Last Minute Requests from Guests

[Natasha40]

I rent my condo when I am not home through airbnb exclusively. My cancellation policy is moderate, my Check-In time is set for 4pm and my Check-out time is set for 11am and these settings are not always respected. I send out my house manual at least a week in advance (usually more) and tell my guests that I can be flexible with advanced notice, yet nearly all of my guests have contacted me at 11am asking if they can stay a few more hours. I have had people cancel 1 of their nights of the trip with less than 24hrs notice and ask for a refund, in which case I give it to them because they are still staying there the next night and I'm afraid to turn them down.  I have had people ask to check in at 6am (10hrs early) with less than 12hrs notice. Most of the time it isn't a huge inconvenience to give them an extra hour or two especially since most of my guests have been incredibly nice, clean, and respectful of my personal belongings.  But sometimes it is a major inconvenience to wait a few hours at the last minute because I have more guests arriving or something. Where should I draw the line between being a gracious and accommodating host and allowing people to take advantage of my hospitality? Knowing that reviews hold a lot of weight on Airbnb I’d hate to be too firm, but I would also like people to respect my schedule a little more.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

There's one thing to be gracious and another to allow guests to walk on you.  Decide what accommodations you are fine with making and enforce those.  If a guest asks to check in at 6AM, you can let them know you are fine with early check-in but 10 hours before doesn't work.  Then give them the earliest you are able to accommodate them.  Or to deter guests from asking, you can state clearly in your listing you charge an additional fee for early check-in's/late check-out's.  Some hosts make them pretty steep ($50 or so) to deter people.  That way you don't have to say no, you can let the guest say "Oh, nevermind."

[Helga0]

@Natasha40,  you have to learn to say no. 

I made some of your mistakes at the beginning, but I changed that pretty quickly. 

If I get the early check-in requests, I tell them that another guest will still be sleeping in the bed at 6 --am. But if the night is still available, they can book it and arrive later, at 6am instead of 5pm or better 8 pm 

i may accept to take the luggage at the door, at a decent time or store it after checkout. Closed bags, no entering, no opening or unpacking of vags inside, no use of any facilities. 

I don't refund nights if I don't rebook them. They can cancel the night or shorten the stay without refund and if I rebook, I may refund. But for one night, that's just ridiculous.