As discussed previously, I notify out guests of impending weather issues. But this time it might be an issue as I have a guest who is coming in tomorrow (whole house) rental but I am not sure I am going to be able to make it to the home to turn it over and neither is my back up due to the blizzard that is suppose to hit here bout noon. Now my check out is 10 a.m and we have a current guest in the home. I have sent a message to the current guest about what time he thought he would be checking out but no response. I would hate to cancel last minute but am in a pickle about what to do.
If neither you nor your back up can get to the house from in town how the heck is someone from out of town going to arrive? I’d try to call or text then I’d advise Airbnb and see if they will do a penalty free cancellation. I would expect they will, these are extenuating circumstances. If the booking is for more than one night and you think you can get to the house Sunday then that complicates things.
1 Like
Well that was my initial thought too but then I remembered he is coming in early in the morning, going to a wedding and then checking in. He picked our place because it is within walking distance to our home. However, thank goodness just received notification that my guest who was suppose to check out tomorrow decided to check out tonight due to the incoming weather. So I will go this evening and clean it…whew…dodged a bullet!
7 Likes
Blizzard is not my issue however if you want to talk hurricanes, I can participate.
It sounds like you have worked out your cleaning issue.
I do think it is fair to let your guest know about the impending storm. If they cancel so be it. If you were concerned about getting there to clean like @ KKc said they may not can get there either.
Every one’s safety is the primary concern
I did send all the guests a message about the storm and even called the incoming guest regarding the storm. We are now getting freezing rain so it is a skating rink right now. Even if he would cancel I would refund his total fee because it isn’t his fault due to weather. We live and the house is in a hilly part of town so winter can be challenge.
1 Like
I agree. Depending on the weather severity Airbnb may process a full refund without your input. Aurbnb was very helpful with my hurricane cancellations this past year.
I respect that you are wanting to treat others as you would like to be treated.
I’m interested to know the outcome. Is the guest coming or not. I feel bad for the folks getting married but I guess they knew there’s a good chance of this.
As of this morning he is still coming as is my other guest who is slated to come this evening. I have given all the heads up I can and I can only hope they choose to be safe and not take chance if the weather gets as severe as they are predicting.
Oh my…this just get better. Weather…snowing so hard you can’t see down the road but just got a message from a guest. So sorry at the wedding party and realized I locked myself out of the room. Can you pop down and open my room up later when I get a hold of you so you can open my door up? My only option is to walk because the emergency only ban that is currently out for car travel.
Oh my. How far is the blizzard walk? If it is too far or too slick, he needs to find a place to crash until you can get there safely tomorrow.
People attending this wedding are a determined bunch!
Digital locks, hidden keys or key boxes really are a must for Airbnb.
2 Likes
Keyless Entry in the home…keyed door locks on the bedroom doors. So he can get in home just not in their room.
If this never happens then don’t worry about it. It is what it is. But anyone can forget or lose the key so I’d have
on the room doors.
1 Like
About an 8 block walk down and then back up a huge hill. They can get in the home (keyless entry) just not into their room. We have keyed door locks on the bedroom doors.
In the 3 years we have had the ABB this is the first time I have been unable to accommodate a guest about locking themselves of their room. I have gone in the middle of the night to unlock a bdrm door before as things do happen. This is a private home with 5 bdrms that we rent out as private room use. We also have a whole home rental also that is located next door. We do have Keyless entry on the main doors and then the bedroom doors are also keyed locked for their security. Although they are master keyed (for our convenience) I am really hesitant in hiding a key for the just in case purposes. Will have to think about this for the future and see what we can come up with.
Ah, yeah in that case maybe not. Just keep in mind that Airbnb guests seem to be getting less and less…uh…competent as its popularity increases.
1 Like
The goal for tonight is everyone safe & warm. After the storm passes things like locked out of room can be handled.
Food for future thought. Tape spare keys to rooms in odd places. E.g. BR1 —key taped to bottom of coffee table. BR2 Key taped to underside of dining table. You get the idea.
2 Likes
Do NOT tape keys to private guest rooms in common areas! Spend $39.99 on amazon for turbo locks to replace door knobs. They are awesome! If you want one that you can control with your phone as well spend $59.99 for the Bluetooth version, TL-99. If you want to go really big get the August Smart Locks and install deadbolts in each of the bedroom doors. Then you will be able to control all the doors remotely. That will set you back about $300 when all is said and done but you can find older models and used models for much cheaper on eBay.
End of story…we got 9.5 inches of snow and was finally able to make it down about 9:30 this morning. after hitching a ride with someone who has a 4 wheel drive truck as the roads were absolute impassible for most vehicles. The guest was just glad they were able to make it inside even if they had to sleep on the couch. Even though it wasn’t an error on my part I refunded 1/2 of their stay back to them as an inconvenience refund. They admitted that they had to walk about 3 blocks themselves as they couldn’t make it either. So a lesson learned and will be looking into getting keyless locks for the rooms although the chances of this happening again are nil but you never know. Hopefully they won’t give us a horrible review.
I wish you were right but somehow don’t expect you are on this one. Glad you are going to get something keyless.