Hi, I have so far been happy for guests to leave their bags in my house if they arrive early or leave late. My Airbnb is n apartment attached to my house, so it’s quite easy so far. If I don’t have guests arriving on the same day , I let them know they can come in early, or leave late. It’s a perk for them.
One guest wants to arrive really early and I have charged her half the day before as I will have no time on her day of arrival to tidy up etc. I told her most guests book the night before to ensure they can get in, so she was happy with the half price. I’d blocked the day before so she could be certain .
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Re guests staying too late, I’d just tell them the situation , that someone’s coming in and you have to get the place ready. Don’t be shy, but be firm and friendly.
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I had to learn this. And I’m still not good at it 
People just don’t realize that we (I) aren’t a hotel/motel and that someone is not manning a front desk 24/7.
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I could do that here and guests have taken me up on it. It has to be in the carport though so it doesn’t tie me up. In truth, I’d really like to have them leave when their time is up. We are not a hotel that has a bell desk to handle these things.
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You are better than you think you are!!!
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I have a policy that states check out is at 11am. “Please respect the house cleaner, You will be charged $35 for every hour you stay past check-out,”
I had a guest 22 year old male come to town to race in a pro cycle race. He forgot that he was supposed to leave that day and left his carbon fiber bike two expensive bike cases for taking on an airplane two lap tops several Garmin watches and bunch of other expensive things…
I called him, texted him, no response … got of work early to go to the house, my house cleaner was not comfortable removing all of his stuff. I called Airbnb and told them that I’m taking his stuff and putting it all outside of the house because I had a family of with small kids arriving any minute.
Airbnb called and emailed him no response…
eventually the kid called me pissed that I put all of his things out side. I told him i did the best i could but he was not to go back in the house…
Since he still had a key he lugged all his stuff inside and repacked his gear in front of the family that arrived during his mid-packing…
family was pissed biker was pissed two bad reviews… nothing i could do.
So now my policy is $35 charge for every hour past check-out. You have to be strict or people walk all over you.
I block off two days so I can have housekeeper come in and clean and prep room and if in home, I prepare home baked treats … now I bake and freeze and buy bulk items so I’m always well stocked … being retired is a luxury I’m totally enjoying … wishing I had Airbnb in the early years when I worked full time … is a great way to supplement income
It’s easier for me because most of my guests are weekenders and I’ve a two day minimum and I do not do instant booking
I think there was a lot you could have done to manage this more smoothly. Putting someone’s stuff on the road, where it could get stolen was totally unreasonable.
The guy made a mistake; you could have put his stuff in the garden or in your garage, somewhere secure. And you could have charged him a late check out fee via the resolution centre which you could have refunded to your new guests who had been inconvenienced. But putting someone’s expensive belongings on the street? Here in the UK you’d be legally responsible for their loss.
More disturbing, I notice that instead of saying: I now contact the guest a few days before and agree check out time, your approach seems to be to jack up your penalty fees higher. Ouch. Not everything is about money sometimes all you need to do is have a conversation with people.
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I’ve never had an issue largely because I have a really late check out time (4pm) and late check in time (6pm). It’s always been enough time for guests and I’ve never found people had failed to leave.
I put his stuff in the secured back yard.
Guests get a text and email when they book that states the check out time, plus the house rules with check out times are framed in their rooms. Since doing this I haven’t had to charge them but I also haven’t had guests try to extend their stay (inconveniencing my house cleaner making me pay more per hour or inconveniencing the next guest).
I’m in my mid 20s but look a lot younger (and live alone), I feel like guests try to take advantage of me push the limits. Having strict rules and penalties spelled out has helped a lot.
We are a hotel/motel and motels do do this.
Have to agree with Zandra there. You could have averted the 2 bad review by simply ‘reaching out’ (lol) to your guest with regards to his check-out.
Like others here have mentioned , I too used to feel akward about doing this but now I make it a point to incorporate it into the initial check-in proceedure, saying something along the lines of - “so you’re just staying until Tuesday morning, is that right?” - no other choice then but to discuss their plans. Massive headache averted right there ;)!
Important lesson I’ve learned when it comes to hosting - communication and interaction are your BEST BUDS.
Is this the twilight zone? Did you say… agree!!!
Jesting aside; glad it was clarified that the stuff was put somewhere secure. Still think ( like you ) the best approach is talking; I find the put one foot wrong and you’re fined system passive aggressive.
Recently had a host with flexible checkout; day before checkout they hadn’t explained what the wanted me to do so I contacted them explaining I Was checking out 13.00 the next day. (By the way I thought this was taking the p* but I wanted to see if she really meant flexible ). Apparently it was fine, especially when she got back and saw the chocolates I had left for her.
Do you run a motel? If so, then you would have someone manning a front desk to check people in and out of their rooms. For me, I’m house-sharing and take in just one guest who pays a very reduced rate, so I can’t offer 24/7 check in/out services.
I mean when you book the room you see the check out day and time. The night before your last day Airbnb emails you a reminder of your departure and check out time, in the room there is a framed sign that tells you the check out time. At some point people need to take personal responsibility.
- In that particular case I called, emailed, texted had airbnb call him and email him he didn’t respond for a good 6 hours. For all know he was dead.
I don’t run a hotel but I do rent out three rooms in the house I own and live in. I do work full time also and travel a lot so I have an amazing house cleaner who comes and flips rooms for me (I also like her because no matter how hard I try she always seems to make everything look nicer).
I used to have another house in the downtown area (so two houses at once) and I noticed that when I was not around the house was a free for all and people were a lot more destructive (spilling wine, smoking,locking other guests out, going into the nicer rooms that they didn’t book and “pretending” like they didn’t know displacing the next guest and making me have to re-clean the room) .
also in the past I would have guys not check out and wait for me to get back from work at 5pm to tell me they are staying an extra day and want to pay cash… no I have someone else coming in 15minutes. So I also write down on the house rules that I don’t take cash.
Point being… having firm guidelines and repercussions for intentional bad behavior has stopped a lot of this nonsense.
I haven’t charged anyone for a late checkout yet and probably wont but having that rule I think has made things go a lot more smoothly.
Where did you hear this? None of my guests have ever received such an email during their stays with me.
I use Airbnb for travel and if I remember correctly I get emails about my stay/departure. and Please remember to review in the morning of departure. I just got one right now actually.
Would you be willing to cut/paste such a message so we can all see? Removing any personal details, of course. I wonder why my guests don’t get this and yours do!
Hmm. maybe you’re right and I just got a reminder to review the host. This morning my one guest checks out at 11am and we both got a “please review so-and so alert.”
Anyway with all the other prompts guests get, like I said earlier there is no reason to “forget check out.” To me it’s kindof like a plane flight, don’t you check and recheck the departure time?
A good book to read if you’re a new host is Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud. It talks about saying No and setting boundaries and not feeling guilty about it.
(I’m not trying to sound rude, just helpful)
Scull, I was about to say that your $35 late fee sounded hardline but then I read about all the rooms you are renting, etc. I can see why you have to do it, especially since you are not on site and have multiple rooms going. I’ve stated it before and I’ll say it again, you have to be firm as a host…and it really helps to state all your expectations CLEARLY in a guest document that you send before they arrive. That way guests won’t dream of pushing boundaries. It’s a bit like the kindergarten classes I teach. If I didn’t set out firm expectations at the beginning of each class (I.e., every day I review them) for behavior, the kids would run amok. You can’t have the inmates running the asylum. When I first started teaching, a more experienced teacher told me…you have to start out by being strict. You can relax later but you can’t get more strict after you’ve first been a pushover. Good point.
Setting firm boundaries gives the host a better experience, which in turn gives the guest a better experience by extension.
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