The only sign I have put up (for the same reason of now wanting to make the place look institutional) is on the back door warning people not to go out there because of chickens, ducks, dirt and poop. It is in The Rules but whereas i can deal with a bit of occasional rule breakage I do not want someone’s dog rushing out there and attacking my animals, because that has happened. And my poor chicken Neetie had a permanent limp after a cavoodle bit her wing. And if they complain to AirBnB their shoes etc got dirty I will send a photo of the sign to them and ask what else I am supposed to do?
Put a double deadbolt lock on the door so it needs a key to be unlocked, even from the inside.
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In England we have a tradition of always ringing or knocking on the door and ASKING if we can come in. If he had my guest would have said not really. Because he told the other guest he WAS checking in it conned him. In England it’s only normally criminal classes who duck manners with strangers.
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Yep, no drive just a street in a city.
My existing guest was a pedestrian walking back to the house, the pushy guest had arrived in his car.
Yep if he had told me what he had done it would have been more forgivable. I was left waiting like a lemon for him to check in, with no idea he had already been in my house and taken the keys!
Yep do you know I was out with a friend locally and came back to check him in. A message would have taken him 1 minute.
Where can I see these statistics?
He just admitted he should have contacted me. He didn’t give a reason. I guess there is no reason.
Actually I tried to cancel the reservation with Airbnb. It’s still outstanding!
Yep I think he realised he had done wrong. Communication is king !
No I mean it was supposed to be cancelled but Airbnb are late dealing with it.
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Airbnb have finally sorted things, cancellation with no penalties and no refund. Airbnb consider the mode of check in to be the host’s choice, self check in, cohost check in or meet and greet are all valid as long as they are clearly communicated in the thread. They considered the pushy guest following the other guest into the house inappropriate, going into rooms and taking keys even more inappropriate. They were less impressed that the guest had made no effort to contact me either before of after he checked himself in. Sanity reigns it seems. Meet and greet hosts are not going to be forced to allow self check in against our will. Allelujah. Personal choice and freedom lives.
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Hi @Jess1,
Congratulations on resolving your situation satisfactorily. But it seems to me that you’ve spent more effort and attention on this not very serious infraction that it warrants, not least on this thread. Unless you have unusually well-behaved guests, I would beware of burnout.
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It’s usually people who fail to set boundaries who are vulnerable to burnout. It should be pleasing to all hosts to have self determination in their own listings rather than be dictated to by Airbnb or guests, surely. I have been surprised by how many hosts think all other hosts should do self check in, and shocked that some hosts think guests should dictate what method we use.to check in, even on an ambush basis! As for me I am pro personal choice all the way. Personally I am not sure it’s psychologically healthy to live under seige feeling that locks are necessary on internal doors in a family home, and feel too many signs look institutional. Meet and greet feels healthy to me. May you all find support here for your choices.
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Sure, @Jess1. Whatever works for you. Since none of us actually know you in real life, we can’t really comment on the best style of management for your listing. Just expressing some friendly concern, because I personally would find confronting guests over these kinds of infractions on a regular basis exhausting, and definitely not worth it in the larger scheme of things. But as you say, everyone is different.
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Never had a guest who followed another guest into my house in that manner before and probably won’t again. I think I can cope with one of those every 3 years. Bottom line is guests need to stick to agreements whatever they are, or experience the consequences of their actions. Just think, he let me wait there for him to check in, when he’d already taken a key from the room! Wouldn’t even spend one minute on a text. Piece of shit.
I haven’t read through all the responses thoroughly @Jess1 but I don’t remember anyone saying all hosts have to do self-check in. Nor dictating what check in method you should use.
I think everyone agrees that people should do the check in method that works for them.
All I and I think the majority said is that self check in would offer you more flexibility - this was before you stated it wasn’t something you would consider. As I have already said to you. Choose what works best for you.
I don’t feel I am living ‘under siege’ as you so nicely put it, or that I am being damaged psychologically, because I choose to have a lock on my bedroom door - just as you choose to only do self check in.
I have always had a lock on my bedroom door since I moved here, as having a locked room is a condition of my home insurance because of some particular valuables I have at my property. This was before I started offering Airbnb. Why have these digs at people who choose to operate their listing differently to how you operate yours?
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I do not have self check in, I do have locks on all the bedroom doors.
I don’t need self check in as I am self employed and often go out locally. I just arrange a check in window or update method with the guest if they have a long trip and we meet. Usually in my evening window, sometimes to suit the guest, for example I had a nurse need to check in early today, fine. No need for self check in, but I do need guests to do what they said they were going to do and not invent check in methods which we never discussed. Simples. Guest could easily have contacted me, it was a professional guy, an accountant, he knew better!