Guests arriving on time

[Karin80]

We currently have 20 apartments that we have styled and set up for Airbnb. These are landlords properties that we styled and have now doubled our landlords income. This is great! However, we have a major issue with guests arriving on time. Unfortunately a lot of guests think we are a hotel and there is a check in desk but this isn't the case. At times we have waited up to 4 hours for them to arrive from when they said they would arrive. We like and want to meet and greet our guests so we can give them tips about the property, restaurants, sight seeing etc. Without being blunt how do we get them to arrive on time?

[Keith269]

Hey, 

A common option is to have a self check it with Lock Box/Code or something along those lines, that way no meet and greet is necessary. 

Myself I used a homematic door lock and had a webcam on the door (webcam was just to verify they were actually at the correct place). The guest could call/whatsapp me and I could verify it was them and leave them in, then inside there were some electronic keys for them to use while there. 

For Apartment buildings I've seen people using Nellow:

https://www.nello.io/en/

Of course self check in comes with it's own risks but I the amount of times guests turned up completely at late I was thinking "man I'm glad I can just check them in on my phone with webcam and remote door lock" 

Anyways there are lots of options, I would personally find a self check in option you are comfortable with, it saves so much time and makes things much for convenient and time saving for you and less stressful for your guests trying to turn up at the time they have agreed to when their flight or public transportation might be delayed. 

Cheers

[Sandra856]

@Karin80 🙂

I had the same problem when I first started out as a host. When you communicate with the guests make sure to let them know how important it is for you to know a more or less precise arrival time/and about any delays otherwise you may not be able to be there and they could end up waitng for hours. 

Best, Sandra

[Paul1255]

@Karin80 I hope you are well!

I always ask my guests to provide me with their flight number and to give me an idea of when they think they will arrive- I usually add on a couple of hours to their estimate as they don't really know!

I then also check out their journey from the airport, factor in customs, baggage, and so on and work out an estimated arrival time myself, which is usually around the same time as their estimate plus 1 or 2 hours.

As others have said, self check-in would be a good option, but if you really do want to provide that face-to-face greeting when they arrive then you have to accept that travel often comes with delays, things can go wrong and guests can turn-up late and not let you know as they might not have the ability (or consideration) to let you know.

Best wishes

Paul.

[Gordon0]

@Karin80 I think you're probably a victim of your own success. Many would-be guests are now savvy to what sort of hosts they're booking with. The single property type (like me) and the would-be 'mogul' (with lots of properties). They have much higher expectations from the latter, almost hotel like!    

[Helen3]

As you operate an Airbnb Management Company @Karin80 you need to look at how you automate processes.

The easiest solution is for you to arrange for hosts to have self check in.

[Alon1]

 Karin,

There seems to be a dissonance between check in times on your listings and notification in your profile:'We meet & greet 24/7.'.

In view of this evident discrepancy it seems you are creating a false impression. Thus you may be well advised to delete this statement from your profile.

(I approach the matter much like Paul in London, and advertise a Flexible Check-In and Out times because I predominantly work from home.  Consequently, I am rarely inconvenienced by late arrivals.)

.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Karin80

We have just 2 apartments (off-site hosts), they are both in the same building and on the same floor and it is time-consuming.   This is what we do:

- set check-in time from x to x hours.

- ask them the exact time of arrival and to notify you in case they are late otherwise there will be nobody to check them in and they will have to wait for you.

with 20 properties your only options are:

- find a cohost/help

- install code locks with camera for the self check in

[Duncan41]

offer them a payback, if they are in time. It might change things a little. And maybe you can allow 5-Star-guests a contact free checkin?  I guess the only way is to argue with benefits.

[Duncan41]

Yes, the only way is to install more smarthome-technic. Also you will have information, when a guest did check out and make surtain things then happen automaticly - like switching of lights and heating.

I also use homematic stuff. From Doorbell to window and heatcontrol. The door unlocks and relocks itself.

Now I am installing the checkout-automatic. I get message when guests leave and all the heatings lower with just one single press at the door.