Late Checkout seems to be a common issue

[Peter902]

I have in the Airbnb rules that if the guest is late it is a $200 charge, however when I send the charge to a group the left at 2:30pm and forced me to rescheuled with the cleaning crewe at an extra cost, they reject the additonal late checkout cost. What can I do to recoup the additioanl charges charged by the cleaning crew because they had to come three time. FYI checkout is clearly stated s 11:00am and the late checkout fee is listed.

[Sarah977]

@Peter902  I don't have advice re claiming the late check-out fee, but in the future I would not reschedule the cleaners simply because a guest refused to check out by the stated time. Your cleaning crew should just enter as arranged and start doing their job. If the guest's stuff is all over the unit, ask your cleaners to call you and then you contact the guests to tell them that the booking is over and they are past check-out time and need to leave.

[Peter902]

Thank you for the suggestion, I will try that next time. If the guest decides to leave a negative review, is there a way I can request the review to be removed if the negative remark is related to the fact that the cleaning crew showed up?

[Sarah977]

@Peter902  You could request, but may not be successful. Good idea to contact the guests through the airbnb messaging platform, so airbnb can see a record of the guests refusing to check-out on time, even when reminded by you of the check-out time and that they agreed to your fees when booking.

You can leave a public response to a review, though. "As XXX refused to honor the check-out time, and also refused to honor the clearly-stated late check-out fee that they agreed to when booking, I had no choice but to allow the cleaners to adhere to normal cleaning schedules, as we had new guests checking in the same day."

[Pete28]

Is the $200 worth the 1* review that will doubtless follow ? A few of those and you are out of the Airbnb business 😞

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Peter902

Like the suggestion, I would not reschedule the cleaning crew. If you are an offsite host, I think a camera at the entrance is a good idea - when you request payment for late checkout, it would be better to have proof. Or have the cleaners take pictures and send them to you.

IMO the logic for a late check out fee should be less than the nightly price - for instance you can't have a $200 per night rate, and charge guests another $200 for overstaying 2 hrs. Overstaying is definitely not okay but this type of approach will only make it easy for ABB to side with the guest. Also you should make it clear that you are strict about check out times and there is a fee for late check out when they make the reservation and again when they check in. Whatever is important to you, you need to assume the guest will need frequent reminders.

For me, I'm actually pretty flexible about check in/check out times (I get a lot of international guests so I try to accomodate their flight schedules) but I am extremely strict about no 'guests of the guest' in my home so this is something I over-emphasize to all potential guests.