Do you provide a key for the guest room in a shared accommodation?

[Anastasia13]

Hello, everyone! I have a doubt about the obligation of the host to provide guests with a key for them to lock a guest room in a shared accommodation (with hosts living in the same apartment). Is this actually an obligation or not?

I've been hosting for 1 year now and only the last guest wrote in the review that to improve our listing we should provide guest with the key from the guest bedroom. I stayed in a couple of shared places on Airbnb and was never offered any key for the bedroom. In fact, in most of apartments, people have no locks on the bedroom doors. 

I never thought it will be an issue because we give our guests access to the entire apartment except our own bedroom, they have the key for the main apartment door, and we trust them all our property when we are at work + they often check-out when we are not at home. We rent just one bedroom, no other guests there, just the hosts, so I suppose people renting a shared accommodation understand that we trust entire strangers a lot and expect the same. 

Anyone knows any rule/requirement from Airbnb regarding bedroom keys for shared accommodations?

Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions. 

Anastasia

[Owen4]

Definitely not a requirement, and guests should never expect to get a key (and none of my guests have) to their own room. This is not a hotel. Sounds like everything you are saying is fair.

[Amaris0 · Accepted solution]

There are no rules or requirements from Airbnb to provide keys for a private room in your home; even providing the front door keys is a choice you have.

A lot of private residential in the UK at least, do not have locks on internal doors, In fact some mortgage lenders in the UK would actually add a condition on any residential mortgage offers for any internal lock as confirmed by the surveyor on the valuation report to be removed prior to completion of the mortgage in order to ensure the property is not used as a HMO/multi let. 

Airbnb also have a specific tick box in the Safety Feature section which allows you to confirm if you have locks on the door or not as such the guest could easily have checked that on your listing prior to booking if that was a specific requirement. I happen to have a lock on the door of one of my rooms but I clearly state that it can only be used whilst in the property i.e., for privacy (not that I would or have ever entered a room whilst it is let to a guest).  Also some people might just feel better sleeping with the door locked especially in a strangers home which is understandable  I have the key hooked into the door so it can only be used on the inside of the room and not removed. It is also a requirement of my home content insurance that all internal arears of the property as accessible at all times therefore in my case, locks would invalidate my insurance. 

The choice if yours really, I know some host provide locks while other don't when they rent a space on their homes. You could leave a response to the review to the effect that as it is your private residency as opposed to a hotel or B&B, there are no locks and there was no suggestion in you listing to indicate presence of locks or any discussion re this requirement.

BW, Ama

[Deborah1]

I have a small latch on the inside of the door that they can use when they are in the room. (no key)

[Marlene56]

Many answers here focus on a debate on whether or not one SHOULD provide a lock. Regardless of the opinion on this point, there is no explicit requirement, and as hosts point out, the option to indicate if one is present makes it clear that it's optional.

However, an overzealous Airbnb rep may arbitrarily determine something different, and because of the terms of use, you really have no recourse to that decision.

I just had a guest cancel after checking in because she was a newbie and expected the room to be a hotel room within the house - en suite bathroom, separately locked door. She cancelled because of "safety" concerns - she did not feel comfortable having to enter a common hall to use her private bathroom, nor in the fact that she could not lock her belongings in the room when leaving. Ironically, she seemed to have no problem having unfettered access to everything of mine. 

Even though I do not have the lock box checked, she specifically asked me beforehand if there was a room key to which I answered no, AND she checked in and messed up the room before cancelling, Airbnb still gave her a full refund - with no feedback from me - because the lack of a lock was a "violation of hosting standards" and a safety issue.  This is an odd position, given that some rooms are a common area and have no doors at all!  More, I was given only 2 hours to respond to an non-emergency email from the case rep before they made this determination, which is why they received no feedback from me, as I was at work. 

Of course, once a guest has been told that they will get a refund, unwinding that decision is nearly impossible, so even though Airbnb was clearly 100% wrong, guess who took the hit?

[Christoper1]

Sorry that happened. I think airbnb is trying so hard to provide guests with dirt cheap and unlimited accomadations, they toss hosts comfort with the situation to the wind. People seem to want all of the accommodations of a hotel - 24/7 unlimited access and all of the luxuries, unfettered access - then to pay a fraction of the cost of staying in a hotel. We tend to forget the people part loaning your home or part of your home. This is my home and I will make sure it is secure and safe and you treat it, and my other roommates with respect. And if that means not handing a key to every single person that comes over, so be it. 

[Jomy2]

I agree with Christopher. I have been with AirBnB for over 6 years. I was very happy with their customer service and the "fair and even manner" in which they handled all issues - with careful regard to both guest and host. However, more recently, it feels like they have become more and more "solely care about the guest" at the expense of the host. I think guests are learning about this and starting to take advantage of it. In six years of hosting I have had probably 2-3 issues that had to be taken to AirBnB arbitration and in each case, they handled it evenly. However, just in the past 4-6 months I have had  2-3 cases (some very similar to past case) with guests that had to go to arbitration and in each case I learned about new rules that is skwed towards the guest. Now it almost feels like we are going to increasingly see "entitled guests" and AirBnB more than happy to please them at the expense of the host. It is frustrating, but when you depend on this income, what can we do.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

My listing is 1 guest bedroom for 1 guest in my 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment. The guest uses the bathroom across the hall from the guest room and I use the ensuite bathroom. All the bedroom doors in my apartment can be locked from inside the room, but there is no key to lock the door from the outside. I agree with other messages here that in this type of situation, usually the host has much more to loose! 

Still, one thing I did was install a small safe in the guest room closet (similar to the type of safe we see in hotel rooms). It didn't cost much, and for guests who worried about their valuables, I thought it could help ease their anxiety. 

[Rachael26]

@Jessica-and-Henry0

That is an excellent idea! A small room safe for guests- well done.

Best Wishes.

[Patrice68]

I just joined as a host. I'm uncomfortable giving visitors a key to my apartment that I live and work out of. What is to keep them from making a copy? I work from home and can be here when they arrive. Is there any other option that I haven't thought of before opening myself up to multiple people with keys to my apartment?

[Ange2]

@Patrice68  I have three locks on my door when I have guests I give them the key to one lock and leave the others unlocked, when they leave I still have two solid locks if they have made copies of the one I gave them.

[Patrice68]

I do have 2 locks on the front door and only use one. I guess I can give them the key to the one I don't use and only use it when I have guests. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Jomy2]

Ange, that is an EXCELLENT idea. I think I will use that in my apaprtment. Thank you.

[Bronwyn100]

I have 2 bedrooms used in my home. No locks. These guests are using my home. I don't enter their bedrooms. Goodness, sounds like this guest has trust issues. 

[Angela3989]

@Anastasia13 While there may not be a rule from Airbnb, what makes a rental great usually aren't those things. The customer is giving you advice from their perspective. You can bet that others have thought it, but not said. Would it be terribly difficult to put a lock with key on the door so that guests feel more safe? Perhaps they worry about leaving their belongings while they are out. Perhaps they worry about being safe in the night. After all , they are in a strangers house and it only makes sense to take minimum precautions until you know someone better. These are just human feelings. It's nothing to take personally. It's just something to ease a guests mind. You might think about adding this enhancement because even if it's not a"rule", it might make your place better. Best of luck!