Most of time I personally greet guests for check-in. Occasionally I asked guests to do self check-in when I am not available. In either case, most of time there are little complaints about the check-in.
Recently I had a guest complaining about the check-in because I was not able to meet her at check-in time. She rated me 2 for Check-in and 3 for Communication with the same complaint because of self check-in.
Here is what she left in private message at review time. "It would be nice if you greeted your out of town guests personally. I had a lot of trouble with opening the lockbox, which was extremely overwhelming, especially since I was a visitor and no one was there to greet me."
I sent her self check-in instruction one day before her arrival and I also texted her about 15 minutes after her check-in. In my self check-in instruction, I mentioned that call me anytime if there are any questions. But I did not receive any phone calls and she told me that everything was fine after she received my message 15 min after her check-in.
For added security, I do have three locks on my house doors. Two locks with the same key on the steel door. And one keyless entry lock. For a self check-in, I put keys (house door key and bedroom door key) in a lockbox which has a code. Therefore, there are two codes and two keys for four locks on three doors. It could be difficult for guests who is not fluent in English. But for people who are educated in the US like this guest, it should not be an issue if she could read the self check-in instruction carefully. Or she could just give me a call if she faced the difficulty. She just hit me with very low ratings in Check-in and Communication category. Not sure why she rated low in Communication when she actually mentioned in her public review "... He checked on me periodically throughout my stay...".
In her feedback for Check-in rating. She wrote "Thanks for being a great host. It would be nice if you greeted your out of town guests personally. I had a lot of trouble with opening the lockbox, which was extremely overwhelming, especially since I was a visitor and no one was there to greet me."
In her feedback for Communication rating. She wrote "I would appreciate being greeted by the host when visiting from another state. Not doing so makes it not as welcoming, as I wasn’t familiar with CA. That makes for a more personal experience. Also, without the host to let me in the lockbox instructions were very confusing and the door was too difficult to open."
I would like to hear from other hosts about your check-in experience with your guests.
(1) Do you prefer self check-in or meeting the guests?
(2) How much effort/attention do you put on door locks for security purpose?
(3) What kind of door locks do you use?
(4) How many locks do you use?