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Hello. I have guest who made the following statement to me and I’m trying to find such statement in the ToS but haven’t yet. Anyone have any suggestions or is this just not the case? It seems very plausible to be in the ToS but I can’t find anything even related. Thanx in advance.
“I’m trying to do the right thing and follow the rules according to airbnb. Which state that has to be an agreement to enter the property when the guest is not in the premises during the stay.
Thank you”
This is the one part of the TOS that addresses that issue:
8.2 Booking Accommodations
8.2.1 You understand that a confirmed booking of an Accommodation (“ Accommodation Booking ”) is a limited license granted to you by the Host to enter, occupy and use the Accommodation for the duration of your stay, during which time the Host (only where and to the extent permitted by applicable law) retains the right to re-enter the Accommodation, in accordance with your agreement with the Host.
I think it’s the part that says: which time the Host (only where and to the extent permitted by applicable law) retains the right to re-enter that needs to be looked at closely. E.g. what your local laws say about it regarding STR. It’s likely in with the hotel law stuff. Most of the time it is legal to enter a STR though people (guests) spout off about it in a very defensive way and believe that they have certain rights that are really only reserved for long term tenants. You would need to check your local legislation on this but it will differ from landlord-tenant law. Airbnb seems to have made it clear their viewpoint on it in noting “to the extent permitted by applicable law”; however, it may be interesting to call and ask them. Of course if you call 3 times and talk to 3 different CS, you will likely get 3 different answers. But if you do call, I’d be interested in knowing what they say. Meanwhile, I’ll dig around too 
Edit to add: I’m not addressing privacy issues or ethical issues but am also curious what the official standard is, if there is one. The fact that the TOS mentions “applicable law” makes me think they don’t have an official stance.
In most states in the US, those protections only apply for tenancies of 28 days or more unless there is a written lease or contract stating otherwise. But I am not a lawyer, and if you are concerned for your jurisdiction, you should consult someone license to practice law there.
I’m not sure I understand – is this a guest currently staying at your property, or a potential/future guest? Is there a language issue? It seems to me the guest might be asking under what circumstances you would enter the property…I would want to know why the guest is asking before I suggest a response.
I have this in my rental agreement:
Owner and Owner’s Representatives entering Property – Occasionally, the Owner or their designated representative(s), including Housekeeper, caretaker, or repair person, may enter the property at any reasonable time for inspections, maintenance or repairs with a minimum of two (2) hours advance notice to Guest (from when a message is left on Guest’s cell phone). Pest Control spraying, Landscape and pool maintenance personnel may enter the grounds of the property at any time, without prior notice.
I think the guest is trying to misuse the statement. Unless she had some kind of agreement about when you could come into the property, airbnb isn’t going to help her.
Agreed. Sounds to me like guest wants to ensure host isn’t around, beyond a guest’s typical concerns about privacy.
I’d suggest adding something like “except in case of emergency, when such a delay would likely result in…” (damage, etc.), just to CYA.
What a strange question for a guest to ask. If she’s up to no good, why alert you with the question and not just google it?
I don’t enter either apartment during the time the guest is paying for it. The exceptions are stays of over a week (I change the bedding and towels) or emergencies (like when the AC failed).
This is for my own protection. I don’t want a guest to report that a valuable laptop or wallet full of money disappeared while they were out.
MHG states: “I have a guest who…” This is an ongoing controversy with a current guest which makes all the answers about what if a guest asks this prior to booking irrelevant. I know this isn’t absolutely clear in the post but that’s the still in flux situation.
Yes the statement was made during a reservation. Separately, The reservation went very south very quickly. This doesn’t really have to do with the issues but was a side question that came to my mind when thinking about pulling quotes from the ToS.
On balance, I limit our family’s exposure to pesticides. For that reason, I’d be unhappy if pest control came during my stay.
I’d be even more unhappy if pests came during my stay 
Then you would be best served to mention this BEFORE hand.
My hella guest that is now over had messaged on platform that she had found a dead cockroach inside and wanted to vacuum it up. I had pulled the vacuum from guest access due to it being broken by a previous guest that required now finagling when emptying in order to avoid spilling the entire contents. I also messaged her that if she found a dead one then the Orkin pest service was working and that if she ever saw a live one to let me know because they usually come back out within 24-48 hours.
Later (when I went in to clean her and her kids my long hairs out of the drain with the tub shroom) find out that she has a little pile of carcasses in front of the bathroom that she has been killing and dumping there (maybe 3? Maybe 4 max?) and she never bothered to tell me!!!so frustrating because by this point I am up against a holiday weekend and then the “usually” will definitely not be this time for Usually 24-48 hours.
Funny now though that the technician wants to come when I am out volunteering for a few hours on the afternoon … she has been with me since Airbnb guest brought in fleas 2.5 years ago so since the house will now be empty then she’ll call me and I’ll let her in remotely to do her thing. I always tell her I wish her area included the house where I live because those folks never do their job.
I am not surprised. Any guest who would say such a thing is NOT “looking to have a nice peaceful stay”.
Even when it’s a maintenance issue, I wait till the guest is there.
JF
Those of you that have a rule about entering the home/room for emergencies, how exactly is it worded? Where do you have it listed, in the House Rules?
I would like to add something like this but can’t seem to come up with the perfect wording. I’d like it to sound like a positive thing for the guests, something like:
We will respect your privacy and only enter the home during your stay for emergencies or maintenance.
But even that doesn’t sound quite right. Right now I just don’t have anything written in the listing about it and have contacted guests directly when I needed to do something - yard work or move the trash in/out - while they were there. That is working fine so maybe I don’t need to change?
If it ain’t broke…
JF
What if the guest cannot be there? Do you not try to arrange an agreed upon time?
I don’t have it as a rule because I think (okay, hope) that most people are bright enough to realise that they’ll actually want me to go in and sort things in the case of an emergency.
I never go in for maintenance (apart from the aforementioned mid-stay clean) but I’m unfortunately accustomed to having various things stop working/break. It’s probably because our rentals are in an older building but just in the last few years I’ve had a broken window, AC failures (a few times), hot water heater splut, fridge not working, cooker not working, loo not flushing, bathwater not draining, (plenty of times because of guests going to the beach then bring half the beach back and sluicing it off), an ant attack and probably more that I can’t remember right now.
So, as these issues would mean that the guests didn’t have the promised amenties, I get them fixed, fast. 