Guests arriving hours late

[Ruth152]

What happens to your payment if a guest does not check-in

[Andrea9]

@Ruth152

Guests' problem. You fulfilled your end of the contract, and they didn't inform you otherwise.

You are paid 24h later as usual.

[Ken28]

What are you saying?

Lock the door and when they arrive, you tell them "Sorry, not sorry."?

[Andrea9]

@Ken28

You mean guests arriving late.

The subject was guests who don't arrive, and what will happen to payment.

[Ken28]

The title "Guests arriving hours late" implied, to me, that the guest did did arrive, but at a later hour than expected.

Maybe @Ruth152 can clarify for us? 

[Andrea9]

@Ken28

Ah, you're right, I only registered @Ruth152's text. 

But then I don't understand why there should be a question of payment if guests simply arrived hours later....

[Ken28]

@Andrea9... 🙂 Now that we're all on the same page, and equally confused... 🙂

Assuming she's talking about a late arrival... Let's assume check-in time is 9pm, and they arrive near midnight? Can you rightfully lock the door at 9pm and deny entry, but still accept payment for the night?

I can see where a 'whole house' listing could get away locking the door and leaving the guests without a room. But for hosts that share the house, I feel like that would be difficult to do -- ignoring a guest banging on your door at midnight is neither pleasant, nor is it good material for your review, if you get one.

I can see why a guest would expect a room to be reserved for them if they've paid, but I also can see why a host could deny entry, based on the missed check-in time. In a sense, that's a basic House Rule that was broken, and the contract is moot.

Which goes into another point of discussion... If I cancel due to broken rules, do I have to offer a refund beyond the limits of the refund policy? What if you have a guest book long-term (over a month), and they break a rule on day one? Do they get refunded for unused days, or do I get paid for the entire month, since they've agreed to the rules and cancelation policy? 

[Andrea9]

@Ken28

I would try to call the guest, send them a direct text message on their phone besides one or two through the message page telling them that since they are x hours late without being in touch and that unlike a hotel desk, you need to go to bed to get up early. That you are assuming that they will not be arriving that night.

I would additionally hang up a note outside my door saying I tried to contact multiple times and have gone to bed, but to ring if the still arrive. That all to show I did what I could, and if they do still arrive and before they can get a word out I'd probably greet them heartily with "Hi, thank goodness you're safe and here! I was SO worried (or something to that extent), when you didn't answer any of my messages or calls! But got so tired after midnight I went to bed." Be quicker to take the wind out of their sails than they stirring up a storm, always! Psychology is my big friend.

Then later, depending on the reason they give you, you can still mention they could have been better in communicating their delayed check-in plans or something like that. Dynamite review tips:

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/listing-and-reservations/page/1/... 

Lesson learned - as a host you often end up feeling like a day-care center, and what I do is, after the first messages to send them a friendly message several days earlier to touch base and ask about check-in time. No answer? I stay kind but firm and re-ask. This time repeating that as a private host I need to run some errands and if they happen to arrive just then, to call me and I'll only be 15-20min away. Or arrange it to your needs. (after my 'threat' I usually get extremely quick results!)

Communication in advance is one of the top most important things.

I can't tell you what happens with monthly rentals, my max. is 6 nights.

If a guest breaks a house rule the first time, it might be because they genuinely forgot. That's why having a House Manual and including them in there again, AND mentioning they please look at it is important.

If you feel they are just screwing with you, and you talked to them, do send them a friendly recap or reminder on the message page.

Actually anything that can be future proof of good hosting/bad guest, because many hosts/guests  communicate problematic stuff off-site and some guests then scam a refund with a sob or horror story.  And Airbnb can look into the message conversation to evaluate the situation, which is why this is so important.

If you're truly having problems and have some messages to prove this, then contact Airbnb to see if they can't be re-located. Never simply cancel. In what way you are paid for the unused days seems to be up to the Airbnb employee from what I've garnered in different posts here.

[Ken28]

@Andrea9

That's good insight.

I haven't run into that problem yet, but most of my guests are long-term stays (students that stay 3+ months during internships) and I'm worried that it's going to happen eventually.

[Toby26]

So do guests have to check in on their phones or do they check in simply by not cancelling? I had my first guest arrive last nught for 3 day stay - but no confirmation they have checked in? 

[Andrea9]

Well, looks like @Ruth152 has unfortunately disappeared from the ether while we were figuring out the answers. 

So hopefully @Toby26 you're still around 😉

For anybody who has hands-off rental, there is no official check in registration.

The only check in procedure is the one you do yourself with your guests i.e. greet them, give them the tour, explain things, do ID check/registration.

Though maybe they'll invent a check in robot at some point with a camera in its eye to pass on their photo to you digitally, a robot who bars entry to non registered guests, prevents guests from leaving if having stayed the night without paying extra person charge, one who also gives bad guests the boot when breaking the house rules, and sweetly mutters under their breath on check out "5 stars, fiiiiiiiivve stars.... or I know how to find you"

[Annette33]

@Ken28 , exactly! Wouldn't it be so much easier if the original poster would take  another minute or so and clarify her question so one would know what exctly the issue is? In the mean time.....I am learning from yours and @Andrea9's answers, just hope that @Ruth152 will come back.....

[Amy38]

@Ruth152    You get paid as usual for a no show, but do consider other possibilities.

It is possible that they are delayed in some weird way and will show up later  or tomorrow.