Guest was able to pick thier own check-in time

[Anthony608]

I had a situation today where the guest showed up at the house about 90 minutes early, while the housekeeper was wrapping up and before the door code went active for a 3PM check-in.  They were outside for about an hour and showed me on their phone they had been sent a message saying "check-in time 1PM-3PM" when the room listing on AirBNB clearly says "Check-in after 3PM".  I also had sent them two messages prior to arrival clearly stating check-in time was after 3PM.

I explained this appeared to be some type of problem with the website.  The husband was understanding but not so the wife.  I am already expecting a lower review probably with a comment that they had to stand outside for an hour and couldn't get into the house.  I had this happen about a year ago where a woman showed up at 10AM for a 3PM check-in and said she had a message from AirBNB with a "check-in window" of 10-11AM.  Is this a type of a bug where they can pick their check-in time?  If so, I don't see how we as hosts should be held responsible.

[Helen3]

Sadly this is another quirk of the Airbnb system it allows guests to specify a check in time outside of a hosts check in times. @Anthony608 

It's one of the reasons I would never let a guest arrive without having confirmed their check in time with me directly to avoid just this sort of issue.

It's worth building into your vetting process that you check all arrival times (if you look on your booking confirmation for this guest you should be able to see the check in time they specified). I ask all guests to confirm their check in time on booking and let me know how they are arrriving.

[BenkaandKeith0]

We've faced this numerous times. Jet another stupidity of the system, Airbnb is being deaf about it. We reported it numerous times that if our check in time starts at 3pm Airbnb has no business to offer any earliest possibilities. No answer. Just ignorance. And more upsetting guests. And more problems for us. All I can advice is we ask EACH guest about their ETA and this way catch most of the possible mishaps ahead of time. Yes, it's frustrating and yes it's completely unnecessary to do all this additional work. Another thumbs down for Airbnb knowing about the problem and doing nothing about it to make check in processes as smooth as possible.

[Craig242]

I just had a guest set a 10am check-in time, and after scrambling to work things out with the guest and my cleaning crew, I called AirBnB support and they were able to turn off the “feature” that allows guests to choose their own check-in time on both my listings. The support rep noted that it was *not* possible for me to set this myself, so just call AirBnB support to turn this off.

[Youthful-Stays0]

It’s happened to me before in the past now it happened on April 10th 2024 again and created a HUGE INCIDENT Airbnb Safety had to get involved in because the guest went ballistic seeing the cleaner there in the unit. He called police and screamed at her throwing her stuff in the hallway at the complex, he just totally freaked out.

We tried to explain the glitch that allowed him to choose an 11am checkin and that we sent him 2 check in messages stating his check in time was 4pm, which he ignored, but he just got angrier and more ballistic screaming and freaking out.

We got him to leave but Airbnb still hasn’t canceled his booking so we’re stuck in limbo. Airbnb DOES NOT CARE and they are putting hosts, guests and cleaners in dangerous situations with this glitch. I don’t know what has to happen for them to fix this?!

[Helen3]

As I mentioned earlier in this thread the best way to avoid this is to liaise with the guest when they book and confirm with the guest what time they are arriving within your nominated check in times @Youthful-Stays0 (how was the guest able to check in at 11 am by the way).

I can only suggest you call Airbnb back to try and get them to cancel the booking due to the guest's behaviour towards your cleaner.