Check-in: meeting guests vs self check-in

[Mike1034]

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?

[Jennifer1421]

@Mike1034

Maybe having all of your locks re-tumbled, so that a single key works for all of them would help, if it's possible. We have a single key for the exterior door and our interior suite door, and find it works quite well. Our guests access the key through a lockbox - a very old school one - and with the exception of 1 guest who gave us a 3 on check in (though didn't say why, so I don't actually know if the lockbox was the issue), we've not had any troubles. A single key that the guest uses everywhere cuts down on the margin for error significantly.

[Mike1034]

@Jennifer1421  It sounds a good solution for some guests. Thanks for your response. But it may not work in my case. I have Two bedrooms rented separately. Each bedroom needs to have its own room key for security purpose. Therefore, house key cannot be the same as room key.

My front steel door has two locks which use the same key though. But two bedrooms have their own key. In this forum, some hosts mentioned about guest asking for a lock installed on their bedroom door. For the liability reason, I installed locks for each bedroom with their own key when I started to rent rooms in Airbnb.

[Michelle53]

@Mike1034 

I have self check-in, and it works really well for me, since it allows a lot of flexibility for the guest, especially folks coming into town for events, that might want to check in late, or leave very early.  Also, I'm not under pressure to deal with other peoples' schedules, in order to meet them in person.

There are, of course, down-side risks, like folks bringing more guests than booked, or wanting more personal service, but, on balance, it usually works out really well. 

Couple of things I do :-

1. I let folks know when I approve the booking that I will send the entry instructions a couple of days before, so please watch the app.  Once or twice, I have had folks ring my doorbell because they were travelling and didn't or couldn't check the app. 

2. I have really simple but comprehensive entry instructions.    Simple enough for anyone using Google Translate, if their home language is not English.   How to operate the keypad, how to operate the lockbox, and how to manage the key.    I provide only one key, so they have to always keep it in the lockbox when they come and go, so nobody gets  locked out. 

3. I use the same code for the electronic gate, the key lockbox and the wifi password.  That way, guests don't have to wrestle with multiple codes. 

4. I ask for approximate confirmation of arrival time, so I can be around, or not far way, in case there is an issue. If it's going to be very late at night, I usually mention I will probably not be available, except in case of emergency. The vast majority of my guests have no issues with the system.  At  least, I always get a good review for check-in.