Can I check in early?

I didn’t let him in at 1. When I said I’d wished I’d declined him, I meant the booking in general.

I say on the intro email, before they arrive, “Checkout is at 11am and check in as at 1pm unless by arrangement” and “I try to accommodate requests for early/late checkout but it depends on other guests plans and I need 2 hours to clean and get ready for next guests”.

That seems to work. if people request say a late checkout I might say “sorry but there is someone arriving that afternoon” or “nobody is arriving that afternoon so you can checkout up until 2pm”. That seems to work.

I guess in your case 4pm seems like a very late time to be checking in but you know your own market so I wouldn’t want to judge as what is normal probably depends on the area you live in.

You could always say you also advertise on other sites and haven’t updated the calendar yet.

Yep. I love upstairs so can just pop down and do the cleaning as long as I have a couple of hours but I guess some people have cleaners they need to arrange a specific time in advance to come in. When i had a cleaner she used to tell me when she was coming in.

I just never ever do it. Blanket rule. Oh maybe once or twice with people I liked. Have been burned to many times though and have found late check out favors result in no payoff. I really don’t do it if they are pushy or aggressive.

Once I determined I would never do it, I’ve been so much happier.

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Yes, it’s so much less stress to just politely say no (with a saved response so you don’t have to think about it at all), and then go on about your business. No worrying about coordinating with the cleaner, the incoming guest, what if I get a last minute booking, what if they leave the place a disaster and there’s not anough time to clean, etc., etc. All that stress is GONE.

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I agree. As a host I want guests to rave in their review but also I want them to be discrete about special extras because I do more for some guests if I like them.

I let guests check in early if it’s ready and check out late if no one is checking in that day.

I know as a guest I often pass on planners that have check-in later than 3pm because after a long day of travel I want to freshen up and still have time to relax before the evening. 4 or 5 feels too late.

What is the actual check-in time?

Here you go - the heavy hint

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Hmmm…good point.

Like in the early days when i was nice enough to invite guests to have breakfast with us. Before I knew it they were mentioning it in reviews and I thought ‘Doh! Now everyone will come to expect it!’ So, I stopped inviting guests to have breakfast with us. Lol.

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My latest guests just told me that they would check in early. No asking, no please or thank you, just 'We wanna drop off our stuff".
I do allow luggage drop-off but wtf? I replied that they can come by at 11am after my current guests have left. I get a text saying ‘It’s ok, we don’t mind about other guests, we come at 10.30’.

I have to get my Clint Eastwood hat on and narrow my eyes until they disappear.

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I gave a guest an early check in but then regretted it as I could see it would be impossible to have the room ready in 0 minutes if a prior guest chose to check out at the last minute so had to block the prior day.
The guest then arrived just after my normal check in time because they found some interesting stops!!! Lost out on a likely booking. No more.

Ha! This reminds me of one of the nightmare guests I had…an entitled brat from Hong Kong whom I could not WAIT to get rid of. His check out date could not come fast enough and when it did, he informed me (not asked) that he would be leaving his luggage behind and would be back for it later, because he had a late flight.

‘Oh, no you won’t,’ I thought.

I responded, ‘For insurance reasons, I cannot allow guests to leave items behind past the check out time. You should have no problem getting a luggage locker at the airport or elsewhere in the city if you want to roam luggage free for the day. Pleasant travels.’

Problem solved. I was so done with him.

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Yes, I remember your story about that guy! I always cut non-native-English speakers a lot of slack and look for the positives in their messages. But this guy has lived here for 6 years doing a PhD so, you know, he should be versed in the niceties of the language & culture by now. Together with the fact that they asked for clean towels after every shower (and they took two a day), it was not the best hosting experience.
I said no to the fresh towels btw. They were only here for two nights and it’s a budget place - you’re not getting four sets of towels mate, get a grip, it’s not the Hilton.

Mind you, these were the guests that were interrupted by me barging in without checking whether they were in or not so… yeah, not looking forward to reading their review, let’s say !

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Oh yeah, This guy may have been from China, but his English was perfect. So, language was not a factor. He was just an entitled, arrogant brat.