Late Check-In and Request For Hosts to Cancel Reservation

[Shawn12]

My partner and I host our home to Airbnb guests. Since we both have jobs, we set the check-in policy to no later than 9 pm. The check-in policy is clearly stated in our listing.

We recently accepted a guest. In our welcome message, we reminded him to be mindful of our check-in policy. He then told us his expected check-in time is later than 9 pm, and request us to cancel the reservation. 

We do not want to take a penalty for cancellation the reservation. We have dealt with several guests like this before, and we just suck it up time over time. We are so tired of people not reading the listing before booking. How would you recommend resolving this?

[Louise47]

I would not cancel, let them cancel.  You haven't done anything wrong so they should be penalised. 

[David126]

Agree up to them to cancel.

[Tim-and-Holly0]

Hi Shawn,

I looked at your listing and you mention the 9 pm checkin once- like this, "Check-in time is 12PM (noon) - 9PM." If it were my listing I think I would add something like, "Check-in time is 12PM (noon) - 9PM. We are unable to accept any check ins after 9 PM. " You might also repeat it elsewhere in your listing, perhaps in the "Other things to note" section.

Perhaps that will help in the future.

[Anita54]

I have instant booking, so think I can cancel guest request without penalty, but guest has indicated they will be coming back to house very late after going to concert. I prefer not, so can I cancel without penalty? Thanks