Guest arriving one they earlier than their reservation

[Ynse-Yke0]

It just happened to night guests arrived at Friday night 2AM, who had reserved for Saturday night, asking the permission to arrive between 12PM and 1AM. On which I agreed. They  sustained that they were comunicating to me that they would arrive on Friday night, which was for them Saturday night. Their request: "However our flight does not land until 12pm on the 9th of October and we were hoping to check in our bags that night at around 1am/12,30pm! We would be extremely grateful if you could help us put on that front! Grazie, " and reservation starting on Saturday. When they arrived I made clear to them that they were lucking I could help them out, as I had no reservation for that night. As they only contact when they were already on their way to the apartment, all preparations had to be done under great pressure, and only after realized myself that I checked them in without a mask. Which I normally would have taken care of. I made clear to them that they were lucky as I had no other reservation for that night and that it would be the case to pay one night more. They did not understand, insisting that our agreement was for an arrival on Friday night. What should I do? 

[Colleen253]

@Ynse-Yke0 You were under no obligation to accommodate them checking in that early, especially with such short notice. I would have told them that check in is at such and such time the day their booking begins, and that I was not able to accommodate an early check in on such short notice (I might have even told them there were guests still in residence, whether true or not). That would have driven the point home. 

If you were able and willing to accommodate the extra night, then you needed to communicate the need for them to pay, and be in receipt of payment prior to granting them access. As it is now, I would show them their booking again, highlighting the dates (and your listed check in time) and reiterate that arriving X amount of hours early constitutes an extra night, to which there is a cost. 

[Ynse-Yke0]

Thank you for your answer. As it was possible to accomodate them, I did not want to leave them in the street and that being helpfull and explaining them the situation would make them understand their error. But no understanding at all. I think that at this point the best would be to contact airbnb, but I did not find any indication how. In earlier times there were phone numbers, but I did not find any now.

[Colleen253]

@Ynse-Yke0 All Airbnb might do is ask your guest to pay the extra night. The guest can simply refuse. What you could have done is use the ‘change booking’ feature to adjust the dates and add the extra night. The guest is then in receipt of your request and must accept or decline. Tel them they will get access to the space after they click ‘accept’.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Ynse-Yke0 

This is why I always ask international guests to provide flight itinerary information - depending on expected time of arrival, I can make appropriate suggestions for transportation from the Airport to our home, and make sure they did not make a mistake with the check in dates. I only host international guests and fyi, among those planning to check in directly upon arrival, about half made mistakes with check in dates or had the timing off because they didn't understand the time zone/date change that would happen during international travel. I agree with @Colleen253  that you should have made it very clear about the extra fee before saying okay you can come early and letting them in...... the guest made assumptions based on communication which was also based on assumptions. I've found that it's always better from the host's point of view to be very specific and detailed about times/dates/assumptions and make this as clear as possible when communicating with guests. It does *seem* like you agreed to let them in when they wanted (although I get you had different interpretations), you've already let them in, and you didn't mention the additional cost in advance...... so realistically, I don't think there is anything you can do at this point. Simply take this as a lesson learned and make sure it doesn't ever happen again. 

[Gordon0]

Agree 100 per cent with @Jessica-and-Henry0, @Ynse-Yke0. I ask for flight number, time and day of arrival, especially as much of my pre-covid custom was from Australia/Asia. I then check this on the airport arrivals page.

All that said, our work isn't about 'favours', so they should pay for an additional night. 

[Ynse-Yke0]

Just to answer all the questions. First of all I was asked if they could check in after midnight as their plane was arriving in Milan on Saturday 9 october 12.00 PM, which is not Friday 12.00 PM. They did not mention they wanted to check on Saturday before 3.00 PM, which is stated as the official check-in time.  I agreed on checking in on Saturday  12.00 PM and beyond. Which would be around two o'clock. This exchange of message happened before the decided to check in. However, second: I blocked Friday 8 october as a possibility to check in just to be able to clean thoroughly  on Saturday morning. Third: the ninth of october after 3.00 PM, as stated in the the check in conditions. So I had no reason to expect them Friday night. Leaving them without accommodation  would have created difficulties of all kind next day, apart of the fact  leaving my guest in street at 3.00 AM would be quite harsh anyway.  I did comunicate to them that they should pay an extra at the time I checked them in,. They refused, but I thought there would better ways to resolve this question than just leave them in the street. However I think they should learn the lesson and I will try to get more accurate information on flights in the future. Even though I thought that the information they gave me was accurate enough. Which now results quite confused altogether.  I just would like to point out that my conviction of checking in was not only based on the exchange of message, but als on the reservation they made on bases of the informations they got from me.  Thanks a lot for the reactions of all of you.

[Sarah977]

@Ynse-Yke0  When guests book, they are booking nights, not days. If you give guests permission to check in at 1 or 3 am, that isn't counted as the following day, it is still the night before.  A Saturday booking starts at your check-in time on Saturday.

Your error here was agreeing to let them "drop off their bags" in the middle of the night, without telling them that would entail them also booking Friday night.

Did you really think they were just going to drop off their bags at 1 am and then leave?  And do what exactly? Sit on the street until check-in time on Saturday? It makes no sense.

If I were you, I would drop this insistence on them paying for Friday night. Sure they should, but they're not going to and I don't see how you are going to enforce it. The way you handled it from the start is what led to the situation, so I'd just take it as a learning experience and move on.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Ynse-Yke0 

The guest was talking about the midnight going from Friday > Saturday, while you understood it as the midnight going from Saturday > Sunday. 

From the guests' point of view they assumed since they are arriving just after midnight for them it's technically already Saturday, so they were asking to check in earlier than your Saturday 3pm check in time. You assumed they were talking about the midnight after the check in time. This is why for international guests planning to come directly from the airport it is absolutely necessary the be very accurate and specific about times and dates.

Based on your original post)   

Their request: "However our flight does not land until 12pm on the 9th of October and we were hoping to check in our bags that night at around 1am/12,30pm! We would be extremely grateful if you could help us put on that front! Grazie, " 

While I think the guest could have done a better job to make things clearer, but it's pretty obvious to me from this message that the guests were talking about the midnight PRIOR to your Saturday check in time. They were asking to check in some time between 1am~12:30pm (just past noon) October 9th. You were agreeing to something different and I get that, but in any case you agreed and that is how the guest sees it. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ynse-Yke0 

It's too late now but in the future be very careful with special requests, check and think twice before you agree to them, and charge it accordingly.

Last-minute bookings and requests for some extras beyond what we usually offer like early check-ins/outs without offering to pay extra for it, inquiries for discounts, and similar ... are not good signs. I decline immediately or say it will cost xx€ more (then they decline).  They don't value the host's time but they do value their own money.

Please leave an honest review for this guest to warn future hosts and click on the " would not host again" button to prevent them to instant book in the future.

[Ynse-Yke0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 
I do accept instant bookings, but I never had a case like, even though not all guests are perfect. In this case not so much a early check-in, but a late chech-in reversed to a very early one. I do agree that requests for discounts and similar are not good signs, whether I would accept varions on check-in times, when possible. May-be I should put an to it as well.

[Colleen253]

@Ynse-Yke0 Keep it simple, keep it straight. No doubt about it, this was an early check in request. It just so happened that the hour they wished to arrive was late, which only catapults the request further into ‘inappropriate’ territory. Airbnb hosts are people with lives, not impersonal hotels, with 24 hour front desk service. But even hotels have a limit to what they will accommodate, and there is a cost involved. By all means, be personal, pleasant and accommodate what you reasonably can, but see what you do as a business, and define and clearly communicate your boundaries. 

People have a responsibility to familiarize themselves with the details of the Airbnb they are booking, to plan accordingly, ask questions and communicate plans to the host in a timely manner. It doesn’t fall to the host to scramble and pick up the pieces when that fails to happen. 

You might consider addressing check in deviation requests in your house rules. Outline your rules, and charges. House rules should be strategically crafted to not only inform, but to act as leverage when needed. After all, guests attest at  booking that they have read and agree to your house rules. If you haven’t, also set an end to your check in time, to cut off requests to arrive at very late hours. 

[Elena87]

@Ynse-Yke0 

It appears you have been bounced into the early check-in con.

If they were wanting to leave their bags at midnight but check in later in the afternoon, I'd be asking what exactly what their plans were as this code red arrangement is nonsensical.

As posted by the esteemed seasoned pros above, best to nail down the exact flight arrival details as a prevention measure to cut through a chancers bull.

14 hours arrival before check-in time never constitutes an early check-in. 

[Mark116]

@Ynse-Yke0  This happened to us 1 time, and we told the guest that if they wanted to access the apartment, basically 14 hours before check-in, they would have to pay for the night, which they did.

I don't know if your guests made a legitimate mistake, or if like our guests, they were trying to scam basically a free night by checking in at the beginning of the calendar day of their check-in.  We had an exchange with them about their arrival time and it was only a few hours before they were planning to show up that we realized they were talking about X night and we had been talking about Y night, the next night.  Like you, we were able to accommodate because the space  had been empty the previous day.   They also were terrible guests and ALSO wanted a super late 8pm check-out.

[Kathy842]

The host should have verified the times in military time. I don't know if the times you quoted are what the guests messaged in their own words or if you translated these times to your understanding. Your language, 

"guests arrived Friday night at 2 am"

"asking permission to arrive between 12pm and 1am"    .....this is a 13 hour window.

"However our flight does not land until 12pm on the 9th of October" ......flight arrives Saturday around noon.

"were hoping to check in our bags that night at around 1am/12,30pm! ....this is an 11.5 hour window.

Host should have verified these times and days in the correct format.