Airbnb should change the way booking dates are displayed to the guest

[Dave52]

I'll throw this out to the CC.

When guests book, it displays (for example) July 6 - July 7.

Had a near-disaster where a guest "thought"  July 6 THROUGH 7.  Or they claimed they thought this. 

Booking clearly states Check in, Check out, number of nights.  Same in my Welcome message to be double clear.  But still......

Here's the interesting part.  Airbnb customer support told me, guests sometimes get confused about the dates they booked.  

OK.  If guests are confused by Airbnb's own admission, airbnb should change the way dates are displayed.

July 6 to July 7.  To be extra clear.  They could include the check out time-- July 6 to July 7 11:AM.

No excuses, or "I thought"

Seems like overkill but the last thing you want is a guest not departing on their check out day.  We are not hotels and cannot put the arriving guest in another room.  If guest is out wine tasting instead of checking out..........Big Problem!

[Emiel1]

@Dave52 

In the hospitality industry it is common a booking is about the NIGHTS booked.

Same for bookings on Airbnb. Guest choose the check-in and check-out date, the booking form displays amount of nights, price etc.

These specific guest you refer to is simply not paying attention to what they booked. IMO It is a rare exception.

[Dave52]

I agree with you, but I had some guests who got confused.  Then airbnb rep said it happens sometimes.  Maybe something different about airbnb guests?  Anything they can do to make it more clear would be a good thing. 

[Lorna170]

@Dave52   When I respond to a guest with my welcome letter via email, I specify the arrival date and time and the departure date and time.  When the guest receives the door access code, I again state the arrival and departure info.  I do not rely on Airbnb to relay this.  Guests make mistakes.

[Huma0]

@Dave52 

This only happened to me once but that guest was a bit clueless to be honest. 

However, I like your idea, because it also reminds guests of the checkout time and guests ignoring the check out time is a more common problem.

[Dave52]

@Huma0   Thanks.  Just noticed, in the airbnb android app, you choose dates on the calendar but it does NOT say Check in, Check out in the calendar.  So you pick August 17 and August 18 for example.  In the browser on laptop it says Check in, Check out on the calendar, but not in android app.  Don't know about IPhone app.

In my opinion Airbnb needs to change the app to make it crystal clear when you choose dates on the calendar upfront, it says Check In, Check out.

Ok, so somebody will say, check in and check out and number of nights are in the booking and we put check in and check out dates and number of nights in our welcome message.  Would be great if the guest paid attention to this, but we live in a world now where many people don't pay any attention (aka short attention span) and don't really read our welcome message. 

Had it happen a few times already, fortunately every guest caught it after they booked and canceled their booking or changed their dates, before they stayed.  These are the ones who had read our Welcome message. 

 Then it happens with one who stayed.  By the way this guest has 20 5-star reviews....

[Huma0]

@Dave52 

Yes, you are absolutely right that a lot of people don't really read. I can totally see why the check out date versus dates stated on the booking can cause confusion. It's just not a thing that I've found many guests to get confused about (only one in hundreds made this mistake),  even though they get confused about plenty of other stuff!