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Your story is much like mine. But my review-less guest decided to throw a party for 10 people the first night and then simply said “it wasn’t what I expected” to tried and get a refund for the other two nights. Luckily Airbnb stuck with me and he paid $450+ for his one party.
I had a house rule stating no parties. In his first night with him and a friend they used 12 towels left beer cans inside and outside (45 of them) and did not complain until the last day.
He was verified, been on Airbnb for a year. And no reviews. From now on, they must have at least one review.
Absolutely, i cancelled a guest once because she found it unreasonable that i was asking for a 2 hours window frame at the least for the checkin - she didn’t want to be “tied down” by a set time and preferred to arrive whenever she pleased., “sometime in the afternoon or evening”. amazing.
Good for you! If the B got all huffy over that, then just imagine what she’d be like as a guest.
For me, it all depends on how they ask. If they seem nice, reasonable, polite, then I give in. A Korean girl is arriving next week and she asked to check in 30mins to an hour early “just to drop off her luggage”. After a few back and forth messages I said OK. I can deal with that since it doesn’t take me much time to clean. Also, every Korean girl–and there have been a few who’ve stayed here–has been just fine. I hope this one isn’t the exception!
I am not a Host but a Guest, but I certainly hope you complain to Airbnb about your existing guest (who let them in) and the arriving one for accepting the invite.
Very bad manners and really ‘quite thick’ guests that other Hosts should be warned about, certainly your existing guest which is an appalling act of not looking after your residence.
Interesting perspective. I have to say, if I was in an airbnb house with multiple rooms, and a guest showed up in the afternoon and said “I’m an airbnb guests scheduled to check-in” I would let them in. It’s not my job to ‘bar the gate’. I would assume the guest had the right to be there - what would I say “sit here on the curb until the host arrives?”. What would you do?
dcmooney - Your Host has placed in you a trust and responsibility to look after their own property while they are not there. Apart from my wife and children I care a great deal about where I live, as it is my home and as I have read on here, came back to find my the current guest had left and allowed someone in and they had damaged or stolen I would be mortified and absolutely furious. Thus if a Host trusts after having have put a lot of time and love in decorating and spending money on - I would act effectively ‘In loco parentis’ and as i have done treat their home as my own.
So if I was put in that situation, I think most caring and responsible adults :-
would attempt to contact the Host and see what they wish me to do
if they can’t to then contact Airbnb and get advice
state politely and diplomatically there has been a mix-up with the change over times and that the Host has agreed you leave at designated time and you are not ready and ask if they would consider finding a cafe or bar and coming back after you have gone
allow them to leave their bags if they wish
state as far as you know, Airbnb rules state that the keys have to be handed back to the host, popped into the post box or left with a designated person.
if they insist that they want to come in, politely refuse and say “Sorry” you are not prepared to do so
But I for one, under NO condition would hand over the keys with out the Host’s permission
I think you should seriously sit down and rethink where your loyalties and responsibilities lie when entering into an agreement with an Airbnb host.
It’s possible that most caring and responsible adults would do those things. The question is - how many people are actually caring and responsible?
Let’s be brutally honest here. Most people do not give a sh-- about other people’s stuff. They care about their own stuff and will complain up and down if someone else breaks something of theirs. But when the shoe is on the other foot and they are in someone else’s home, if they stain a pillow or break a glass, 9 times out of 10 they will try to hide what happened and under no circumstances will own up to it without prompting.
Casual damage is so common that most hosts don’t even get upset about it (see the thread about what gets broken and stolen.) Glasses, teaspoons and other small items are just replaced without comment because it’s so normal for them to go missing. I have witnessed guests bang their suitcase into the wall and leave a mark and the most you get is an offhand “oooops, sorry!” It’s normal wear and tear.
So taken to the next level, the vast number of guests in a similar situation would in fact let in someone who seemed like they belonged. They are not going to take the time to look up the phone number for Airbnb and sit on hold for 15 minutes while making the other guests sit outside and wait. They are busy with their own things and it just isn’t their responsibility.
As a host with more than one room myself, I would hope that my guests won’t allow in complete strangers, but I can’t expect them to behave the way I would. Their perspective is different from mine. So in the case of two guests at a time, I think that in the future I will talk to the first guest and say “someone new is checking in today - it’s not your responsibility to let them in and show them around. If they are banging on the door, you can tell them to text me”
I do understand the opposition to what I stated, I have to say - I wouldn’t consider them ‘complete strangers’. They are paying guests, and only 1.5 hours early - so presumably arriving at a time that would be reasonable for guests to check-in. (I never said I’d hand over a key.)
I said I’d assume, if they state they are guests, they are standing there with luggage, the hosts lets out numerous rooms, that they are to have access to the property. I wouldn’t sit in the living room while guests with luggage knocked knocked knocked on the door, letting them stand outside in the weather.
I wouldn’t be totally comfortable with it, either. But it’s the host that would have put me in that position. There need to be guidelines, “what to do if other guests arrive while I’m out”. I think it’s host’s responsibility to tell other guests that only he is allowed to open the door. It’s not the guest’s role to play security guard nor would we be expected to let people just stand on the doorstep unanswered.
