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Hey all,
Have a guest arriving tonight, they are corporate guests visiting the city for business and their secretary has just messaged that they will be checking in considerably after midnight, since the flight has been delayed by 30 minutes. They were originally going to check in just around midnight.
I have checked their flight status and they would be getting to me at around 1am roughly, wondering whether I should be charging them for a very late check in or not?
Sure if you have it in your house rules that you do so.
You cant suddenly charge without having it in your description. So include it now in your rules and description and charge the next person
Do you have something in your listing about late check-in fees? If not, I don’t think it’s fair to charge an undisclosed fee.
If you’re hosting in a situation where you must greet guests you can ask Airbnb to cancel the reservation due to guests arriving outside your check-in window.
With late arrivals I give the guests enough info to self check-in and tell them we can catch up in the morning for a walkthrough (if they need it). I personally wouldn’t want to start the stay off on a bad note by charging a fee, especially when the timing isn’t within the guests’ control.
I wouldn’t. As a guest, if I got fined for something that was beyond my control I would not be too impressed. Best just put it down to experience.
I used to get people running late and ending up checking in after midnight so I used the experiences to amend my last check in time from “Flexible” to a set 11.00 p.m., this is all a learning curve. Personally though I am not a great fan of any kind of added on charges and have none set but that’s maybe because I am in the UK, add-ons seem to be generally more acceptable or even expected in other countries.
I realised that I had not put anything regarding extra charges in my house rules, although I had put in the check-in time to be 3pm-12pm. So decided not to charge them anything extra.
This is what I have done for now, sent them instructions for self check-in and will be in touch with them today to meet and greet.
@Snowdon - I am in the UK too. I will be changing the timings and also potentially thinking of adding an extra fee, although since I now also have the self check-in facility I probably won’t!
@amafzal - If you absolutely don’t want anyone checking in after midnight, then make your latest check-in time 10 pm. Then if someone’s flight is delayed a little bit or traffic is bad, and they show up at 11 pm, you aren’t up too late waiting for them. These people weren’t going to be on time, anyway - if their flight was only delayed 30 minutes and they arrive at 1, they never planned to be on time.
Other lesson - rules aren’t much good without penalties or consequences for breaking them. Decide now whether you: 1) won’t allow them in past your check-in time, 2) will charge them a set fee per hour/half hour, or 3) do nothing and just get annoyed. If you pick #1 or #2, put it in your house rules. If #3, do nothing and expect to be annoyed from time to time. You don’t actually have to enforce the penalty - just having it there is a deterrent to people that don’t plan on following your rules.
did they communicate when they booked that the plane was arriving this late? If you accepted then than that’s it. If the plane is late it is not their fault, I wouldn’t charge them. Actually if I were the guest I would be pissed and leave a nasty review.
If the guests coming late are coming to the house where you live I’d put a charge for the next guest. I personally wouldn’t want to be up at night waiting for guests when I have to work the next day.
If your listing is in a house where you don’t live and they merely use a lockbox or keyless system, than why do you care what time they arrive? They don’t bother anyone. The only thing I care is that they don’t take advantage and stay one night for free. I explained this before, it has happened to me: guests were saying they wanted early check in, like 18 hrs early check in, which is in fact another night for which they didn’t want to pay.
Anyway, let this guest slide and think what you are going to do for the next ones.
Great suggestions @PitonView, I think I am just going to resort to checking people in where I personally can till 11pm and then let them use the self check-in facility via the lockbox i have installed. Although I am considering putting in the house rules regarding an extra charge if check-in is after midnight (and then think about charging or not), atleast it would deter them from deliberately booking travel to arrive so late.
I would only give them the code to the lockbox on the day of arrival so they dont think they have the flexibility of checking in a lot earlier than the check-in time.
I have had yet another request from the same guest (sounding like a demanding guest now!!)…the guest asked whether we could provide an extra set of keys to them (my keys would include a door key for the front door and an electronic fob that opens the entrance perimeter doors of the building)
Is this a fair request or is this more of a hotel style request? What do other hosts do for such requests?
FYI - I have 2 colleagues staying in the apartment so from their perspective i guess it makes sense so they can both have the freedom of when they arrive back from work.
If I have 2 people staying who are obviously not a couple I always offer a second set of keys (free of charge of course).
Two guests—yes offer two sets of keys.
My unit that sleeps 4 has a parking limit of 2 cars & is in a gated community. I offer two condo key with gate card combos whether there are 2 guests or 4. I have extras hidden in the exterior storage room in case a guest needs more. In 2 1/2 years no one has asked for a 3rd key or gate pass.
About a late fee…my latest check in is midnight. If someone has things out of their control like a flight delay, I will accomodate at no charge. Unfortunately there is a risk the guest may need to take self-check in to a new level of self-service.
Gated community. At the gate the guest must enter a code. The code callls my cell phone and I open the gate remotely. If I am too deeply asleep to hear the phone, the gate will not open. The back up is they can park, walk to the condo, access the condo via keybox then bring the key & gate card back to car to open the gate. This has only happened 1X and fortunately the condo isn’t far from the gate.
I have been trying to research to find out if I can somehow do that, so would be good know how you have managed to connect your phone to the intercom at the gate?
The condo property management association did the connection. I needed to give them a local phone number and they did the programming.
My personal cell phone is long distance so I went to the Walmart close to the condo & purchased a $35 tracfone with 800 minutes for a year ($99). I explained to Tracfone the number had to be on the local exchange. My unused minutes carried over (400 minues) & when I renewed my 800 annual minutes I received an automatic upgrade to 2400 minutes for 3 years at no additional charge. For a low usage phone, it is the deal.