Finally a comment I am 100% aligned with. 
The bottom line is, donât break your own rules. Chaos will reign if you do.
Letting guests in before check in time, or even allowing them to store their luggage with you until check-in time is a no-win for the host. I will spare you the individual examples where I went against this and it was brutal.
If their luggage is stored in your lobbyâŚ
you will have to clean around it.
when they come to put their luggage in your lobby, they will want to use your bathrooms, which may not be cleaned yet, or if they are clean the guests will mess them up.
they will ask to see their room, which may not be cleaned yet, which leaves a bad impression. Goodbye starsâŚ
they will ask all the questions they would usually ask at check-in, which is still 2 hours away and you are busy cleaning.
Just say - I donât have the space to store your luggage while I am cleaning.
Oh, and donât let them check out and store their luggage in your lobby to pick up later. First (and last time) I did this they came back to get their luggage, slipped into their room and went back to bed.
If they check in earlyâŚ
they will not thank you for it.
they will not expect to pay anything for it. In the meantime they are using hydro, water, etc., which you have to pay for.
they may be underfoot and wanting to chat while you are trying to clean other rooms.
since you let them check in early for free, they will expect a late checkout for free.
My policy is to charge $10 per hour for early or late check-in. Early check-in or luggage storage is available only after all of my cleaning has been completed. I ask them to leave their luggage in their car until check-in time. They understand. If they insist I say - I will text you if your room can be ready before 3pm and I am back from grocery shopping for your breakfast. If the rooms are ready at 2pm I usually just take a nap till 3pm.
Donât break your own rules, you will regret it.
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I absolutely love it when someone posts something I agree one hundred percent with! Right on, countyBB. Could not agree more with what you have said here!!!
Itâs a live and learn thing. I get rapped on here all the time for expounding on these ideas but folks forget that I have been there, done all of them, and been burned. I am smarter and wiser on all of these things.
Burned once⌠their fault. Burned twice, my own.
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Oh, this is so good for my sanity. Iâm here feeling guilty and yâall are great reinforcements. We have a guest that booked in Jan to watch the eclipse next week. We have a prime viewing location and (my bad) they booked before I got smart about how much rooms are going for! Ppl are crazy here, selling tent camping spots where you have to bring your own potty bucket for $100 per night. They are getting our palatial space for $79 night. AnywhoâŚthey just asked if another family of four (our limit is four) could stay as the second queen bed wasnât not being used. (We have two queens in the very large bedroom for starters).The daughter they said would stay for the whole six days, is just staying one night, and with her boyfriend (new person, not on the reservation initially.) Well, theyâve been so nice to deal with the daughter and boyfriend are fine, but it was hard saying no to the guestâs brother and family, but I did say no. They will just drive up for the day (traffic will be a nightmare) but thatâs what they asked about in Jan and I was okay with it. So, bottom line, we set the limit at four and we are sticking to it. Finding this thread was awesome reinforcement.
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When the total solar eclipse was forecast in Hawaii in 1992, you should have seen the money that was made on bookings, packages, hotels, etc.
At the Witching hour, the clouds came out and not a single bit of the eclipse could be seen! 
Shhh. Iâm headed to Columbia, SC and clouds are predicted bummer. Expecting total gridlock insanity, I have purchased entry to the speedway, which is having an eclipse fest. Back up plan B is a parking spot on the state fair grounds. Back up plan C is a two-man rubber boat for me and my daughter, which we will pump up and launch on the river that runs through town (and probably capsize and miss the whole thing). Back up plan D is to meet up with my cousin on the NC border, who has friends who have friends who have a large horse farm in the totality zone.
Well. look our for my daughter who is a college student in Columbia (Hah!) That place is ground central. Good luck with plans A,B,C and D!
Do I detect a Water Babies reference? I didnât think people read it any longer.
Yes, in this world we are unfortunately often all too dependent on the kindness of strangers.
What @CountyBB is saying is likely to happen in some cases. However, Iâve managed to solve the issues outlined as part of this.
I know some folk will say itâll never work, people are ungrateful etc etc, but Iâve come to learn that some of this can be turned around.
Allow me to explain:
Firstly, I give massive disclaimers that the place is not ready, and the previous guest has just left, and this is an extra Iâm doing for them.
you will have to clean around it.
Covered by above disclaimer. The bags are really dropped off by the door, thereâs not much area to clean. If this is perceived as risky, you could even get them to drop it off outside, based on how your place is.
when they come to put their luggage in your lobby, they will want to use your bathrooms, which may not be cleaned yet, or if they are clean the guests will mess them up.
I reinforce the disclaimer by saying itâs not cleaned yet, use at your own risk
they will ask to see their room, which may not be cleaned yet, which leaves a bad impression.
Absolutely no chance of letting them see the room.
they will ask all the questions they would usually ask at check-in, which is still 2 hours away and you are busy cleaning.
I actually administer the details of the check-in, such as enquiring about their schedule, telling them about the shower switch etc etc.
I also stress that they now donât have to come back by the check-in start time now that they have everything they need.
In 9 out of 10 cases, they only come back much later in the evening, which is only a plus as I have the place to myself for longer.
Going by how all of this is worded â and believe me I had similar thankless experiences like @CountyBB and others before I learned this â I now ensure that this is adequately acknowledged.
I donât allow this, except perhaps a 30 min early one. But until late in the day, I reiterate that this is unlikely.
Of course, some folk will say all of this will never work. Maybe in some of their situations it wonât, and I respect that. But if the premise is something wonât work, it wonât.
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90% of the times we tried to do something outside our rules for our guests it comes back and kicks us in the ass. So we 2 donât try to do anything extra. Our check out is 11am sharp. Our check in is 1pm. itâs early enough. We have guests say "we want to check in at 7am we arrive the airport at 6am. To which I just say sorry someone is there and will not be checking out until later. Whether there is someone there or not thatâs what I always say.
Do you offer partial rates for late check out? Our flight is 9pm. No we are sorry we do not in fact I think someone is checking in right after your checking out itâs not on calendar yet because itâs a DB through our site. Again I like half rates are never good. If there nice people I send someone at check out and if we empty to cut some kind of possible cash deal with them.
Can someone go supermarket shopping for us before we arrive? Absolutely no. Been burned to many times. Either they have a issue with something bought, dont want to pay the maid to go or expect me to lay out $$ and then I got to go get it and if something is wrong I now have to return it. Never stock the fridge for a guest.
Do you have a maid for us? yes hereâs what she costs pay her directly
Do you have a chef? no thereâs to much that can go wrong. Food is very subject-able and any issue they will blame you.
my 2 cents.
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I agree. Give an inch and they take three miles. I never do extra stuff for guests.
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