If I'm set for Keysafe, can I do a last minute Meet & greet?

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If I'm set for Keysafe, can I do a last minute Meet & greet?

Hello community, I come to you since I can't find anything online regarding this.

I'm new to airbnb hosting, been hosting an apartment in Portugal since Dec 20th, 2019, and finally got my first booking (so happy :D). I have a keysafe option on the listing to avoid late meet & greets but since they are arriving at noon on a Saturday, I decided to tell them that I would meet them at the property (so I can  know them and to get some experience in meeting guests). My surprise, the guest got mad because I decided to meet them and is threatning to cancel the reservation because it's not the conditions he have chosen and that he specially looked for a property with self check-in option.  Not really sure if this reaction is normal or not, but since I've been reading about guests' scams  in the past few days, a lot of thoughts have come to mind such as: is he who he says he is? the apartment has 2 bedrooms and can accomodate up to 4 people, yet the reservation is for a couple, is it normal for a couple to rent a 2 bedroom property to use only one bedroom? or perhaps more than 2 people will be staying at the property? I live by the beach and it's winter in this region so prices are low, but still..

I read somewhere online (on this forum or perhaps on Airhost forum don't remember and I can't find the post) that if I'm unsure about a guest, I'm within my right to do a key exchange in person even if I was set for remote access, but I've been looking the Airbnb policy  and on Google to find information regarding this and can't find any, perhaps m,y search keywords are not the best, I don't know. If anyone knows if this is actually in Airbnb's policy or if you could send me a direct link to the policy that talk about changing last minute property access from keysafe to meet and greet, I would really appreciate.
Thanks

Top Answer
Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hey @Ruben306  I hope you are well!

 

I advertise my listings with check-in in person, and if guests are arriving late or I am not available then I set them up for self check-in.

 

Never had an issue doing things this way round, but I have seen a post on the CC previously with an issue like yours, where the guest thought they would be self checking in but the host decided to meet in person and they weren't happy.

 

I don't believe there is a specific policy around moving from one option to the other, it's your choice how you check your guests in after all- but some guests prefer the ease of self check-in so they don't have to worry about being on-time etc etc, and if they realise down the line that's not what they're getting they may be upset.

 

Yes perhaps they want to check in more guests than booked, (do you charge an additional fee for more than 2 guests?) maybe they now don't feel like you trust them- maybe there is a reason behind that.

 

I feel a lot more comfortable setting guests up for self check-in when they have a positive track record of stays on their profile and they have communicated well in the run up to their trip.

 

Paul.

 

 

15 Replies 15
Trevor243
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Ruben306I forgot to mention the meet in person thing!

 

It's your property. If you want to meet the guest, do it. If you're worried about what AirBnB policies might say, remember, it's your property. You can always say "I'll have to meet you there to give you the keys as the cleaner forgot to put the key in the key safe" or "I'll have to show you a few things in the property" or something like that .....

 

I manage a lot of properties .... I rarely ever meet guests .... all properties are advertised as self-check-in with key safe. I recently listed another new property, got the photos and pricing online, got a booking, but hadn't fitted the key safe, so I had to go down and meet the guest to hand over the keys .... no problem, job done. Guest very happy, 5* review, and I'm fitting the key safe tomorrow.