I feel I was a bit unreasonable with a guest

[Olivia1]

A guest has just left after a stay of 3 nights.  A girl in her mid-20s possibly.  Never stayed in a room in a host's house before.

Check out time is clearly stated as 10 am in my listing.  However, at 10.30 am, no sign. She had been down for breakfast already. I went up and explained about 10 am check out.  Was told that she would be approximately another 10 minutes.

Eventually she appeared at 10.45 by which time I was a bit short with her.  I explained that check out time was there for a reason;  so that everyone knew where they were.  I had to get the room ready for next guest etc etc.  I said I felt that she was lacking respect and should have read the listing properly as she is staying in somebody's house.

What  does the community think?  Was I overly harsh?  I feel I handled the situation badly, and would be very interested to know what anyone thinks and how other hosts handled late check out?

Thanks!

[Hilary-And-Ed0 · Accepted solution]

Only about half of my guests leave by the check out time, but most are pretty close, so I let it go.  I would rather people leave with a good feeling about the stay, and I feel what happens at the last moments has a big impact on this.  

If the rest of the stay went well, I would probably do my best to not say anything.  If I had an appointment to get to, or had to get the room cleaned fairly quickly, I think it would be reasonable to give a friendly knock on the door, and say something like, "unfortunately, I will need to start cleaning now as I have another guest arriving soon".   It seems to come across better if I word these things as "I'm so sorry, but I need to...", rather than "you should".  It helps with the reviews, which in turn, help with future bookings.

On the other hand, it is totally frustrating when people put the onus on you, by not reading the rules.

[Olivia1]

Hi Hilary and Ed

Great advice Hilary and Ed.  I should use the Community more often.  

But I definitely handled the check-out badly.  But what to do now?  Should I write and apologise?  Or just leave it?

Thanks,

Olivia

[Hilary-And-Ed0]

Hi Olivia,

Don't kick yourself too much.  Hosting is definitely a learn on the job sort of thing.  Something doesn't go the way it should the first time, and then you can adjust for the future.

If you have not reviewed the person yet, you can leave the review based on the overall hosting experience.  Also, you can leave a private message in the review with an apology, and brief explanation (blah blah, needed to clean/had an appointment...).  Really I don't think we should have to explain why people should check out at the check out time (seems self explanatory), but it will restore good feelings, hopefully.

Also, you could Airbnb message them now with the same note (which they might get prior to leaving the review?).

The takeaway is, people don't read fine print.  I have learned that now.  I have adjusted my own checkout time for that reason.  I had it at 11:00 AM, and changed it to 10:00.  But in my head, most of the time I give them the wiggle room.  I have seen 9:30, but only rarely.  I wouldn't recommend you adjust any earlier than 10 - it might limit your bookings.

Good luck!

[Olivia1]

Hilary and Ed

This is perfect advice and extremely helpful.  

I shall follow it - and thanks for your support. I feel such a fool and an idiot for over-reacting.  I've been a host for 18 months and enjoy it immensely and love making people comfortable.  The last thing I want is to be a dragon.  

Again, your advice has been a great help, and thank you so, so much.

Very best wishes,

Olivia

[Hilary-And-Ed0]

Thank you!  Wow 18 months!   I didn't check your listing.  Sorry.  I think if you get one luke warm review, it will be buried among all the positive ones before long...

Keep having fun!

[Olivia1]

Hi Hilary and Ed

I sent an apology note and had a nice one back from the guest.

Thank so much you for all your help.

Olivia

[Hilary-And-Ed0]

Bingo.  The magic of an apology!

[Olivia1]

Hi again

Well, my guest left all 5*s for my room, so big sigh of relief and will certainly not allow this situation to happen again.  Will be far more careful in future to make sure everyone knows where they stand and to be more gentle, if there is an over-staying.

Thank you so much, once again, for your help.

Very best wishes,

Olivia

[D-Anne0]

guests are disrespectful by not adhering to check in/out times

good on you people who say its ok....you obviously dont work shiftwork

i have reasonable checkin/out times (just like motels) but they are strict as i have set work times

good on you people who make heaps of money off airbnb and dont have to work

no i cant afford a paid concierge to wait and wait and and wait for guests

[Helen3]

Hi @D-Anne0

I work full time, volunteer and am a single parent but don't sweat it too much if people are a little late.

Having said that I do remind them about the check in time and if I do have something on, will be stricter about enforcing it.

Normally I  leave a day before bookings.

[Emma94]

In the future you should talk to the guest the day before they check out to make sure they know the check out time. Or send them a text or message them through Airbnb as a reminder of their check out time. I always ask guest to let me know what their plans for check out the evening before the day of departure. Also, ask them about their check out time when they check in just to be sure they know not to stay over the check out time. Don't assume and wait until the last minute that guest will check out on time unless you discuss with them first.

[Olivia1]

Thank you Minh Hieu!  Also great advice.

Since posting,  I have apologised and had a nice note back from the guest.

Olivia

[Sandra-and-Wolfgang0]

@Olivia1

I am a host from Germany since one year now.

There are different kind of guests, one leave already in the morning very early like around 7am, the other ones leave after breakfast and some dont want to leave at all (these are mostly that kind of guests, who also want an earlier check-in than 3pm)...

So I kindly asked them to leave in the beginning, but it never really worked and I had to rush to get the whole appartment ready until 3pm.

Then I was thinking, how I can write it down polite in my description, in my rules and so on, but I still had guests, who didnt want to leave....

So, I had an idea:

I printed a flyer and put it next to the door, so they dont see it, when they come in, but when they leave the house and now it works perfectly without saying something. No one stays longer than 11am.

The flyer says:

Please observe on the last day of your stay, that checkout is until 11am, if you stay longer we have to charge you 50% of the daily value!

My english is not the best, maybe there is a way to say it more polite, but google translator helped me.

Happy hosting!

Sandra 

[Olivia1]

Hi Sandra

That's a really good idea!  To leave a sign on the back of the door.

Thank you!

Olivia