Guest has not told me time for check-in tomorrow

It’s not acceptable for guests to list out of date numbers 1 star for communication!

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Sometimes they don’t have a clue when they will get here. So I let them know how I can be reached, and how to use the keyless locks. I tell other guests to expect them. We connect and do the tour a bit later. No worries.

Given your scenario above, agreed!

Have you considered a lock box. You can easily buy them on Amazon for about $20. Then the night before her arrival, you send her the lock box code. It’s so much easier than having to wait around for the guests.

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I have considered a lockbox but I prefer checking them in myself. I have been hosting since 2015 and it’s the first time I have someone that won’t give me their arrival time. I’m still waiting. Calling her in the afternoon.

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Consider adding something like I have in my house rules
‘So that I can meet you, Guest must confirm 2 days before arrival exact checkin time and if you require special bread or milk’.

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Why is it every single time on here a GUEST FAILS to communicate or stick to check in procedure, hosts chip in with do self check in, get a lock box blah blah. It really isn’t the host’s fault the guest is not communicating and there are loads of advantages to meeting and greeting and putting your stamp on your listing, and thankfully Airbnb agree. If a guest’s communication is poor around check in then they may well be poor during their stay. If a guest blatantly, repeatedly ignores a host they should be marked down. Period.

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The reason I do it is because it’s my belief that we can’t control other people’s behavior. Telling a host that they could do something differently isn’t a matter of assigning blame.

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No we cannot control others, but we can allow the responsibility chips to fall in the right laps. We don’t have to bend ourselves out of shape and buy lock boxes etc. just because certain guests refuse to communicate.
If a guest persistently refuses to communicate about check in, what other things, e.g. rules, will they ignore, and if there were an important or urgent safety or utilities issue to emerge during their stay would they ignore us then as well? Such guests are totally unsuitable to the sharing economy and should be in hotels where systems and regulations are in place to accommodate their needs.
As it happens I do have a lock box, but if I use it it will be on my own terms, not because a guest has ambushed me into using it by not communicating. Thankfully such guests are rare, but let them get an hotel instead if they can’t be bothered.

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One rule of thumb that I use is that if something happens more than twice (misunderstanding a rule, for instance) then it is the hosts’ responsibility to understand why it happened. Many times what the host thinks is the best way to communicate a rule is not really understood easily by a guest, nd if more than one ‘fail’ to do what you ask then… change your rule or the way it is presented.

You may not be the best candidate for being a host if this is the way you look at a hosting problem:

“As it happens I do have a lock box, but if I use it it will be on my own terms, not because a guest has ambushed me into using it by not communicating. Thankfully such guests are rare, but let them get an hotel instead if they can’t be bothered.”

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The guests who fail to communicate about check in are rare outlyers. Their unsuitable character has nothing to do with my hosting. All I am saying is stop making excuses for these people. A sharing economy depends on communication. That’s just the way things are, not my design.

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There are a lot of newbies using Airbnb for the first time but they should do their research and respond to messages from hosts to make sure they have the best experience. They should read the information too and understand what they’re getting when they book but that’s too much responsibility for a lot of people too.

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Yes and some of the newbies stumble but that’s fine because they’re listening and learning. It’s the ones who think they’re above communicating, who think they can do what they like and the host should pick up any shit they throw at them who should be off the platform.

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Since this discussion is covering communication with guests, here is a non response Issue I have run into a couple of times now. The guest responds and communicates well UNTIL they are in the home. My listing is not shared but it is within 10 minutes of the home I occupy. I always send a message after the 1st night to touch base and make sure guests are happy and/or do they need anything? Most of the time they answer. But every so often - crickets - and this bothers me. I don’t want to pester and be overly intrusive, they are on vacation after all, but I do need to know that things are good or not. I also message to let them know we will be coming by on garbage day to put the can out if they are staying during that time. Any suggestions on what I can do better to get a response? I almost feel like ending with “Please text OK if you got this message”. Not sure how I would feel about that as a guest, but I cannot hold my own yardstick up for this, I ALWAYS answer the host when they message me.

Why do you need it? If they’ve nothing to tell you, that’s a good thing surely? Some guests are just more sociable than others.

I do find though that sometimes guests from other countries don’t use their phones when they are here - probably an expense thing. So I just make sure that at some point during their stay I ‘just happen’ to run into them in the yard or the parking lot if I need to contact them. Either that or I go and knock on the door.

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If they won’t answer you and then ding you for something you could respond by saying ‘I always text my guests to see if everything is ok and encourage them to let me know if anything is wrong’.

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Why do I need it? That is a question I ask myself as well. Generally one would think no news is good news. Well not so much. Unfortunately our very first Airbnb guest was a problem. They communicated extremely well up until they were in. Then nothing. When I did go by and knock on the door to let them know we were going to be doing some yard work about an hour before they were due to check out, because they had Not answered the message, I got hit the an overwhelming wave of marijuana odor, not smoke, but like a dispensary or grow house. While we found no sign of pot anywhere in the house it STUNK in EVERY ROOM. We did find packing materials they left behind. The consensus was, from folks in the know, that they had set up a temporary trim and pack house. NOT OK! Yes Pot is now legal in this state but I don’t want it stinking up my house. Not everyone likes that smell! It took me 2 days to get the smell out! So I guess one could say I am a bit suspicious when I don’t get an answer.

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That is actually quite helpful. Thank you

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You just had a bad experience, that’s all :slight_smile:

You’ll find that in 99 cases out of 100, silent guests are no problem. It’s the ones who are constantly in touch that you want to watch out for!

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Of course you deserve a response! It’s rude not to answer, surely every half decent family teaches their children manners. It costs the guest nothing to send a message through the app because they are using the WiFi we supply. It would cost them 10 seconds to reply, ‘All good thanks’. I don’t get many people who ignore my messages. When they arrive I do tell them to message me if they need anything and that I will check they are ok. If they are a new i.e. non returning guest I message them the day after check in to ask if they were comfortable and if they need anything.

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