guest arriving late - can I charge them?

[Marcelino-and-Debra0]

How can we impose a fee for guest that arrive past a reasonable time of night? 

We have a check-in time starting 3 PM but we don't want to stay up past 10:30 PM waiting for guest to arrive.

Any ideas?

[Kim611]

I am also sitting here right now at 12:45 am waiting for my guests to arrive who said that they would be here between 8-10pm.  My check in time is 3:00 - 10:00 and I love the idea of a late check in fee.  I will be implementing that immediately.  This is the second time that someone has kept me waiting until after midnight.  I have sent a message to them 1/2 hour ago asking when they are going to arrive.  No response.  What should I do???

[Val76]

I know this was posted last year BUT I had a guest do the same thing they were driving and no excuse that the flight was delayed.  No communicaton at all I messaged them finally at 8pm they replied and said they would be arriving around 11pm well they arrived at midnight.  I had to be here since the room is in my home I would have liked to go out to dinner but kept waiting for the guest to arrive so I didn't go to dinner nor did I eat.  People should at least have consideration for a host yes we invited them into our homes but they don't need to take advantage of our generosity.  I'm fed up with guest saying what time they will arrive knowing full well it will be much later and then the ones that don't communicate and you have no idea when they will arrive.

[Darrin9]

I’m new to Airbnb, however I have been in the hospitality industry for most of my life. My guest arriving this evening has just responded to a “Welcoming” e-mail I sent days ago to inform me she will be arriving at Midnight (3 hours past check in). I’m not too bothered, however I believe every guest should be welcomed upon arrival, so I will be up at the witching hour to help her party get settled. The two approaches I find reasonable in this situation would be 1) state and charge a late check in fee. 2) arrange a key box and self check in instructions. I see the “fee” approach as an easy solution, but I feel it’s kinda like a “punishment”; I very much appreciate every guest who books with me and I really try to bend over backwards for them and I would be more apt to use the self check in approach; true you don’t have an opportunity to “size up” the guests, but for the most part I feel the screening of the guests is adequate to settle any doubts I may have and so far all my guests have been absolutely lovely (knock on wood). Good Luck & Happy Hosting 🙂

[Huma0]

I have a window of 3-9pm. However, I will sometimes allow later check ins, but I charge a few for this, which is mentioned in my house rules. Mostly, guests ask in advance if they can check in after 9pm. Sometimes they have already noted that there is a fee and say they will pay it before I have to ask. If not, I respond saying, "Okay, but don't forget there is a fee, as mentioned on the listing."

Mostly this has worked absolutely fine. I've only had problems a couple of times where the guests told me they were going to arrive within my check in window, announced last minute that they were coming after 9pm and then seemed taken aback by the idea of a late check in fee.

If a guest is 30-45 minues late, I'm not even going to ask them for the money, especially if they are delayed for reasons beyond their control. However, if a guest chooses to come to my place well after my check in window, then they need to pay for my time (and we're talking about minimum wage here).

It's worth noting however, that Airbnb will not have your back if the guest refuses to pay. I had one incident where the guests were seriously late and kept me up until the early hours of the morning. They knew full well about the late check in fee (all confirmed via Airbnb messaging), but ignored any attempts to collect it from them and didn't respond to Airbnb, who then simply closed the case. Make sure if you are collecting this fee to do it as soon after arrival as possible.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

In this conversation it seems it is not enough just to state what check-in times are acceptable. Rather, we should state that "If check-in time is missed no access to the accommodation will be possible. Guests must make it their priority to check-in at the appointed times otherwise any accomodation fee for the missed booking will be forfeited.".

[Anthonia-And-Leon0]

My current guest was due to arrive at midnight but there flight is delayed and will be arriving at 2am !!

[George776]

I had many of those, I just take a nap and tell them to message me when they leave the airport.

[Rowena10]

I have had several guests this year who have checked in long after the 3-8.00pm check in time. One didn’t arrive till after midnight as they needed to go out to eat first .   The accommodation is a private room in my home and I’m not happy about welcoming people so late. I now put strictly 8.00pm in my listing and remind them when they book. I contacted Airbnb about what I should do if they’re is no arrival by 8.00pm and they will inform the guests that the accommodation is not available and they are being disrespectful! Not sure how that will work.  

Also not sure people read the listing several people say they didn’t realise it was shared space, or the private bathroom is not en suite this is stated in the listing they just don’t read it!  States clearly room in private house. 

[Helen350]

@Rowena10 YES! -ALL OF THE ABOVE! My check in is 5 - 11pm & I still get people checking in late. Then cooking, eating, stomping around and banging doors for 2 - 3 hrs. Even when I've told them other guests are in bed! Been several in the last few weeks. Usually from the same continent. I've started marking them down on house rules for it, and communication, if late arrival was not negotiated beforehand. And either a private or public note in the review.

Regarding guests misinterpreting the bathroom situation, I'd do what I do - write in CAPITAL LETTERS  near/at the top of your listing - 'THE BATHROOM IS NOT ENSUITE.' (just as my listing states  'THE BATHROOM IS SHARED.') Then no one can say they did not know! You could also write prominently 'GUESTS ARRIVING AFTER 8.00pm WILL HAVE THEIR BOOKINGS CANCELLED (for breach of house rules.)

- My listing description has evolved over time, as guests have dinged me on something they should have known - but didn't read, so I spelled it out even more clearly to stop future guests booking something with which they were not satisfied!

[James3273]

I've had 2 this week that stated late that they would be arriving midnight-ish or later.  Not acceptable.  If they don't arrive by midnight can't you just refuse them because they didn't show up on the day they booked?

[Dalana0]

I appreciate this question because similar to others, i have had late arrivals (past 10pm when quiet hours start at 9m) and then the guest will be opening/closing doors and fumbling around in the kitchen for hours afterwards.

I reached out to Airbnb Support to ask about my options bc a guest is arriving late and keeps changing their arrival time and they said, "Are you not able to host anymore?"

After i clarified that a late check-in has nothing to do with my ability to host, they said, "For the extra hour charge on early check in and late check out. Please put them on the host rules, indicate the price per hour or set charge and then you will be able to claim this via the resolution center by clicking this link https://www.airbnb.com/resolutions."

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Dalana0 Our check in is up to 9pm. Our last guests checked in at 2.00am. But there is no way I would ever consider charging them. Their flight was delayed by 5 hours and they had a terrible journey. I would never compound this with a charge.

[Dalana0]

Good for you.