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That’s good. Right now I know exactly two hosts, you and a neighbor of mine, who (as one might hope and expect) receive gratitude for early check-ins. I would say I know, and have read of, hundreds of hosts who are victim of the PuppyLover/Flyboy Paradox – “Give an inch and they take mile.”
Not just me personally – seemingly the vast majority of hosts
Nope, you are entirely wrong. Certain guests hate boundaries of any sort, and lash out if you attempt to enforce them.
Some guests who have been burned by chaotic hostels and Air listings deliberately embrace a home host with structure. From this group, I get reviews such as this (from my unforgettable Belgian guests who were touring American drive-ins to get an idea of traditional U.S. culture):
“We loved everything about our stay – PuppyLover’s house, her ideas, her world.”
I don’t look at myself as being in a service industry, in the slightest. Good god, just, no.
I’m not LARPing that I am a pretend owner of boutique hotel or elegant B&B. I have spare rooms and a knowledge of my city to share; but my main focus lies in my creative work. And I have found that guests will readily interpret “check-out is 11 a.m.” to “I will lounge in the house until 7 p.m. and then mosey along to my late-night flight at the airport.” Unless the boundary between 11 a.m. and 11:00:01 a.m. is clear and bright.
If folks want to LARP that they are hoteliers racing around to cater to the whim of the public, well, knock yourself out. I share my home on my terms. They work well for the classic “cool tourist” or “visiting Hopkins” demographic.
So … I guess I’m kind of in the sharing economy, but service … no … good way to get walked all over in your own home …
I think if you’re over 88% acceptance you’ll be fine. I’ve declined one person over the last year, and I’m still at 100%. Though perhaps it was just an inquiry (I don’t recall), which doesn’t affect your acceptance rate and you aren’t required to decline. It was someone who wanted to film at my home. No thanks!
I’ve heard you can call AirBnB and ask them to decline for you so it doesn’t hurt your acceptance rate. I agree it shouldn’t hurt us if we are declining because a guest plans to violate our house rules. If you get a good CS agent, they should be very understanding.
… so is that and I don’t understand it at all. Of course we are in a service industry - we’re offering a service for the public so what else can it be?
We let guests check in early or leave late if it suits us and I’d never think of charging for it. Some guests have chosen our place because of that flexibility - especially where late check in is concerned.
This.
If you have booked as a guest recently you will know that it’s really not clear if you are a first-time user. The last place I booked in january, I couldn’t even find the full address easily.
That said, it’s hard to progress with things if the guest doesn’t reply to your messages and request for more info. But maybe they’re travelling already and not able to reply straightaway?
I’d give them a bit of slack unless you don’t need the booking and don’t care. Me, I have to work for every damned one these days because the competition is so fierce and my kind of humble home-share place is barely visible on the site.
Exactly. I’ve no problem with this. But I do have a problem with demanding guests who think we have a hotel lobby. I’ve found that by allowing early and late checks,is an inconvenience and I prefer not to do them at all paid or otherwise. What works for some Doesnt for others.
I remember a guest once whose first message was something like “we’ll be arriving at noon and on check out day we’ll be leaving at 5 pm” to which I replied “no you won’t. Check in is at 4pm and check in is at 11 am”.
They were truly delightful guests who have now become valued repeat guests and I look forward to seeing them every time.
Maybe they were texting using the App while (hopefully) a passenger in a moving car with a temporary signal. I’ve been in train like that where everybody had to check their phone messages quickly as we went through small towns and got a signal for about a minute. The bad old days circa 2011. That might explain t but it wouldn’t necessarily excuse it.
I just asked a fellow to cancel. No employer, no itinerary, no arrival time, no magic word in the rules. I don’t waste time fishing it out of them having asked previously.
I had a guest a couple of years ago who was from Canada and traveling in US and didnt have a phone plan for US so had to rely on wifi at places when they stopped so only was able to get msgs every couple of hours but i didnt know that limitation until they arrived - EXTREMELY late!
A couple I remember particularly were the ones whose only message was ‘weekend break’. The bloke was new so of course they had no reviews. They were also comparatively local - they lived about thirty miles away. They were lovely.
So lovely in fact, that because they had a large win at the casino, they left me a huge tip. I mean, really huge, enough to buy a brand new TV.
Well, you may look at yourself as not being part of it, but you are. You rent rooms out for money, thus providing a service to the public.
I’d also be interested in how you arrive at the assumption that “vast majority of hosts” are “hurt” by allowing late or early check in/outs whenever possible. Is this you making stuff up to try and prove your point?
As @jaquo indicated, it is often the inverse - and when travelling as a guest, I have been extremely grateful to hosts that are flexible (within reason) over check in/out times, and their reviews often reflect that.
I know (not just suspect, know) that some guests have chosen to rent from us rather than others in the same area because of that flexibility. Although I use IB, we still get a small percentage of guests who have a question or two before they book and the most common one is something like “our flight doesn’t get in until midnight. Would we possibly be able to check in at about 12.30? We haven’t been able to find anywhere as yet…”
My answer of course, is YES.
After all, I would be getting the place ready for them anyway for check in time at 4 pm. So once the apartment is ready I just have to get the self check in system ready for them, that’s all. No house tour even.
What’s more, because I’ve made a note that these guests will be arriving after midnight I can then give the outgoing guests a further couple of hours after check out time. (This gives them even more time to clean). So I have plenty of reviews that say that the guests ‘appreciated the check in/out flexibility’ but it’s cost me nothing.
I tend to want people out at checkout unless they pay to stay, I want to check the place and get the laundry going, that being said I am flexible they can pay to come early or leave late and many do:)
I suppose it depends a lot on the setup. My apartment is right next to one rental and directly opposite the other. I need three/four hours to turn each over. Because I work from home. I’ll have already scheduled my ‘real’ work with a three/four hour gap. I don’t schedule any meetings or conference calls etc. on turnover days unless they are going to finish at or before 10.30am.
So if a guest leaves one of the apartments at 11 (check out time) and the next arrives at 4 (check in time) then I’ve got plenty of turnover time. I can easily adjust that to 12 noon - 5pm or even 3pm to 8pm if I want to - it doesn’t make much difference.
Perhaps it comes from the view that such accommodating hosts set guests up to expect it from every other host? If so, I can’t agree. This is a business for me. If I can offer something that my competitors can’t, you’re damned sure I’m going to use it!
In fact, I actively promote the fact that I allow luggage drop-off /storage. When I’m busy, I can’t always allow actual early check-in but guests hugely appreciate being able to leave their luggage here. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t go out of my way to “hurt” any fellow host - I’m actually v supportive of hosts in my area and have helped them out on a number of occasions - but I’m not going to sabotage my business on some vague fuzzy notion of world-wide hosts being all pals.
Having said that, I do get what puppylover means by setting boundaries and not being overly accommodating. Being a doormat only creates contempt in the guest. Many guests ask me if they can leave luggage at 8-9am, for example. I could allow that but I don’t because I am not a morning person. So the earliest they get is 10.30 after I’ve had a coffee and a grump!
Hi If you want to set different night stays for different months go to
Calender, click Availability, under trip length click Additional requirements.
I have one currently set as:
During 11 February 2019 – 4 April 2019, guests stay for minimum 2 nights.
They can only check in on Fridays.
