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Two sets of guests ago I got the same answer. They also didn’t clean up after themselves. Being first timers I felt the need to go light on them (3 stars for communication, 4 stars cleanliness, 4 stars house rules) and gave them lots of private feedback. My public review was very neutral. I did my best to train them up for the next host!
On a side note…they were also locals. I’ve only had 2 sets of locals since starting out and they’ve both been bad (for various reasons). They’ve ruined it for future locals who are looking for a quick getaway out of the city. I have no choice but to decline them now. Not worth the pain.
when i have been an airbnb guest i have found it very stress full to be letting someone know what time i iwll arrive and then actually getting there on time. so as a host i leave a key for guests. i ask them about what time they will arrive and tell them where the key will be there for them.
everyone has been fine with this except one ditz who called and said the key wasnt there so i drove over and of course it was there!
This is what I finally wrote as a review for these guests who were very nice :
“It was nice to have Suzanne and her partner as guests. They were friendly, clean, appreciative and trustworthy. (That being said, not wanting to provide me with a check-in time the day prior to arrival, saying that they would let me know at 5pm the day of ,meant that I could not make any personal plans for that evening. This might be problematic for alot of Airbnb hosts. )”
They wrote me a glowing review and now I feel bad…
Not wanting to stress my guests, I don’t ask for a specific check in time but rather an approximate one +/- 1hour.
I do leave a key in a key box in certain situations only (this is my home.)
Don’t feel bad. You just typed words on a screen which changes nothing in their real lives. They made you sit around your house all night waiting which made an impact on your real life. Which is worse?
This is the sort of information that other hosts need to have - so thanks for being honest in your review. What were your star ratings for them? Did you recommend them to other hosts (thumbs up)?
Yes. Many guests do think we are just like hotels and they can just drop in whenever they are ready.
Put in your house rules that your check-in window is from x time to y time and if they anticipate arriving outside that window, they must contact you ahead of time. That way you are protected if someone shows up at 1 am and it ends up turning into a really bad situation and you need Air to get involved. It’s sad that we have to cover our assess so much, but this whole sharing economy concept is still new to a lot of people, and they aren’t looking at things from your perspective, so by all means protect yourself. Business is business.
I have had self check in recommended repeatedly. For many hosts, myself included, self check in isn’t feasible. I have dogs who will bark at visitors until I introduce them. Also, as we have many guests from other cultures; we find that it is necessary to show guests how to use everything in our house or risk having them break things.
I think that guests who don’t like having to plan on an arrival time should book Airbnb listings that offer self check in.
In Hawaii, I have to totally be flexible about late check in times. Not only do flights get in late but sometimes distances and things people are doing are just out of their control. My most recent guest texted she’d be leaving the other side of the island at 10:30 which means they would get here at 12:30. I didn’t mind waiting up for her because she had a good reason. They’d booked a stargazing tour and it was all they could get after the recent tropical storm threw things off schedule. I totally understood and told her to enjoy the stars.
She got here at 12:10 and it was no problem whatsoever to wait up for her and usher her in. She seemed relieved that I was flexible.
I am totally flexible as well in the same manner as you. In return, I request that the guest give me at least an aproximate arrival time, give or take an hour a day prior.
Did you eventually get the response from them? If not, what did you eventually do?
I have a guest coming over this Saturday but he never replied to my greeting messages ( normally people would reply: “thank you for accepting the request, etc “and chat with me a little bit ) and he didn’t really have any reviews so that concerns me a little when he is not being very responsive. I sent him a message today ( Monday ) hopefully he will reply soon or I don’t know what I can do ( maybe cancel his appointment?)
If someone is not quite sure, I indicate how to check themselves in. I may be running errands or at an appointment, but there’s generally someone here.
I also keep a pile of alterations, knitting, and follow up mail piled up, and fire up Netflix. Not a bad way to spend an hour or so!
It’s not very possible for guests to know to the minute (or even to the half hour) what time they can arrive. Of course, there are the obvious things like delayed flights, late-running trains and car breakdowns/severe traffic jams.
But there can also be delays such as a completely unexpected queue at the car hire place. Or immigration at the airport (a common one). Or the GPS leading them in the wrong direction even. I’ve had guests arrive late because of a tyre puncturing or getting pulled over by the cops. I once had a guest whose car was stolen when they stopped to buy gas when they were just an hour away. Recently, guests who planned to do grocery shopping to fill in the time between getting into town and our normal check in time found that there was some sort of power/electric mayhem at the supermarket and they were stuck there for 45 minutes.
Then of course there are the no-so-great scenarios such as they decided to stop for lunch, or she saw a great pair of shoes and had to stop to buy them or they went sightseeing or whatever…
But it’s going to happen and quite often. If hosts can save themselves stress by realising this and arranging their afternoon so that they accept that check in will be within, let’s say, a three hour window, then it’s lovely when guests arrive more or less on time. After that three hour window I message them with self check in details. Then it’s their problem and not mine.
I’m like @justMandi in that I have planned loads of work on the laptop I can be doing in the meantime and accept this as part of the whole thing.
Sure. I can always nip round to pick up groceries, do some gardening, gas up, throw in another load, unload the dishwasher, chat with the neighbors, prepare dinner, sweep, plan the week, or try to get a nap in rather than getting steamed.
