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As long as you understand that it doesn’t cost you anything more. You said you didn’t understand why other people want to charge for it.
As a matter of practice I do the same as you, allow early check in at no charge if the room is ready. I often message the guest and tell them so even if they haven’t requested it because as you say it buys good will at little cost.
Every guest needs to understand that every Airbnb listing is different with very few common mandates for listings. Every host is well served to understand the same.
Because it indicates a sense of entitlement. Polite guests don’t ask for things that you don’t offer.
Example- because I also block a day between bookings for prep time, and work from home, I have a very flexible check-in window, 11AM to 11PM. The room is usually ready the day before, with only a couple last minute things left to do before the guest arrives.
The only guest I had who was arriving before my check-in window was taking an overnight highway bus from another part of the country, which got into town at 9AM. When I asked her for her ETA, she said her bus arrived at 9AM, but she knew that was too early to check in, so she’d find a cafe to hang out in until 11.
My check-in time is 11AM because I’m not an early riser and am usually on my second cup of coffee at 10, haven’t eaten anything yet, and am just getting my brain in gear for the day. But because she didn’t ask to check in earlier than the stated time, I told her it was fine to come over when she arrived.
It’s like when my kids were young and had their birthday parties- when it came time to pass out the cake and ice cream, most of the kids would be clamoring around loudly trying to be first. I would look for the child who was waiting quietly in the background, secure in knowing that everyone would get some and not everyone could be first, and hand the first plate to them, much to the other kids’ surprise and dismay. And say “The first plate goes to Chandra, because she isn’t pushing and shoving and trying to be first.”
There’s also a big difference in how one can feel a host out for something like an early check-in. “Hi XX, our flight arrives at noon, and we can find something else to do until check-in time, but if by some chance an earlier check-in could be accommodated, we’d really appreciate you letting us know” is different from “We’ll be arriving in town at noon, your 4 PM check-in doesn’t work for us, how early can we check in?”
Because many guests don’t ask. They state what they expect instead of a polite ask.
Or they ask for outrageous things - like hosts to purchase decorations and food and decorate the property for a birthday celebration- all at the host’s expense. Or to pay $100 a night for a $500 a night place “because something is better than nothing, right?”
We want to be as accommodating as possible without comprimising our cleaning procedure. Our units are Entire Homes so there is no impact to our personal life. We do not encourage it, but we do try and accommodate their needs. My wife heads up the changeover staff so she is really the one that makes the call. When I heard a friend that runs a pretty large resort say that they try to accomodate all early checkins, I realized it was the right thing to do, but then again I have heard him talk about all of the delayed checkins that they have due to shortage of cleaning help.
I only get a few of these, but I’m more willing to go out of my way for such people.
Most of the people asking for early check in are in this category. Even if the place is vacant, I don’t allow them early check in. And then I follow it up with a nice review to ensure that the next host won’t have to put up with this guest.
If I can, I allow early checki ns. Just today my guest asked what was the earliest they could check in, as they were taking a family member to the hospital for major surgery, and had to be there quite early. I had a day in between, so I could get it clean the day before (I have a full time job and clean the place by myself, so time can be tight), so I told her 11:00. She was happy, and I had my Tuesday zoom meeting in the nice AirBnB instead of my crummy basement. Win win.
