Noisy guests at night

Introduction
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Hey there,

I’m a longtime lurker, but first time poster! I’m in the US and have been running an Airbnb out of my guest house behind my main house. I have a path that goes from front of my house to the back of house to reach the guesthouse. Guests walk down this path between mine and my neighbors house for entry. Our houses are close together. I have a smartlock with self check in. My neighbor recently complained that people are loud when walking down the path late at night. Do you guys have tips that I can implement to help guests keep the noise down when they are on my path? Thanks!

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  1. Tell guests to be quiet on the path after a certain hour and put it in house rules. Remind them in their check in message.
  2. Perhaps get a sign to put along the path to remind them.
  3. Build a fence between the path and the neighbor’s house.
  4. Install a video camera with sound that is motion activated and listen for yourself.
  5. Send noisy guests a reminder via text or the app
  6. Send the neighbor a thank you note and gift (bottle of wine, snack basket) to thank them for bringing the issue to your attention.
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Install “Noise Aware” and be sure to let all guests know in advance that silence is expected during the entry path walk. The Notification from Noise Aware will immediately let you know if the guests are loud. Here is their link: https://noiseaware.io

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That’s nice. Thanks for your helpful link @georgygirlofairbnb.

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I love all @KKC’s ideas but particularly that one. When you’re renting out property in a residential neighbourhood it is essential to keep the neighbours firmly on your side.

It happened only once that I had a neighbour (very nearby) complain that guests were making a noise (drinking and so on) outside the rental at 3 in the morning. I got rid of the guests the next morning as soon as I was aware. (Our quiet hours are on the listing).

Keeping the neighbours on your side - if you intend to keep your Airbnb business for a long time - is more important than pissing off the occasional guest.

Be human with your guests - treat them like humans too. In your message the day before check in send them a message on the platform - something like:

“As you’ll be checking in late, please do something for me? You’ll be walking down a path that skirts our neighbour’s property so please be quiet so that they’re not disturbed. Thank you so much and I look forward to meeting you!”

And if you hear any noise, address the issue with the guests at once.

I am wondering why you don’t greet your guests in person though as you live right there. (Except the odd hours ones, of course). It can make a lot of difference to guest behaviour.

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It sounds like (pun not intended) it is not at check-in but the duration of the stay.

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Can we see the path please?

Besides what has been suggested for asking guests to modify their behavior, there are some passive changes you can make to the environment to help the guests quiet down.

  1. Make the path more narrow. If the guests have to walk single file or if there isn’t much room, they might not hang out there as long or chatter as much. You don’t want them to be too comfortable here. Make it an uncomfortable path so they don’t stay longer than they have to here. Use colors that clash and just make people uneasy like black and brown.

  2. Make the path streamlined so they aren’t encouraged to hang out there and it helps them move along. Paver stones can help here. Remove any decorations or distractions that might make guests slow down. Lights down low at the floor level will help guests to see where they’re going but you don’t want too much light because bright = noisy.

  3. When people are in wide open spaces or noisy places, they tend to talk loud and use their “outdoor voice”. When they can hear their own voice loudly, they tend to use their “inside voice.” Make this path like an “inside voice” place by putting up hard materials that will reflect the sound of their voice back at the guests. A fence has been mentioned already and I’m guessing that would work. I’d really have to see what this path looks like to give you some exact ideas though.

  4. Between the path and the neighbors house, it would help if you had some vegetation of shrubbery to cut down on the noise. Even shrubs or vegetation on your side would absorb some of the noise and prevent it from reflecting and reverberating back to your neighbor’s side.

  5. If you end up building a fence, you might put a low lattice work ceiling or pergola over it to create the sense of a low ceiling and make the path sort of small, narrow and cramped almost as if the guests have to duck down. That is sure to get guests to lower their voices and move along. If you can create sort of a tunnel effect, I think that will help. Don’t make it lower than about 200 cm though because you don’t want to make guests actually stoop to walk through. You just don’t want it to feel big.

And this is key to the overall success of the business model. This is what gets Airbnb’s shut down.

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I appreciate buddy. Carry on!