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First of all, I’d like to take the opportunity to point out that 99% of my Airbnb guests are amazing and a pleasure to host / meet…
… but just occasionally there is the odd one whom I am acutely annoyed by, rarrr!!
Basically, 2 girls stayed the other day who seemed nice on the out-set… though ended up being idiots - i.e. slamming doors, inane high-pitched giggling after hours, not locking the front door properly (after having shown them how) … you get the picture … Now all this I can handle and would normally excuse them as young and inexperienced travellers …
But the final straw came on the day of check out when they proceeded to linger around well past the outlined check out time (11am) I wanted to clean up for the next guest and pop out - put me in the awkward situation of reminding them that check out is 11am (it was already 1pm) to which they replied that they knew/were just packing up/asking me if I had scaled to weigh their luggage/asking me if they could leave their luggage as their flight wasn’t later in the day, etc …
Argh! I was so annoyed, haha! The fact that they actually knew they were supposed to have left much sooner but chose to ignore …
I AM NOT LIKING having to ask people to leave, kind of puts a damper on things?? Anyone else experienced this? I’m thinking in terms of a review something along the lines of ‘such and such was very nice but could do well to respect their hosts check out time as they lingered around 2 hours later putting me in an awkward situation’ or something to that effect?
Sorry for the poorly written rant, it’s late and I’m just venting, really ;-)!
I’ve never run into this type of situation, so lucky me. I think if I did, my response would be along the lines of “Normally I would welcome you to book another night since it is now passed check out. However, I have guests checking in at x o’clock and need time to prepare the room. Thank you for staying with us, and safe travels. No, I don’t have a luggage scale.”
That’s so annoying the only thing you could is be really firm. Have you got the check out times on the back of the bedroom door or something too? and if you took a deposit can you claim off that the extra hours they’ve stayed??
I wouldn’t have let them leave their luggage they’ve been rude. I do allow guests to leave their luggage only when I know I’m not going out anywhere.
Thanks Kirsty and Jack - no, I certainly didn’t look after their luggage! Normal, I like to think of myself as a flexible and easy-going host, but all too often I’m finding some people’s sense of entitlement to push me over the edge, haa !
They were very rude young girls. I would comment in a review that they did not leave at check out time.
Next time I would knock on the door at 11:05 just in case someone’s watch is slow. And just announce “I’ve got to begin cleaning for the next guest” - if they say they are still packing, etc. then just start cleaning around them and make it awkward for THEM. That behavior is just uncalled for. And I honestly have never understood how people don’t feel any kind of guilt when they try to take advantage of someone being nice to them. I mean…how do you just laze around and enjoy your morning when you know you are supposed to be gone AND the host is in the same house waiting for you to leave. But I know people like this in real life - and they have no ethics or integrity.
Agree… This is not negotiable. Agree with Cabin that this experience should be left in a review. I never have this problem anymore but I did as a new host. The difference now is that I am totally firm on the rules. I never ever ever allow late check out. You should wait for the last minute of the review period, midnight in the guest time zone, and write a review with everything you stated here. Hosts want to know about behavior like this so we can DECLINE them so fast it makes our heads spin.
Haha, Cabin & Kona I like the way you call BS on weasely guests !
Yes, the review thing is just my point - I’ve never really left a negative review before (although there’s been times when I should have, really) - basically for nothing more than cowardly reasons … Not so much for fear that the guest will relative with a negative review back (as Kona said, you can just do the ol’ 1 minute to midnight trick) but rather that a prospective guest may read a negative review I have written and that I will give an impression of myself as mean- spirited … I hope Airbnb have / have plans to remove the link for prospective guests to read other reviews you have written (other than simply going to the profiles of the users who have left reviews for you already) because I think it’s a fault in the system and preventing wussy hosts like me leaving honest reviews… :/!
There is a link that travelers can click that shows them all the reviews I have left for other guests??
It doesn’t even sound like there is anything positive to say about them as they were slamming doors, being loud after hours, etc. They don’t have a good character by just sitting in their room and purposely waiting to see if anyone says something to them.
You could just say “So and so stayed with us for several days. I was disappointed that she didn’t honor my check out time, and I was forced to ask her to finish packing two hours after she was supposed to have been gone. This really put me in a tight spot with preparing the room for the guests arriving that day.”
I don’t even think there is anything nice to say about them.
Kitty, I have thought of that too… but I really doubt prospective guests go that far in snooping around about a host. Most of them are simply going to read the reviews and make a decision about whether to book mostly based on that.
Tell it like it is in a Review! I would consider that a bad guest who deserves a good kick in the pants. Do it!
This only happened to us twice, and funnily enough it was the same set of guests. But they were a trio of absolutely lovely 18-yr-olds from Taiwan, and we were so new to hosting we didn’t have a clear policy, so it was more our fault than theirs. We would gladly have them back any time (and did). The first time, they were our second set of guests, and the problem really only occurred because the third set showed up early to “drop off their bags”, knowing that check-in time was mid-to-late afternoon. Somehow this turned into them insisting on using our kitchen at 11:00 AM - another area we hadn’t thought through. As it happens, they were the only guests we’ve ever had that we never really got on with. The nice kids asked if it was OK to pick up their bags later, which I readily agree to, until I realized that to them picking up the bags later also meant packing them later!!
The second time it was a totally innocent accident on their part - they thought they’d booked one more day than they actually had. It was obvious from the embarrassed shock on their faces that it was a genuine mix-up. They instead quickly packed up and spent a couple of hours on the back deck figuring out what to do next.
I’m sure that there’s no way for future guests to read reviews you’ve left for other guests. There’s also no way for you to see reviews that guests have left for other hosts. I know because I’ve searched and searched. I wanted to screen a guest by seeing if there horrible and demanding communications after booking were also to be seen in reviews they’d left for other properties - but you can’t read them.
Leave an honest review about the late check out. I did it for one group of guests - it’s softer than i wanted to write and I hope that hosts will see that two families staying together still didn’t manage to clean!
Kelly and Shane stayed at our house with their children and another
family. A misplaced car key on the last day meant that they were not
able to check out on time nor get around to leaving the house as
requested. It was doubtless a stressful end to their holiday but I hope
they enjoyed the house and location regardless.
You can read reviews that the guests and have hosts have written by just clicking on their photos. I do it all the time. If the guest is reviewed by someone, just click on the host’s picture and it will take you to their profile page with their listings down on the bottom left side. If they only have one or two listings, clicking on that listing will take you to all the reviews and if your prospective guest has written a review, you’ll see it. The same can be said for clicking on a host’s reviews.
@jackulas has the right idea. I had that issue pretty often since I did Airbnb to support myself. I really WOULD have guests checking in, and needed to clean the room.
If it hit 11am I would just gently ask them “are you done with those sheets? I have to start getting ready for the next guest!” and remind them that check out was 11.
If they were nice people and it wasn’t too much bother for me that day, I’d let them leave their luggage. But if logistics weren’t working out I would just say that I needed the key back and couldn’t keep their luggage for them.
Since I am onsite, I usually leave them a handwritten thank you note in which I include a reminder of our check out time. I provide this on their last night before check out. If I have a guest scheduled to arrive on their departure date, I will slip in a line:
“Housekeeping is scheduled to arrive at 11:00, so you are welcome to stay until 10:45am.”
Note I actually give myself a 30 minute window for housekeeping. My check out time is 10am but I give them the 45 mins extra to make them feel like they are getting extra time. Some take it others already have plans to leave super early.
If I don’t have anyone scheduled on the same day and I like the guests, I will offer a late check out.
If I can’t do the handwritten thank you note, I will send them a text or message via Bnb.
At least in my area, I’ve seen hosts set different check out times. Some are earlier and some are later.
Our listed check out time is 10am. No one has ever complained:) So in essence we are giving them an extra 45 mins by saying they can stay until 10:45am.
Most of our guests leave before 10am because they have early flights or want to make the most of their last day here. A few have requested late check outs prior to booking which I normally approve IF I don’t already have somebody scheduled on the same day. I’d say out of 50 guests only 3 requested a late check out prior to booking.
I guess if I would have received feedback about my check out being too early, I would definitely make adjustments.
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