@GutHend its not just the keys someone needs to get their passport details.
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Yes, I wonder how that will go down. In this age of entitlement people think if it’s not “their fault” then some innocent bystander has to pay for it.
Having said this in the majority of cases I have sucked it up and paid the fee myself - which is higher than what the guest paid for the night - to preserve relationships with the guest.
That’s where the problem lies. You state no exceptions and then not only make the exceptions but make exceptions that COST you more money than the guest you are keeping. You’d be better to not host them than this…
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Gem20 I love it! Love it! would never write it tho.
First of although I highly suspect all of this was due to guest not wanting to pay late arrival fee, I have no proof of lying. It was perhaps simple negligence, busy person has more in his life than responding to the f_ing airbnb host, and self centered-ness not caring a hoot about your host. I have been wrong before.
I have to stay neutral I think I will say something like:
" this guest is best suited to a property that has self check-in. This guest questioned and expressed surprise at our check-in house rules, despite these being clearly stated in the instant booking statement. Guest provided wrong flight information and arrived 4 hours after planned check in time, 3 hours after cutoff check-in time, despite negotiating not paying the late fee because his flight was supposedly arriving only 1 hour before our cutoff.
Guest also did not comply with our legal obligation to provide ID information on arrival (apparently passports were in the car so not produced for our property manager. This is a legal obligation with the Andalucia government and is clearly stated in our house rules and welcome messages. We had to request several times the ID information of these guests, who expressed surprise and questioned why we were asking for this information, then provided redacted and blacked out information. If they had read the house rules and arrival information they would have known this is a legal requirement.
you are absolutely right, as I go further I realize you have to make no exceptions! and don’t apologise! when you start to show weakness and make an exception, game over.
GutHend that is an excellent idea. Most people rent a car though, but I will think about that again because if I have to pay someone 100 euros might as well give them a ride from the airport included in the price!
Thanks for reminding me about that, very helpful.
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Thanks for all that helpful advice!
I have searched for keycafes there are none. And I have been to all local shops and restaurants, first of all nobody wants the hassle and second they all have opening and closing hours so what do you do when they’re closed?
Yes you are right I made a mistake when I waved the late arrival fee because he was supposedly going to arrive 30 minutes after cutoff time at the end of the workday, would have been an extra hour for my pm.
Instead his fligh arrived 4 hours after the cutoff time which was of course a different scenario.
But you’re right the problem is on my end I need a more flexible property manager and a place to leave the key for emergencies.
In fact I did find a taxi that did the admin and got their passsport details too!
So GutHends recommenation is perfect except for the price which is about equivalent to my nightly price so how can I offer it to people? And the fact that most people rent a car.
But yes there are lots of solutions - here’s another one - I got a “key rock” which is a fake hollowed out rock for hiding keys. The PM could leave this somewhere, far enough from the property to not worry the neighbors, on the way from the airport for example at a gas station or something.
I think this rock thing is like for drug drops it came with a bunch of plastic baggies!
I’m just worried if I do this the guest will not find the hidden rock at night or someone will move it or throw it away!
Of course this doesn’t solve the passport problem someone would have to go next day to get their passports. This is tough once people are on vacay they don’t want to do that stuff.
Hahah! once they arrive they of course get a key for the front door, it works with a key OR with the code!!! IT’s not like you can’t come and go after that time, it’s just that you need the key that I leave in the apartment!
Hahahah that’s a good one thanks for that.
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Yes thanks for this excellent idea I’m making a list now! Occasionally mailing a key the week before arrival by registered mail would indeed cheaper and easier than paying the PM!
Especially good because the street door key is a little simple key easy and cheap to copy.
However in this situation it would not have helped because the guest told me he was arriving 4 hours before he really arrived.
they don’t read, I’ll have to make a pictogram…
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I agree that we airbnb hosts must work on a level playing field to hotels, meaning respecting the same regulations, police registering, rental permit, safety guidelines, and tax declarations.
However I disagree that we are somehow supposed to offer exactly the same service as a hotel?!
Many small hotels do NOT have 24 hour front desk, and I suppose if you arrive when the desk is closed, too bad for you, you can’t go crying to Airbnb support.
Hotels have check out times and fees for late check out. People don’t just expect to be able to stay until noon or 2pm at a hotel, but yet some do when they are at an airbnb!
Hotels offer other things that people should not expect when they rent a self catered apartment: daily maid service, room service, 24 hour concierge, pay per view TV, spa, gift shop…
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Love your story. Of course if someone has delays misses his flight gets lost or whatever problem out of their control, we go out of our way to accomodate!
And I understand the cell phone could be out of battery or any number of mishaps ( one of the first things in my house rules says “You must have 4G in Europe and provide your phone number to communicate by WhatsApp when you arrive”. ) SH. happens and we’ll work it out if the person is considerate!
I think my irritation is due to the shifting of attitude; when this happened to you, your first reaction was not “How could they do this to me, I’m going to heap abuse on the hotel in a bad review”. Your reaction was more like despair and then “i was so dumb I should have read the rules more carefully”.
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I agree, unfortunately that is what Airbnb is now selling to guests and it is especially the new guest expectation.
I can see what you are trying to get across but I think it is rather too convoluted - I would try editing this down @lililou1.
Also if your house rules confirm that passport ID is required, then your property manager should have insisted on seeing them on arrival and asked the guest to get them for their car. If you need the full information rather than a redacted version, then this should have been asked for.
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I know right? But after the 4 hour delay and 2 hours extra drive it was 11 o’clock at night I can understand he just said “send a photo tomorrow”.
Nobody has ever given us flack about this before. Then of course the next day they didn’t send it and wanted justification about why they had to (um its the law google it), and first guests ever who sent me a copy with all blacked out faces blacked out signature and blacked out I don’t know what. so who knows if it’s really them. we never did check the passport physically like we are supposed to.
That very much needs to be rephrased so it makes the host seem tougher. To many people reading that, it’s just saying that the host (or property manager) is a pushover and that despite not complying with regulations the guest was given access to the apartment. It’s not a good idea to advertise this to others.
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Thanks yes you’re right!
And you know what if that guy got arrested for running around naked or getting in a fight, and I didn’t register him with the police, I could be fined 15,000 euros!
So then up to us to stand up for ourselves.
The whole point of Airbnb is it’s individual properties with mostly private non professional hosts, everyone should be able to set their own house rules and clients should be educated to respect their host.
I was very surprised recently to have an airbnb support person defend me and propose to cancel a reservation without penalty and educate the guest, when someone booked for 1 person and there were 4 coming (and didn’t agree to pay the different price). Maybe we can get ourselves respected a little bit if we don’t just lie down and let everyone walk all over us.
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Well, I understand no self check in as I also have a unique farm property that is a renovated building, hence quirky …Requiring me to go over process and operating elements, additionally I live on the property and I want to meet and greet to evaluate my guests, their needs, etc etc.
There are unique properties where self check in is either not possible or not advised (as I had a family arrive with 2 extra people, kids, that they said they would just have them sleep outside since my tiny cabin could not accomodate, NOPE!) I am booked a couple of months in advance for every weekend, as much as I want to be booked, and my guests come here because of the uniqueness, which I suspect is true for other hosts of unusual properties. Therefore we have to make rules that pertain to our unique situation. We are not hotel managers and therefore guests need to understand that there are limitations. I go waay overboard to make sure they understand the property, and that check in is specific and why it is. I would never waive a late check in fee, it indicates that you are flexible, as another comment noted. I think you were power played, so another learning experience.
And I agree that Ken had a good response, and for a host to post a concern, question, etc, unless they are blatantly at fault, more constructive criticism is appreciated for sure without a harsh tone.
We learn by our mistakes, it is a learning curve over time, being a host. Hang in there, do thicken your skin, not just for posting here, but also in dealing with people, some of whom (found only a tiny percentage) are inconsiderate and disrespectful of the lovely properties and experiences we are offering them. Stand your ground, recognize when they are being unreasonable, be reasonable when guests truly have problems. Good luck!
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