Early arrivals

[Emma708]

I have a guest booked for tonight. However, he turned up unannounced yesterday around lunchtime. When I enquired as to his expectations he knew he was a day early, and was not expecting to stay. He ended up inside my home, which was wierd. Never really explained his reasoning for being there. His behaviour made me feel unsafe. He had booked as a couple with his wife, but was alone. Thankfully I had friends round as well as my in laws had arrived otherwise I would have felt very vulnerable being home with my baby son. He then left after a short time. However he returned again at 7pm rang doorbell and my son answered so he again gained entry into my home the day previous to his booking. My husband was in the front room bathing our baby son, so I was thankful that he made himself known to the arrival. I came to speak with him. He was again alone. He stated he wanted to cancel his reservation. I stated that this was fine and his own choice. He stated it was because he did not want to sleep on a futon, which is understandable however, the listing of my place states this in the description and also has pictures of it. He requested a refund. I informed him that all financial transactions need to go through the Airbnb website and advised him to do this. This morning I have checked my account and he has not cancelled. I really do not want this guy in my home. Has anyone else had issues like this? I am concerned as I am quite new to Airbnb, that I have made my children vulnerable as I have mentioned on the listing in the section regarding potential for noise that guests may encounter the sound of children playing etc. Should I take this off the listing?

[Ana1136]

@Emma708 he can't just "end up" in your home, you or members of your family have let him in before check in time, something you should never do. I personally would have called Airbnb after the first time he came and would have canceled his reservation. There is still time to do it. I hope you kept your communication in the app. Or if he cancels he should be dealing with Airbnb for refunds however he can now leave you a review which will probably be bad. And you shouldn't take the warning for noise potential because guests need to be warned before booking. 

[Emma708]

Thanks for your reply. You are right, he caught me off guard as we were in middle of a toddler party and my in-laws had just turned up with loads of bee keeping equipment and it was just so unexpected. I certainly would be doing things differently if this happened again if I continue as he has put me off. I am quite new, and unfortunately can’t find how to contact Airbnb on the website, if you are able to help. That would have been a good idea of what to do which I will learn from.

[Sarah977]

@Emma708  Yes, contact Airbnb ASAP to make sure this guest can't come back to your home. I really don't understand why you let him in in the first place.

As far as the mention of kids playing in your listing, instead of saying there are children playing, you could change the wording to something like "Active family, so potential is there for normal family noise - please do not book if this will bother you." 

[Emma708]

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes I don’t know why I let him in. He just caught me off guard. You say contact Airbnb ASAP. However, I am still getting to understand the website as I am new. I can’t find how to contact them. 

[Paul1255]

phone 0203 318 1111

[Emma708]

Thanks so much I have now managed to contact Airbnb.

[Helen3]

What did they suggest @Emma708 

Always useful to get feedback for other hosts who might be in a similar situation

[Helen3]

If you haven't done so already, message the guest via airbnb and say that if he has now decided that he wants to cancel as he doesn't want to sleep on the futon advertised in your listing when he booked, he will need to cancel the booking and any refund due will be in line with the cancellation policy he booked into.

Then call Airbnb and tell them what happened.

Please make sure your children know not to let guests into your listing but call you or their father before anyone is given entry to your home.

[Anthony608]

I had a guest arrive a day early once.  I learned later that she and her boyfriend were essentially homeless and on drugs so she probably literally didn't know what day it was. 

When they arrived, the doorcode was already active for another guest, so they were able to get through the front door.  I immediately stopped them, asked what they were doing at the home a day early, and the girl said she had gotten confused.  As they were homeless, they had *tons* of bags littering the yard in front of my house.  They said they had nowhere to go and asked could they stay a day early just a favor.  I clearly said "No" but offered an emergency booking for another room I had open.

I did not let this girl any further into the home until she had gone on the AirBNB website and paid for the room.  Only then did I let them in with all of their bags.  They had the room for one night and were informed to promptly move into the other room the following day at 11AM (checkout time).  Of course we had problems, they didn't move over until noon, and then stayed for about a week and a half in the second room which had been their original booking.  Kept to themselves but destroyed the room and there were major issues upon final checkout; could not get them off the property until 7PM when checkout was 11AM.

I gave them a very low star rating, not recommended to host again, but didn't say anything in the narrative except that the girl had paid for the emergency booking which was appreciated.  I did this for the sole reason that they had made it clear they were local transients, moving in and out of AirBNBs right around where I lived, and had I slammed them in the written review, I felt here was a good chance they would have come back to house and committed vandalism or something like that.  Another host, after they stayed with me, actually said they did that.

[Jones5]

@Anthony608  So far, I have tried to be very careful when it comes to that.  I have been a little concerned about having transient guests and people that are homeless or might have substance abuse or other issues. I am a little suspicious when they are locals if they do not disclose the reason for their stay. Do you have any helpful info that may assist with that? 

[Anthony608]

Some people will not rent to locals, and for good reason.  As has been discussed, local people renting in the same area they live in is suspicious.  However, I have had over a hundred people in the home, and only this one case was there a serious issue.  I learned from this to look closely at instant bookings with bad reviews.  In the future, I would probably have cancelled a person such as this homeless girl, which is allowed with instant book if the person has several previous bad reviews.  Some people won't even use instant book, but I would lose money if I did that, so I have chanced it and have not had any problem except this one case.  Another thing I learned was to not be so nice.  I helped this girl leave that night, since she was still on the property *hours* after checkout.  If I had to do it over again, I probably would have just taken all of her bags from my lawn to the corner bus stop and wished her the best, rather than helping her move them to the next Airbnb she was renting.

[Michelle53]

I had a person turn up a day early, but check in at 1am from a late-night flight. 

I can't recall the dates, now, but let's say she booked from the 24th to the 26th.   Of course, when she said she was on a late flight, I expected her on the night of the 24th/early morning the 25th.   I have self check-in, so she had entry codes. 

I didn't have the space ready, the night of the 23rd/24th,  but did have the alarm on in the guest space.  She checked in at 1am on the 24th, and of course, set off the alarm.    When I went down there to check, she was there, all confused. 

Anyway, I let her stay the night at no charge, since nothing was ready, and put it down to an honest mistake. 

But then, I went back and re-read some of her prior reviews, and noticed it was not the first time. 

I can't imagine someone could really make the same mistake twice. 

I learned to carefully read reviews, and she got a free night and poor review from me, since she should have known better.

I've also been woken by the alarm when someone "mixed up their dates" and stayed past check-out time, showing up for another night. 

[Anthony608]

I had someone try the exact same thing!  They booked for an arrival on the 10th, or something like that, which had a check-in time of 1PM.  They then said they would be arriving on a "late flight" at 1AM and "check-in right after that".  I smelled something was up and asked them very specifically to clarify were they talking about 1AM on the **11th**, like the night of the 10th rolling over into the next morning, or did they mean 1AM actually on the 10th.

They admitted (probably because they knew that I knew) it was 1AM on the 10th and they would be at house around 2 or 3 in the morning on the 10th (a full 12 hours prior to check-in).  I said they would need to pay for the night before, with check-in on the 9th but gave them half price since we agreed the door code wouldn't go active until midnight on the 10th.

As I recall they were nice guests.  I think they might have given me a 4 star review, but I cant recall as this was one of my first bookings.

[Michelle53]

I'm very careful, now, to state that check-in is 3pm onwards on date of arrival, and check-out is 12 noon on date of departure. It's clearly in my house rules, and posted on the back of the door. When I get a late-night arrival, now, I always double-check. 

Something a guest posted recently in one of the forums made me laugh. He said one of his top 10 peeves is the laundry list of house rules. It wouldn't be like that if we didn't have to account for every scenario a guest tries on.