Guests stayed past checkout

[Laurel124]

Hi!  I’m new to hosting and looking for some advice...my first guests have stayed 2 hours past their checkout.  They are packing up now but my cleaning people have been standing by outside for about an hour waiting for them to leave.  Wondering if I should charge them and/or give a bad review for checking out so late?  

[Lisa723]

@Laurel124 please do review them honestly and accurately.

Re. charging for overstay, you are within your rights to do so. However, if you attempt to do this before they their review posts, you risk a retaliatory review, which you may or may not be able to have removed. The first few reviews are very important for a new listing, so it is a conundrum.

See section 8.2:

https://www.airbnb.com/terms

[Colleen253]

@Laurel124 You might just let it slide this time since you're new and need some positive first reviews, but you can certainly ding them in 'communication'. Going forward, put something in your house rules that addresses overstays, to discourage them in future. Put reminders regarding check out time in your house manual, and add as a gentle reminder in your 'thanks again for staying' check out message. If, despite all that, this happens again don't make your cleaners wait. Message the guest with a heads up that it's past checkout and your cleaners will be in the suite cleaning, in 15 minutes. They can work around your guests, and hopefully it lights a fire under the guests butt. 

[Sarah977]

@Laurel124  If you don't already, best to send guests a check-out time reminder the night before. "Hi XX, hope you've been enjoying your stay. Just a quick reminder than check-out time tomorrow is XXAM and that my cleaners will be arriving at that time to ready the unit for the following guests".

Definitely mention the ignoring of check-out time in the review.

[John1080]

@Laurel124, great advice from @Lisa723 @Colleen253 @Sarah977  I would also let it slide this time, because they could leave a retaliatory review if you say anything, which could damage your numbers and hurt future bookings. If you had 50 or so reviews, then I would say something and actually would charge them for an extra day. 

As Sarah said, I would certainly send a message the night before with your checkout procedures, including what you expect of them as far as cleaning up with dishes, etc and also reminding them of the checkout time and that it's important to observe it so your cleaning staff has time to prepare the space for the next group of guests. 

I would ding them on the 'following rules' section with a 3 probably and mention it in the narrative as well.