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Regulations require that we take guest data and get their signature. Normally we do this at check in, but the guest arrived after our bed time so we left the key.
The next 5 days they did their best to avoid us with all sorts of nonsense excuses: “we left in a hurry, we are in our pj’s already, no one was there, we never did this before with AirBnB” etc etc.
They promised to do it at check out, but then tried to leave without notice. (We caught them in their car)
They reluctantly came back in to do the paperwork. We explained that if they never had to do this when staying in an AirBnB in Austria, they were staying illegal.
Then they send us a message on AirBnB trying to agree not to leave a review.
They will get an honest last minute review stating that they did not follow the house rules by trying avoid legally required check in, and avoided us during the whole stay.
“Thumbs down”
A descent taxi (read totally safe) from the airport also costs more or less the same as our lowest room rate of our cheapest room. Still people pay for this kind of taxi the whole time. I guess it’s just a matter of marketing. (I am however no marketeer, sorry .)
Thanks for your kind and constructive post!
Me too I have a perpetual
Guilt complex that I don’t offer self check in or host living next door. I send Multiple messages by multiple channels, voice phone email WhatsApp I have pictograms photos etc. I send a pictogram, localisation info, share contact when they are in the plane so they get it on arrival. My guest received- and responded! To all this. But still didn’t think maybe he should tell
Is he was arriving at 11pm instead of 7pm
It’s more a matter of airport taxi’s being disproportionately very expensive. Or taxis in general. The one time I paid for a taxi (25 minute ride) in my European home country it cost me a whopping € 70. For that money I can surely stay one night in a very okay BnB. Why did I take that taxi? My flight was delayed and there were no other (public transport) options left.
I also had a similar experience in other countries I travelled to. Sometimes there are just no good alternatives or I don’t feel like choosing the alternative because I’m tired after 15+ hours of travel, so I just pay a lot of money for a taxi, compared to what I would pay for a budget place.
That sounds really strict. Thank goodness we don’t have regulations like that where I am (although they are trying to shut Airbnb down here). If you abide by these laws you really have to have someone meet them, which adds a layer of complexity. Perhaps it’s best to put very strict check in/out windows at the top of your description and a few other places in uppercase, bold, with asterisks, etc. if you aren’t already doing that. I would also reiterate it messaging. It would be worth explaining why your hours are strict so that you don’t appear as a difficult or inflexible host. A lot of people would probably have no idea that you have so many restrictions.
I do see why you felt attacked. If course we all have different ways of expressing ourselves, but a line should be drawn at unfiltered hurling of insults, particularly when a commenter doesn’t have enough information to be making those comments in the first place. I hope that “telling it like it is” is seen for what it actually is by moderators.
Thanks for all your comments and constructive ideas and support!
After the first comment I received which shocked me, the kind remarks and
support I have received have changed my mind so we will not delete it!
Eberhard I was heartened to hear your opinion that this is a major problem for many airbnb owners, since some other people on this forum seem to say if you give a personal welcome to guests you need to be on call 24/7.
I would like to suggest that somehow we request of Airbnb that in their communications and messages to guests, airbnb underlines the need for common courtesy, respecting your hosts work, considering them as people and not just robots behind the airbnb app.
Upon arrival they refused to give passports (as required by local law) because they had “left them in the car”.
The next day they did not provide them either we had to chase after them, finally got copies with blacked out information and photos.
Upon departure: They told me flight at 11 am, so I accepted another airbnb booking with early afternoon arrival;
Day before departure I send a text to confirm they will be out at the time they told me.
Guess what - Surprise!!! Oops his departure flight is not at 11 am but 7 pm! And “If I could give him a late check out that would be great”!
Check out rules are spelled out in great detail in my listing for late checkout you must tell me ahead of time and I will book an extra night for you. Late checkout requests the day before departure are not guaranteeed!
I tried calling, despite seeing he is online, he doesn’t pick up my calls.
Got Airbnb involved now I hope my property manager doesn’t have an issue tomorrow morning.
I haven’t seen anyone say to you that if you don’t have self-check in you should be available 24/7 @lililou1
What people have advised you, is that if you are hosting remotely you need a local co-host, not one that lives 1.5 hours from your listing.
The person who was rather rude to you on this thread, was someone who is new to this forum.
Apart from that you have received a huge amount of advice and support on this forum to help you with the problem guests and other issues you have encountered.
If someone breaks the forum rules you can report them , rather than asking for the thread to be closed.
I put the check in rules at the very top of my house rules AND in the instant booking message where you only have 3 lines of the most important message to communicate to guests.
As soon as they book I send a message by Airbnb and by phone text usually within an hour of their booking to make sure they have seen and understood this.
I get their exact flight itinerary, now I require them to give me their flight number, which I check on Flightstat to be sure the day before, because I have had people give me wrongly copied information or information that changed.
I use pictograms, text and voice, and I make contact by telephone and Whatsapp. I contact the guest several days before the trip to reconfirm how to contact our property manager, the localisation of the apartment, and the estimated arrival time.
Since this guest was already questioning my cutoff time and late fee, I was very explicit with him. I spelled out in detail how much time it took from airplane seat to apartment (about 2 hours).
Next time I will spell it out even more explicity: We are expecting you to arrive on flight xyz at x o’clock and to be at the apartment approximately Y o’clock!
Yes and I am very thankful for that, I believe I have said so multiple times but if I somehow seem ungrateful I will say it again, thanks everyone for your constructive advice and help and kind comments.
Same guests also told me their departing flight was 8 hours earlier than actual schedule. And they wanted late checkout, so I guess will not be happy when I have to refuse.
We should do another thread about suggestions for making sure people respect check-out.
What in your experience has worked best? The late fee? Or just being on top of it and contacting them the day before they leave?
What do others think, I find it pushy and invasive to keep texting the guest as much as Airbnb recommends, making sure all ok, asking if they need anything, touching base before checkout, I mean come on it could be considered harassment. Usually they are in a less good mood when packing up to leave than when they arrive! Does anybody text systematically before check out? How to handle this?
I really don’t want their 25 dollars, that’s not going to compensate me for the mess it will make if I have someone else arriving. But interested to know if you have found it dissuasive.
I have in my house manual verbiage to the effect of, “You must be checked out at 11 a.m. sharp, on the other side of the front door, or you will be charged $25.”
You don’t get my WiFi or door codes until you affirm by sending a magic phrase at the very end of the manual, that you have read the manual, which contains this information
Written on the white board in each suite is a note restating “Checkout 11 a.m.” with a handdrawn clock face.
I don’t send any reminders
If you aren’t out by 11 a.m., I knock on the door, wait for it to open, and state that I’ll be charging the late fee since you aren’t checked out on time.
If you are nowhere to be found at 11 a.m., but your stuff is still around and about, I send a timestamped message within the AirBNB system to the effect of, “Hi, hope everything is OK, I’ll be sending along a late checkout fee.”
So the assumption is that you are a grown, responsible adult that doesn’t need reminders and did read this information and are aware the consequences for blowing me, your host, off are monetary and strictly enforced.
Also, the responsible people don’t get harrassed with texts.
"Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to host your stay.
Just a friendly reminder that check out time is 12 noon. Please put garbage/recycling in the bins outside (as per instructions on your welcome message), leave used linen and towels on the floor in the bedroom, wash/dry/put away dishes and make sure that things are generally as you found them.
Please let me know if there is anything more I could have done to improve your experience or if there is anything that stood out to you as extra special.
Love and kisses,
Xxxxxx"
This helps the guest know what is expected of them. I think people generally appreciate clear instructions and reminders. They often have other things on the go and what you need from them is one of many. I also put a “Check out checklist” next to the door with these things jotted down. That way if they missed it in my instructions or listing they have a physical copy staring them in the face each time they leave the apartment.
For simplicity reasons, I don’t offer late check out. Here’s my blurb:
“Sorry I cannot offer late check out due to conflicts with other guest bookings and cleaner schedules, however if you would like to leave your luggage against a wall in the entry area (just inside the exterior door outside of the suite), please feel free to do so. Please be mindful of noise as other guests may be in the suite when you drop off/pick up luggage. Hope this is of help.”
I have something similar for early check in also. There are plenty of cafes, restaurants, bars and shops less than 5 mins away on foot or if they have more time they can head downtown. I have a front veranda with a few chairs if they just need to kill some time also - so long as it isn’t winter! It works well but if we were in a remote location I can see how this might not be the best option for guests.
This part just makes me gag…do you really love and want to kiss all your guests? Even if you do it just seems unprofessional to me…but my lifelong profession was the army and not “hospitality” as some call Airbnb. I wonder what others think? Am I the only one? If so, it’s not all too uncommon and I don’t take offense. And I don’t mean any offense either. Just my POV.
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