Late night messages - how to get folks to stop?

[Amanda660]

Something we’ve chatted about a few times on the boards is excessively late/anytime messaging.  Over the last week I’ve had:

3 x 5am (three days in a row same woman trying to book despite being told to stop as she was waking me up and until she added ID wouldn’t be accepted)

6.50am upcoming guest asking if we had board games (despite photos of a pile of board games in my listing)

11.35pm returning guests telling me they were excited to see my dog again  (ok that’s cute)

1am request for a 3rd party booking (upcoming wedding) 

12 midnight  request for a 3rd party booking (upcoming wedding) 

No one seems to have any concept of what’s appropriate time-wise.  Does it happen to you?  How do you handle it?

I get so anxious now when my phone pings. Sorry for whining 😬

[Ricardo85]

Consider turning off notifications from 22:00 to 06:00

[Kelly149]

this is a technology issue not a people issue... 

low tech -- phone gets left in the kitchen/office/downstairs when you go to bed

medium tech -- utilize the phone's Do Not Disturb settings to restrict silly notifications pinging you past certain times

high tech -- do the above and set your account to message on your behalf when certain things trigger (requests, inquiries, etc)

different times in my life my schedule has been completely odd... if I was messaging at midnight it wasn't bc I expected an answer then, but bc that's when I had the time to message. Between timezones and various schedules I think the days of landline, only call between 9am and 7pm, are gone and will never return

[Sandra126]

@Amanda660 I find the worst thing to do is reply in the late night, or just as I'm going to bed. Often it leads to another question,  another reply... if I reply at all, I'll say I'll off to bed and can discuss in the morning. I don't take phone to bed. 

If you don't respond to the second message, I feel rude, as if I'm ignoring them. Hence better to wait.

[Amanda660]

The one I got tonight at 11.35pm, I replied ‘just gone to bed but I’ll drop you a message in the morning for a proper chat’.  They replied ‘No worries’.

[Amanda660]

For those of you who switch your phones off/don’t take them to bed - how do you deal with possible emergencies from guests who are staying?

[Lisa723]

@Amanda660 guests who are staying have my phone number and during do-not-disturb hours my phone is set to allow a call to go through if someone calls twice in a row. My voicemail greeting says this. (It has never been necessary by the way.)

[Ricardo85]

When a guest rents accommodation on Aribnb, he is renting someone's house and not a Hotel.

If he needs 24-hour service, he should look for a hotel.

[Sarah977]

@Amanda660   As a home share host I don't have the "emergency" dilemma, (and I do turn my phone off at night) but if I hosted an entire place, I would make it clear to guests that you don't answer calls or texts between the hours of XX and YY, unless it's a true emergency. Like there's a fire, not that they can't find a corkscrew. 

Most phones have settings where you can block calls and texts from all but specific numbers. So current guests' numbers (as well as family, etc) could be programmed in.

Really, for most true emergencies it would be smarter to call 911 than the host. A house fire, an intruder or peeping tom, a guest falling and hurting themselves, isn't something a host would be the best person to first call about. The only real "emergencies" I can imagine a host would need to be called for in the middle of the night is something like the plumbing springing a leak, to find out where the water shut-off valves are before the place gets flooded. And that would be a very rare or never occurrance.

[Lisa723]

@Sarah977 we actually have devices that will automatically shut our water off in that scenario-- but of course I'd still expect a call. Other reasons guests might call:

- septic alarm going off

- no water

- no electricity (a not-infrequent occurrence, where guests' reactions have ranged from complete nonchalance to immediate and frantic departure for a hotel)

But none of this has ever resulted in a middle-of-the-night call, for us.

[Sarah977]

@Lisa723  It's interesting the vast difference between how various people react to something not working. Some people might get up in the night to use the bathroom, find there's no water to flush for some reason, and just go back to bed figuring it could be dealt with in the morning. Others might demand some refund.

[Sandra126]

@Amanda660 I always made sure guests knew where I lived(5mins away) in case they needed me. I used to have phone with me a night but sleep is too precious. Next time I host it will be in my house, so it will be easy.