GUEST CHECKS OUT LATE
I have a guest due to check out in 50 minutes - they are not in the house - how do other hosts deal with late check outs. I have a new guest arriving later today.
Have you contacted the late guest?
Some guests not realise that the check out date is the exit date.
Have you found out what time the new guest is arriving?
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Sounds like they aren’t late yet.
But go in and start cleaning at check out time.
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1,. The night before checkout I send a message:
Thank you for staying at our suite in Melrose.
As a reminder, check out time is 10 am tomorrow morning.
Our cleaners are scheduled to show up shortly after checkout.
IF YOU KNOW YOU WILL BE CHECKING OUT EARLY - please let us know. It really helps with the change-overs. Thank you.
When you leave, please send a quick message via the Airbnb Messaging App.
Then checkout instructions, etc.
We hope your stay in our suite was 5 Stars.
Again thank you for being our guest and we hope you will stay again!
Warm Regards,
1, I also have a discreet clock picture with checkout time on the same container that holds pens and the wifi password.
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This is exactly what I do. If the guests are still in the rental, I smile pleasantly and say 'oh, so sorry. Have you finished with your last minute packing? Let me help you with your bags".
I send a message to the guests the evening before, hoping that they’ll stay with us again and that they have a good journey home. The message includes the 11am reminder.
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My thanks to everyone who put forward a comment. I like Lynick’s idea of the clock picture.
So the guest left 3 hours 20 mins late but at least they have gone and i am awaiting my next arrival. I have to say AIRBNB were hopeless - I called 3 times and was told the line was busy and got cut off each time. I tried E-mailing and was told the wait was 2 minutes - i waited for 20 mins before leaving a message. 2 hours later AIRBNB respond suggesting i reach out to the client - I had already told them i had done this !!!. For everyone just remember you are really on your own - I assume AIRBNB would only have helped once it affected the second guest.
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At checkout time, what happened? And why were they ok by you to stay another 3 hours?
Remeber, airbnb is not ever going to do your work - communicating with a guest.
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Just assume Airbnb won’t help at all. Many jokes on here about the non-existent Airbnb “SWAT Team” that will swoop to your rescue. Not.
As others suggest, if you are local do not hesitate to bang on the door, perhaps dramatically carrying a mop and bucket, and start cleaning. Even if you are not the actual cleaning crew. Cheery but firm.
Please review these guests accordingly so I don’t let them book at my property! Your negative review will have a longer term impact on them than they had on you by giving a one-time pile of grief.
You may want to add verbiage to your listing that late checkout may be allowed for a fee if arranged with the host in advance. You don’t ever have to agree to late checkout (cite the cleaning schedule), but then you can ask for money through the Resolution Center should this ever happen again.
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Hello Rolf,
It was a third party booking. (Employer booking for his employee)
90 mins before check out time i reminded the third party check out was 11 am and again just after 11 am as i wanted it noted on the AIRBNB portal.
No i was not happy about the overstay but very little anyone can do - I am miffed that it is so hard to contact AIRBNB. I also called the guest at 11 am and said it was time to go - he actually thought he was staying for 4 days. He was working and could not leave until 2 pm. What i have learned from this is to always make it clear to a guest when they are due to leave particularly when it is a 3rd party reservation.
Thank you for your comments.
I actually live in the property - it is a spare room in the house. The guest had gone off to work thinking he was booked for 4 days not the two that were actually booked. It caused alot of stress for me knowing another guest was coming later - maybe i will ask for a late payment of say ÂŁ10 (room rate ÂŁ25) as it may teach the third party a lesson.
What do you imagine Airbnb is going to do? Send someone over to help you do a rush cleaning before the next guest shows up? And what does “very little anyone can do” mean?
Other hosts have told you they remind guests of check-out time the day before.
And you can pack up the guest’s stuff, remove it from the guest room and start cleaning.
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So the issue here is the checkout DATE, not the time. It was clearly a miscommunication and you’ve already been given great advice on how to avoid this. BUT, it will still likely occur in the future, especially with the TIME (the wrong date is rare, I’ve never seen this before, but I’m still a baby in the biz).
There is a lot you can do. In this case, I’d have sucked it up, as you did, and been gracious about it only because you did not send a reminder the day before. FYI…when I confirm checkin went well (I will go so far as to text directly or call if they do not reply to my Air msg) I include that I will be in touch on DAY & DATE, the night before checkout. I realize being under the same roof is a little different but I’d still have everything in writing.
If the issue had been known the night before, I’d have negotiated a new time and fee (since you clearly could not accommodate another night). If they did not want to pay I’d offer to store the belongings at no fee until after work but require the checkout. If they didn’t do it and left for work, I’d “checkout” for them.
I have shown up and opened the garage door and began my cleaning process after calling the guest to let them know I could not wait. And, I collected the late checkout fee, communicated in the checkout message that went out the night before, in cash.
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I expect it not to be difficult to contact them (AIRBNB)
I expect them to contact the client and tell him to go as i have done in this case - it just reinforces what i have said. It also avoids disruption for the follow on guest.
I have had over 200 guests - this is the first time this has happened - i have learned from it to always mention departure date to the incoming guest - had i done this the problem would have been highlighted then. So yes part of this is my fault but mainly the 3rd party as he told the guest the booking was for 4 days - i ended up feeling sorry for him.
After hosting 200 stays via AirBNB? Really? Man, I wish my call center was where yours “used” to be. Even guests cannot get through in a timely manner these days. You will have to get used to disappointment if this is really what you’re expecting. Sad, but true.
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This is a bit confusing. I appreciate that the guest wasn’t there but when it gets to 11am (or whatever your checkout time is) then any agreement between the host and the guest is officially over. In fact, although this is taking things to extremes, the guest (or his belongings) are trespassing. You definitely should have gone in and started preparing for your next guest.
You live in the same house but expect Airbnb or your guest’s employer to do your job for you?
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Why? What’s the point? They are past check out time. What does it matter whether you tell them that or Airbnb does?
And if they ignore Airbnb’s message as they did yours, or are out somehere with no cell signal or they don’t hear their phone beccause it’s noisy, how would that help?
Airbnb isn’t going to send someone to physically remove a guest.
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What part of I contacted the third party who booked the room do you not understand ?. If you are going to be hostile expect the same in response. I also phoned the actual guest and told him to go - first he cut me off saying his boss was calling him , i waited 10 mins and called him again and told him he had to go.
I think it poor that you basically have to remind guests when they are leaving but from peoples comments you do seem to have to do this !.
I do not expect AIRBNB to do my job just back me up when someone overstays !!!
I’m certainly not intending to be hostile so I don’t understand your remark.
Just part of the job ensuring that your business runs smoothly.
But it is your job to make sure no one overstays so I’m not sure how you’d expect Airbnb to do so?
And before you accuse me again, of being hostile, bear in mind that everyone here who has posted has the goal of helping you and other readers.
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In the TOS, Airbnb does allow for a host to charge a fee for an Overstay. They do not mention this in the policy but anecdotal information suggests that they are more cooperative with charging a guest for an Overstay if it indeed affected the next guest. This makes sense if you consider it because it is difficult to put a monetary value on something that had no quantifiable effect. It’s not a rule, not part of the policy, so it can’t hurt to ask, but you should be prepared for no to be the answer. Since it’s a 3rd party booking, you could just send a fee through the Resolution Center to the Employer that booked the stay for the guest and see what happens. Employers are business people too so might understand and pay up.
This sounds very frustrating. But much of your frustration is in not understanding the policies and having expectations that don’t match the policies. You are not the only one. There are lots of posts by frustrated hosts that have expectations that are not supported by the actual policies.
Airbnb expects the host to deal with the guest and the issue, then document the issue and then later contact Airbnb to report the issue (and then of course write an honest review). You can see how your expectations failed you in this situation. If you had not expected assistance in the moment from Airbnb, you could have put all of your energy into dealing with the issue, instead of trying to contact Airbnb. If you think about it, it makes sense to go in order and focus on the issue until it is resolved, then document and then contact Airbnb to make a report. And, also, if you think about it, there is no possibility that Airbnb can effect change in the situation of an Overstay (because they are not there and it is not their guest).
So, Airbnb does address Overstays in their TOS and also in their Guest Reliability Standards. There is an outlined process for dealing with guests who violate the standards; however, it is actually called “Reporting a Violation” and the first step is Communicating with The Guest and the next one is to Document the Issue through the message thread, both of which come before Contacting Airbnb. I suspect they have you document the issue in the message thread as the second step is because their expectation is that you will be contacting Airbnb later, after the fact, so they want to have a clear record of the issue. Later. When it is over and you might not remember all of the details.
You can be ready for this next time, but hopefully, it won’t happen again.
For your reference:
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No, they wouldn’t, except to take the side of the second guest.
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