No review yet. The one I wrote for him will show up after 14 days if he doesn’t, correct?
yes… but because you wrote it so soon and he knows he screwed up, he might think he will have nothing to lose and crack you back hard. This is why we suggest waiting until the 11th hour to do it. (I am no longer using the phrase ‘sneak attack’ as it stirred up a bunch of bad comments last week!)
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That makes sense and I will keep that strategy in mind if I ever have to leave a bad review again! He still has not left one and might not.
99% of guests I’ve had have been an absolute pleasure. This guy, another girl who was also an interviewing MD who showed up hours early, and another guy with a yappy dog last week were my only people where I didn’t want to leave 100% great reviews. And the guy with the dog, it was the dog who was annoying not the guest himself. I allow dogs so that’s on me to a point, but I have my dog trained not to bark at every little thing he sees so…I guess I just expect the same out of everyone else! lol
Yes. That’s because we are in the same industry - hospitality. There are similarities between us and others who offer accommodations, but we are not completely similar.
I generally don’t have a problem allowing folks to leave bags for a while if they have a late flight or something. It’s very common for hotels to do this, so travers tend to expect the privilege. But, that’s the rub. We are not hotels. We don’t have bars or lobbies for them to hang out in, so it’s important if you are going to extend the favor (and it is a favor…not a requirement) that you are super crystal clear about what you are offering and what you are not. For instance, you are not offering a late check out. You are not offering up your sitting room for them to hang out in like an airport lounge because they’re not ready to leave yet. These days, I extend the favor to guests who I really like and click with, because having to deal with them past check out time is no big deal, and I don’t mind seeing them again. For those who are horrible guests who I am anxious to get rid of, I have learned not to be caught off guard and am prepared to say ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I wish I could help you out, but we hadn’t discussed that. I won’t be home later and I need your keys for the next guest. You might try a locker at the airport/train station or finding another solution. Good luck.’
It goes with out saying, but when you extend special favors to those a**hole guests, they will think they can just walk all over you. I’ve had it happen too many times. No more.
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Good points @jackulas. So true, many will ask, but people are indeed different; so best to think before speaking and not fall in a trap. If one is fundamentally kind in nature, it takes a while to learn this lesson and put it into practice.
I agree but I can see why this happens and I think we hosts need to be clearer of our expectations as the listing seems very proforma but most hosts are more flexible and some don’t even know the checkout time on their own listing.
My first ABB experience was as a guest, 6 places in Europe in 6 weeks in countries where I did not speak the languages. I didn’t know if I was coming or going and often was very fatigued and stressed about directions I needed to work out to get to my next locale.
Ive been hosting for more than a year on ABB and a few before with homestaystudents and the odd short term
rental. I find As a host I always need to speak to my guests the night before checkout and ask if they enjoyed their stay and remind them that checkout is by 10am and ask what time they will be going etc.
Whilst I don’t usually keep luggage after check out for liability reasons, (I have rare exceptions of storing stuff in my garage at guests on risk when people are backpacking and we are on friendly terms) I do let people check out late, with their bags. If I am going to be at work, I don’t get home til at least 7pm so it’s no problem for me. I see myself as not just a host but a representative of ANB and my country and try to give what I can and hold it is returned, more often than
Not it is and I have made great friends as a host and received some amazing gifts, unexpectedly.
However, if the guests have been a drain on my emotional resources or messy, rude etc then I say ‘oh what a shame you didn’t check with me when you booked, I have guests, cleaner etc coming’.
I would not have threatened to call the cops but spoken to guy in person and embarrassed him but I wasn’t there and maybe the host felt threatened. IMO, some cultures are more prone to threaten to call the cops than others and Austrslia that would be very uncool plus the cops would be more angry with me if I called than the
guest!
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Right-o. I’m just pointing out that you’re not applying a consistent and logical argument.
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Late to this discussion but I’m in the ‘yes’ you did over-react camp. Calling the police, are you serious?? Unless you are in immediate danger there is no need to call emergency services. Ever. To threaten to call them in this situation makes a mockery of what they do. You should be ashamed of yourself, frankly, for even thinking it.
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I agree. It’s a consistent inconsistency with hosts! It’s ok to compare us with hotels when things go well (we give so much more, you wouldn’t get that in a hotel etc) but it’s not ok to compare us with them when it goes bad (well, a hotel wouldn’t allow you to do that so why should we etc.)
Unfortunately you do feel like guests walk all over you sometimes when you try to be nice.
Good example today… I got a txt from the current guest last night asking if they could stay an extra night. I said sorry no, somebody else is coming. They say ok can I checkout late. I was home today during the day so said that would be fine but out by 3 please so I can clean up. They text in the morning asking to make it 3:30 and I say yes ok. It still gave me 1:15 clean up. I get a txt at 3 saying “actually it’ll be more like after 4”. I explain that I need to clean and have a guest in at 4:45 so can I go and change the sheets. I get a “my boyfriend is asleep now” followed by “ok we’ll leave just after 4 then you can clean”.
Here’s me thinking that she’s out and rushing back… But come 4:15 the boyfriend comes stumbling half asleep out of the room. I send him on his merry way and do the most express clean in a long time.
The correct answer last night was “sorry, we can’t accommodate late checkouts”
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Those guests did take the p^ss but I hope you can see you left the door open for them to do so.
There’s nothing wrong with giving a late check out but dont put yourself in a difficult situation by allowing them to extend. If 15.00 was the time you needed them out, it would have been better to have given them a time of 14.00, thereby building in a little leeway for yourself. Not a foolproof method by any means but as a project manager I’ve learned to expect things to go wrong and plan accordingly.
Then at 13.00 you go down and stand at the door asking if they need anything and reminding them of their 14.00 check out. 9 times out of 10 they will be out.
All that said this couple deserve a crappy review.
So true; classic case of you give an inch, they may take a mile. Obviously they are self-centered immature fools.
This give an inch they take a mile attitude makes me sad. I see it a lot in the forums so I know it’s a popular point of view, I just think it can’t be good always thinking a war situation is imminent just because you’re nice to people . So many of the issues people are unhappy about are actually fairly minor; if all we’re having to deal with is the odd late check in or makeup on sheets then maybe we should have a bit more perspective?
Just my two pence. I’ve hosted defensively before and all it did was make me more defensive and more irritable.
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Naturally, you should take this on a case by case basis. I’m usually a diehard on this late check out thing but only because I’ve been burned. I did just recently let a couple leave their luggage late, but told them the truth, we have to get in the room to pull out the old bed and assemble the new Nest bed. We will be in the room but you can leave the luggage. They were totally sweet and non demanding in every other way. And so appreciative…But normally it’s something I never do.
Flights often leave late from Hawaii if heading back to Europe, but if they ask at the beginning I suggest they book another night so they can enjoy another full day in Hawaii, some have taken me up on that and clearly it is a win win solution.
@Zandra, I agree, people on the defensive, always expecting the other shoe to drop, make me nervous. I am a fan of of removing situations (via policy) in which may cause ‘problems’ in the first place. Best to have defined boundaries, and then one is totally ‘free’ to make exceptions, based on the individual guest or situation as one sees fit.
Three words I never use in my vocabulary: ‘problems’, ‘concerns’ or ‘issues’. Replaced by the phrase ‘small detail’, less dramatic.
Lol, preaching to others for them to have perspective and then turning their comments into an imminent war analogy! Way too dramatic and, ironically, lacking perspective me thinks.
Lol. On a thread where someone threatened to call the police because a guest overstayed. Yes, I’m the one who was over dramatic. 
PS if you think my comment qualifies as preaching … well good luck with that. I’m happy voicing my opinion regardless.
I actually didn’t call them. But I said it to indicate the seriousness that he was still on my property and shouldn’t have been.
I think this is the point some of us are trying to make @southernbuckeye : threatening to call the police is always a last resort, which should not be mentioned ~if~ dealing with basically good people, but screwing up, because then comes across very insulting. Put another way, it is ‘bringing things to a head’. Good people are not used to that, it is not part of their life reality.
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