A self contained unit is to a homestay as apples are to oranges. Comparison re check in rules is not fruitful.
If people want to do a detour, stop for food and sightsee then hopefully they will not try to book with a host with a short check in window and cut off at 10pm.
One option for guests who can’t or don’t want to be punctual is to book somewhere with 24 hour check in for the first night, where someone is paid to be on reception. I had to do this with a Spanish guest once who was oblivious to the fact that her midnight flight didn’t accord. She turned out to be a pain anyway, like most people who need you to do their thinking for them.
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Yes you are correct. I don’t necessarily know who has a separate unit and who doesn’t on this forum.
Obviously if you have a self contained unit/self check in you wouldn’t be bothered about giving a guest thumbs down for arriving past cut off time, which is what this whole thread is about.
Jess, a bad day at the office ? 
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Ha, actually am now conflicted because late guest turns out to be very charming! Dog rolled in fox poo again so that got up my 
nose as well.
I hate when that happens. Honestly. I think I’ve just been manipulated into tonight’s booking by some repeat guests and I’m so mad at myself.
I hate it when that happens. Fox shit; there is nothing WORSE than a dog covered in fox shit. I haven’t smelt it in 25 years and I can smell it now. And then the trauma of getting it off. Memories of my old Welsh Springer. We have a fox that “visits” nightly for a dump, but the cats aren’t interested.
Mine is a working Cocker. All spaniels seem to love it. Apparently the smell disguises their own, so rolling in fox poo is the dog equivalent of being the invisible man.
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Many years ago, staying with a school friend near Hereford, we went to meet Grand Mother for Sunday lunch in Malvern. The parents insisted on bringing the Lab Ret in the back of a mini traveller, covered and stinking. This is called recovering memories!
Yep smell region of brain is near emotion and memory.
So what do you mean? You get a guest doing a multi-day booking, and then you book a hotel with 24 hour check in for the first night, and you pay for this out of your own pocket? I don’t think this is what you mean.
If guests want to inconvenience a host by arriving at the dead of night, there is nothing you can do short of simply not opening the door after your stated check-in time. I once had a guest with a multi-day booking, who adhered to this rule. Instead of asking for a late check-in, he simply didn’t show up after 10 pm, and he then wandered around town all night, to check in the next morning. This was a very considerate guest - he was Dutch, by the way - but I don’t think you can expect most guests to do this.
Of course the guest pays for the first night at their hotel or whatever if they need 24 hour check in. I have a 24 hour backpackers in my city right by the bus station where the airport bus comes in.
I don’t book guests who have really late flights etc. for their first night. If a guest was unexpectedly going to arrive way past my check in time of 10pm (e.g. after 11.30pm) I would indeed 100% tell them to go to an hotel or backpackers. I am categically not paid enough to lose sleep. Airbnb 100% supports hosts who do not want guests arriving after their check in time. No need even for a refund.
Huh? This might once have been the case, but I can assure it is no longer. If you call AirBNB about a guest not yet having arrived, they will do their best to talk you into a self check-in procedure or waiting up. In the event that you are unable to make alternate arrangements, then AirBNB is deciding about the refunds and cancelations. If you don’t call, the guest certainly will and will get the “first sympathies.”
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I don’t think Airbnb 100% supports hosts on any issue.
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I know what you mean. I have had their full support a couple of times for guests wanting to turn up after midnight. They suggested the guest made other arrangements for the night, because my 10pm cut off was clear, then I allow early check in the next day. Perhaps it has changed, it’s a situation I avoid like the plague and it hasn’t happened for nearly a year. If Airbnb has changed their policy that’s wrong because the guest is breaching the contract. The guest needs to allow themselves sufficient leeway in their travel plans for a homestay, or pay for 24 hour check in.
Some years ago, when I didn’t know the local German Airbnb support number yet, I used to call the Airbnb hq in San Francisco about this kind of issue. I told them “it is about midnight German time, and I want to go to bed. Guest hasn’t arrived yet. This is really a bad situation”.
I can imagine the Airbnb rep looked out of her California window - bright sunshine, lunch time. She tried to put herself into my situation - but failed. She then said, obviously psychologically trained, “Gosh, it is in the middle of the night where you live. The guests must be very tired when they arrive. Make sure they feel comfortable on arrival”.
That is outrageous. What was your check in window? Had the guest messaged? Did you suggest they stay somewhere else for the night?
My check-in window was, and still is, up to 10 pm. I don’t remember anything about this particular guest, as it was years ago.
But anyway, arranging guest arrival is the most annoying bit of Airbnb hosting, up to this day. In fact, I am waiting for a new guest to arrive at this very minute, and one hour from now, I will have to go out to work.
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Even some of us who have a self-contained unit insist on welcoming guests in person. Therefore, it is very important for me to know when they arrive. As 90% of my guests arrive by car, almost everyone is late or waaay too early. I don’t have a cut-off point, and arrival after 9 PM is really rare. I think it happened me twice since I’m hosting that I had to get up in order to let the guest in. But I know that for many people this is simply unacceptable, especially if it happens often, and I think I would simply report a no show if someone was 2 hours late for their check-in.
Also, I would advise everyone to put the cut off point an hour earlier than they are actually willing to accept the guest. Guests will try to meet the stated deadline, and the chances are still that they will appear within your actual check-in window, even if they are an hour late.
As for taking showers and doing chores while waiting for guests, I’m not waiting for anyone anymore. I started writing to my guests that they have to let me know when they are approximately an hour drive away from my house so that I can anticipate their arrival. Otherwise, there might be no one there to let them in. Since this, people became way more responsive and punctual. You just have to present them with a cost of wasting THEIR time.
There’s absolutely no way I’m going to miss on barbecues, parties, going to the beach or doing my shopping anymore for people who are more than an hour late for their check-in and don’t even feel the need to text me about it. They can mention it in their review, I don’t care.
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Yep I agree waiting is hard work and largely unpaid. People need to realise bad time keeping affects others, but the Airbnb trend towards supporting inconsiderate guests won’t help this.
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