of the OP’s first post, I wouldn’t want these entitled twits in my home no matter how clean they might leave it.
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And therein lies our problem. We weren’t there, we aren’t privy to the entire message thread from initial booking to arrival, we didn’t meet these guests or see their body language, facial expressions, or hear their tone of voice regardless of the language used. Same for the host. So we can make suggestions but they might not be the best advice. I’ve had several guests who had reviews that made me nervous. Not only were they fine here but they left me great reviews. And though I said I don’t like hosts with defensive sounding reviews and replies I’m probably missing out on some great experiences by not considering some of them.
If they knew ahead of time, then that changes things a bit for me. I think when they requested the late check in I would have said “as I previously stated, I won’t be available in the evening for check in. Please arrive by 3:30 at the latest”. That puts it back on them for not having remembered or not paid attention initially. Did you ask them why they didn’t reply to your messsge letting them know when they needed to arrive? Sure would have reduced a lot of stress if they’d just replied. Maybe I’d say “guest did not pay attention to checkin time details, and there were some communication issues surrounding this”. Then go on to state the positive.
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Okay sure. So for what it’s worth - I’ve been a host for about 3 years with 85% 5 star reviews, maintained superhost status (whatever the heck that means) for pretty much all of it and have hosted over 2000 guests from all around the world. Leaving a less than positive review is not a decision I’d ever take lightly. I rent out 4 rooms in my place and I work my schedule around my guests, their time-frame, what they want, bending over backwards to make them happy in every case. It’s when someone acts like this (which thankfully, is very rare) it presents a red-flag, in my opinion.
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How does anyone know she doesn’t speak Spanish? But Chloe is right… if you are not 100 percent sure they were talking about you, leave it out. I’ve had guests do this… it’s very very very annoying, when they give you an arrival time, you plan your day or evening around that and they just show up when they damn well please not because of travel delays but because of sightseeing delays.
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Rightly said. Whist yes, we need to maintain flexiblity as hosts, that does not automatically mean we are doormats … foreign communication / data issues aside. Homesharing enables a new affordable way of travelling that was perhaps not before possible for a new generation whose only other equivalent may be hostels. But with that goes a certain conscientiousness and respect - not just in terms of respecting a strangers home but also the time they set aside for you in welcoming you, getting you settled in, giving sightseeing pointers, etc…
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I would have found this annoying but I would have in all likelihood, found a way for the guest to self check in and would have completed my welcome later. And then I would have gone to my event guilt free.
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Totally what I would have done if more notice was given to arrange friend to take over… since there are multiple rooms I prefer not to leave the keys with a neighbour in the event of people wandering into the wrong one…
I ask guests to give me the name of their airline and their flight number so that I can track it. It would get us off to a really bad start if they lied to me about their flight being delayed.
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Very smart, well done… That I never thought of asking for flight numbers 
. Maybe in the same trend, guests should have access to your booking system to see if you’re not lying to them about other reservations. Because a host lying to a guest, that would really be a bad start to things… 
.
For the record, I think that in interhuman relationships (private or professional) there should not be any lying at all. I also believe that in hospitality there should be mutual respect and some room for flexibility.
I don’t ask for their flight information to prevent them lying. I ask because they won’t be able to tell me if their flight is early or delayed while they are flying and I need to be near the front door when they arrive. Also, I don’t lie to guests about another guest’s arrival. I hate lying, so I pretty much never lie to anyone about anything.
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I think we just found some common ground 
.