cabinhost can I see these rules please?
No not really, but you could add it to your listing. Chances are it wonāt get read.
I clearly state no check inās after 10:30pm without prior consent from us.
Personally, I would be very put off as a potential guest to see a fee for late check in. That would stress me out. I would move on from any listing that stated that. But thatās just me. Late flights arrive to Hawaii frequently from points afar, and I have to be accommodating to that. My last guests arrived from Winnipeg at 1:00am. I stayed up to greet them and show them in. They were very appreciative that I did that. They had asked prior to booking if this would be a problem and I said of course not! Also, leaves hours and hours of time for me to get a place ready if I have a late check in. I donāt mind at all. Of course I might draw the line at 3am or 4, but that has never happened once in 6 years of Air hosting.
As far as late check outā¦ I just flat out donāt allow it. Late check out to me means I pay for the cost of another night for you. I canāt rent it again that night if they have late check outā¦ simple as that. I am not a hotel where late check out might have little impact because you have dozens of other rooms open.
I have a 24 hour check in so check in at late hours does not affect me but I like to be communicated with if check in is going to be much later than originally thought so I know and if need be arrange to leave the key some where if it is going to be late. I also work too so cannot be staying up after midnight waiting for someone when I do not know when they will arrive.
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Fraggles, I handle this by stating that the check-in time is 4PM, but to please text with an ETA if you expect to arrive much later than the check in time. Most guests comply readily.
To be fair most of my guests are great are communicating I think (but am so tired I may be wrong) I was responding to another post. My last guest pee-ed me off no end.
Later check-ins then anticipated are such a pain in the rear! Although I can offer self check in at some of my listings, I really like to meet people in person and welcome them. I canāt tell you how often itās happened that Iāll be waiting in the car in front of the apartment for guests who said theyād arrive at Xpm, and itās two hours later and they finally reply to my texts/phonecalls to tell me they are running late. My husband and I jokingly call this futile exercise our āstake outā
I envy the hosts that are so awesome at this that they never have this problem. I donāt actually have anything other then the checkin/out times in my house rules, but I do communicate multiple times with guests about their arrival times. This is rarely an issue with international travelers, as they tend to fly in, and unless thereās a massive flight delay, I can tell better then them how long theyāll take. Itās always the domestic travelers that seem to have this laissez-faire attitude. Iāve found it also with VRBO guests, as I tend to get more domestic guests from this platform.
Thatās why Hawaii is generally pretty easy as far as check ins.
My place is in Placencia, Belize. Last daily flight arrives from Belize City at 6pm, and it gets dark by 6:30pm. Then they have to buy food shopping, and oftentimes I run guests to my island (6 miles away) in the middle of nowhere, in the dark mind you, via GPS. Do I mind it, not in the least, for it always add a certain added āthrillā to their stay. (rolls eyes)
I would put in house rules that they need to strictly communicate times of arrivals etc to save either of you waiting around. Also mention that this is vital so you can be home for them to let them in. (This has worked with me, as I think some guests think youre there 24/7 as a permanent receptionist)!
Well, I went to Copenhagen once with my husband and we landed around 1 am. Since the check-in times were between 1pm - 6pm the host told us that he would leave the key in the postbox at the entrance which has 3 digit password on it, so we easily got the keys without disturbing the host.
But of course we planned all of them at least 2-3 days before our arrival there.
You may think to do something like postboxes and let your guests know it?
Hello everyone,
I just came across this old thread. I could create a separate topic, but my current issue is with check in times. So I thought I would add a message to it.
I just heard from someone (first booking) that they will be arriving āafter 9 pmā. I have check in time set as 2 pm. Iām now wondering if I should add an upper bound. Is there any generally agreed upon range for check in times, or is it entirely up to me?
Regards, Faheem Mitha
Faheem, Iām glad you brought this up again. Iāve been considering adding an upper bound and just indicate that if guests anticipate arriving after hours should notify us ahead of time so we can arrange to leave the lock box out. Iāve had too many folks thinking itās okay just to drop in whenever not realizing that we donāt have a front desk that is manned 24/7.
Hi @jackulas,
What kind of upper bound were you thinking about? And what is your normal check in time?
An automated check in wouldnāt work for me. In India one needs to check id. Also, I could not easily automate a check in if I wanted to. I donāt have a lock box or anything like that (and it probably wouldnāt work with my front door anyway), we have security we need to notify, etc.
Iām looking for suggestions for what would be a reasonable upper bound. Then I could put that in the listing, with the statement that if guests anticipate coming after that time, they need to say so at the time they request a booking. Does that sound ok?
That part is up to you. Here in California, 10 pm tends to be when the evening is transitioning to late at night. Itās also the time Iām settled into bed on week nights. Iām thinking of adding a rule that checking in after 9 pm becomes a lockbox situation to give us a cushion. A lot of guests underestimate the time it takes to go through immigration, navigate L.A. Traffic, etc.
Hi @jackulas,
Iām not really an early to bed type, but late arrivals are generally disruptive. Maybe putting an upper bound of 9 pm would be reasonable. If I put that, people will likely still try coming in at 10 pm.
Hi @Faheem ,
We post on our listing that check in is between 4 and 7.30pm. This is because I want to enjoy my evening! Of course, I will extend that if itās unavoidable but most guests are fine with it.
Hi @jaquo,
Ok. So, it seems there is no standard policy. Though I thought check ins in the US were normally earlier than 4 pm.
Regards, Faheem.
I have just done this and made it 11pm.
Hi @Faheem ,
We played around with check in and checkout times over the years. We used to have 10 am check out and 3pm check in. (We found that a five hour window between guests is needed for us - itās a whole apartment).
Ten in the morning seemed to be a little early for quite a few guests and most guests tend to arrive here after four in the afternoon anyway so we changed it to 11 - 4.
I like to greet all guests in person but weāve had a few who have arrived in the middle of the night so we leave them a hidden key. Iāll also allow early check in if the place is ready. The current guests are an example. Their flight arrived at 10 am and the next guests were due to check out at 11 so I couldnāt accommodate the new people when they arrived. But I let them leave their luggage here and they explored the area a little and went for lunch.
Luckily, the previous guests left before checkout time and the place was in great shape so I was able to text the incoming guests two hours before check in time to let them know the apartment was ready for them.
So 4 - 7.30 pm seems like a small time period but we try to be as flexible as possible.