How to Mix Advance Notice/Prep Time/Check-in-out For the Smoothest Drink

[Clay29]

This is what I’ve seen. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Advance Notice:

At least 1 day’s notice: can come any time before midnight regardless of check-in time

• Your notice time is required even if the unit has been idle

Preparation Time:

Block 1 night before and after each reservation = 1 actual night

• a day before runs concurrent with the day after.
• Reduces availability exactly 1 night
• This period runs in total from the time of the last guest’s departure and will not prevent same day booking if the unit was vacant during this time with no advance notice

I would like to maximize availability but really need from checkout at 12:00 PM until 5:00 PM the next day to get the unit ready due to time constraints of laundry and maid service. I could move check-in to 5:00 PM which guests may not like or I could move prep time to 2 days before and 2 days after and get rid of the advance notice. My problem is even though I am almost certain this last part only means 2 nights between, it sounds a whole lot like four days. My question is does the last part about prep time sound correct to you and if not, how late before check-in time becomes unappealing ?

[Helen744]

Helen@744,we have at times only had four hours between guests . It is important I would suggest to turn checkout time back to 10 am and keep checkin  to at least to two or three . this is where Estimated times of arrival from your guests  become important. If they say they will be arriving at four or five then cleaning can be pushed out Random guests will play with this time and all of a sudden say they are ten minutes away after telling you that they wont be there for two hours but not generally. You can oh so politely tell them that the house is not ready as they told you a different time . Always say The  cleaners and not that u personally are the cleaner. or you can generally tell that those who say they are taking two year olds to a local attraction and will not need to checkin until five will be banging on the door at two.Oftentimes a day will fall clear between bookings if you have a two night minimum.this sounds like it would suit you better as it is more relaxed . If your town has lots of people using it as a stopover and not a destination then stick with one night but these are the people who need to checkin late. People confuse book in and checkin times. That is why asking for an ETA is important. People can book in until 8 for the following day not for the current day but the guests for the current day must arrive before 8 pm or 9 in summer but If they are arriving at 4 ,5 or later they will have to have told me before arrival day or I will call to find out. Some people exclusively take late arrivals and find an early departure by these people and a whole daytime for cleaning works better for them. But if you value sleeping then turn on instant book with 8pm cut off and two day bookings minimum . Life will then settle down . i think its risky trying to do both and exhausting  I hope that helps H

[Clay29]

I would get so lost if I tried to work with the guests idea of when they tell me they will check in. Many times they do without asking and very often they arrive much earlier just after check-in.

[Sarah977]

@Clay29  The prep time wording is very misleading. For some reason Airbnb seem to state things in the most convoluted way possible. 

1 day prep time only blocks one night between bookings. The "night after" one booking doubles up as the "night before" the following booking. 2 nights prep time blocks 2 nights between bookings. 

I'm not sure what you mean about guests checking in until midnight with the advance notice setting. Guests can only check in during your stated check-in times.

And advance notice is whatever you have set it to regardless of whether the unit is idle or not. 

Example 1: Advance notice set to 2 days. Prep time set to 1 night.

You have a booking, Guest A,  commencing the 10th of the month. The night of the 9th was blocked by your prep time setting (one night before).

Guest B wants to book for the 3rd, to check out the morning of the 9th. That works- prep time has blocked the night of the 9th (one night prep after Guest B)- you now have from Guest B's check-out time on the 9th until check in time on the 10th to clean and prepare for Guest A.

Guest B will have to book by the 1st because of your 2 night advance notice setting. 

Example 2: Same advance notice, same prep time.

You have a booking, Guest A for the 15th. You have no other bookings from the 1st to the 15th. Guest B, just like the above example, wants to book from the 3rd, to check out the 9th.  He still has to book by the 1st, because of your advance notice. 

The night of the 2nd (one night before Guest B's check in day) and the 9th will be blocked (one night after). Nights available between Guest B and A will be the 10th through the 13th. ( Night of the 14th is blocked for prep time before Guest A checks in on the 15th)

Hope that made sense. 

[Clay29]

Thank you Sarah. Yes, what you said makes sense. What prompted this was that I had a guest checkout Monday and a new booking made late that day checking in Tuesday. I would have thought 1 day advance notice along with prep time of a a day before and day after would have meant more time that the 19 hours from booking to check in for the second guest.

Because it was late, I could not reach the maid until morning, a scary situation as I also work and although the laundry had been submitted to the cleaners, it wasn't to be picked up until an hour after check-in. It worked out barely, the maid arrived and left after check-in  had already started but 30 minutes later the guest arrived. I want to avoid that in the future.

It sounds like my best bet is to change to a prep time of 2 days before and 2 days after. This sounds like 4 days on first read, but I understand it's really 2 due to the overlap. As I understand, that would mean this guest would not have been able to book until Wednesday, the two days before and two days after both being served by not being booked Monday night and Tuesday night.

The one thing not mentioned but was confusing for me and I think is true is that there is no more "2 days before" prep time if the unit has been  empty for two days. Guests can book as soon as advance notice allows.

[Sarah977]

@Clay29  If you normally don't require more than one night between bookings to get the place cleaned, then no, don't change prep time to 2 nights, change advance notice to 2 nights. That would have prevented your guest from booking for the Tuesday night. Advance notice will work better- it means you can't be taken by surprise and scrambling to get the place cleaned on short notice. 

If you set the prep time to 2 nights, you will lose 2 nights between each booking, when you don't require that normally to get the place cleaned. The issue you are trying to prevent is a last minute booking and that is solved with the Advance notice setting.

Although I do my own cleaning, so don't have a cleaner to schedule, l  also work, so while I only need 1 night free between bookings to have time to clean, I don't want to have to do that on short notice, as I may have other work committments I can't shove aside. I have always had 1 night prep time and 2 days advance notice, and that has worked perfectly.

[Clay29]

Thank you again. More food for though. Laundry is the real issue as it's overnight ready by 4:00 - one hour after check-in. I usually end up doing it myself in most of these cases but at the point of the request, I had already delivered it to them.

Buy more linens would seem like the obvious solution but I have a very small house and there really is nowhere to store it.

[Fiona256]

You really need to have more than one set of bedlinen and towels etc. Three is the recommended minimum.

[Till-and-Jutta0]

At least 1 day’s notice: can come any time before midnight regardless of check-in time

• Your notice time is required even if the unit has been idle

Yes, as the 1 day’s notice can arrive one minute before midnight, and there is the risk that I’m not able to accept/deny in due time, I extended to a 2 days’ notice.

Once it happened to me that a third-party booker instant booked late in the night, and I was able to deny/cancel only at the day of check-in, I got in big trouble.

[Clay29]

The only problem with that is if your unit has been empty, do you really want or need two days notice ?

I thought of another way I'd like to see Airbnb do it:

* I need ___ hours from check out to check in for the next guest

* Yes, you may adjust my check in hours up to ___ (time) to accommodate prep time.

[Till-and-Jutta0]

@Clay29 I need a two days notice to sort out bookings, which come in the middle of the night, and which I can deny/cancel one day before check-in.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Clay29 we have 1 days notice set but have ticked the box that allows people to request a stay at shorter notice. This works well if you have downtime and the property is ready.

[Clay29]

I can see this would be helpful if I moved to 2 days before and after prep time. Thank you