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Our current guests haven’t been locking the door and I’ve stayed on them for it. I even left a note for them which I put right over the lock so they could see it. They stuck it on the wall when they came back in. It might sound pretty small to those of you who are naturally more assertive but it is a big step for me. 
Usually I make my boyfriend be the bad guy and stand up to people!
Who else has become more assertive due to hosting?
I have definitely become more assertive this year, compared to early beginnings last year, although I’ve had years of practice in other roles. I think it’s about learning where the red flags can arise, how these can blindside you if left unnoticed or dealt with firmly at the start, or told to bugger off!
Yes definitely more assertive, this role really pushes you to be sure of your boundaries. Most of my assertion is done preemptively, through the rules or through my check in process. I demonstrate rules such as locking the deadlock on the front door, or get the guest to do it so I know they’re happy with the lock. I also demonstrate keeping the shower curtain inside the cubicle. It bores me silly but it has slashed the number of nuisance occurrances with guests.
I would also say if a guest breaks a rule such as not locking the door I would put that in writing on the app. That makes it more official and we are then justified to remove stars for rule breaking.
Yes, we did that too and they’ve continued to do it. I will mention it in the review.
Thumbs down. Not suitable for a homestay, they could cause a burglary etc…
Good for you! I’m 60 and find older “know it alls” to be more infuriating than young “know it alls” because the old ones should know they don’t know everything. Youngsters get some benefit of the doubt.
There is a always a polite way to say everything but still make yourself clear. In this case, something like.
“As you know, we have asked you several times to make sure you lock the door as you leave and enter, as mentioned in our house rules. However, we noticed today that it is still not being done.
As a result, please be advised that these incidents are now being documented, and if the doors are left unlocked again we will being contacting AirBnB and…(cancelling the remainder of your reservation, imposing a fine of $50 per incident, etc.).
Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
You need to be clear. Here are our expectations, here is what will happen if you do not adhere to our rules.
Make sure you send any messages like this via AirBnB messaging, and above all, STICK TO WHAT YOU SAY.
I highly doubt Airbnb would support us if we tried to charge them for it but the threat might be enough to get them to change their behavior. They seem to have gotten the message because I have been harping on them for it every time I’ve seen it and this morning the door was locked when they left. We’ve only had to threaten to kick one group of people out who were trying to get out of paying for undisclosed children that they didn’t put on the reservation.
We used to rent to college students before we relocated. They were notoriously bad about door shutting/locking of doors. We put self closing “things” (don’t remember the name but they’re sold at hardware stores) to auto-close the door and used e-locks that were set to auto lock. They worked brilliantly. Problem solved without nagging.
Yeah I’ve thought about getting a smart lock but my boyfriend has said that people can ‘hack’ into them pretty easily if they really want to. I accidentally locked one of the guests out yesterday when I locked the door behind the ones that came in after being out. Maybe that will teach them to keep their keys on them and emphasize to them to lock the damned door.
People can copy keys even more easily. Guests can lose keys, keys can be stolen. And picking a lock probably isn’t that hard. Re-keying locks can be expensive.
That has been a concern of mine as well. The most annoying people are the ones who leave the door unlatched. Like don’t even close it all the way.
I think these are normally referred to simply as door closers.
Just on a side note, we had a young girl stay who also didn’t lock the front door. I mentioned it as a safety issue to AirBNB helpcentre and they weren’t concerned at all.
I haven’t but i’ve had to become nicer. Before I used Airbnb I was just ‘me’ with guests. I’d tell them off if needs be and be my usual quite grumpy self. Knowing that with Airbnb there are going to be reviews and so on, I have to be nicer and put on my customer service face. 
You didn’t lock anyone out. They failed to take their keys with them. They expected the door to be unlocked at all times so they could come and go as they please, so they thought they didn’t have to bother with keys. They couldn’t give a **** whether your place gets trashed or burgled or your insurance is invalidated. Scum. Why don’t you get their reservation cancelled for repeated rule breaking?
They’ve finally started locking the door every time they leave or come in so we shouldn’t need to but if I see it again I might.
Whoa … seriously?
202020
I started as a host with advanced PTSD. Hosting was a crash course in assertiveness.
What I found was that the less ambiguous you are, the more they respect my management.
Advtce from this Forum, Kona, and Superhosts spelled it out.
Never forget whose home it is, and who holds the keys.