My guests do not lock the apartment door

[Olena15]

Dear all,

When I am in, I can hear them leaving and coming in not even attempting to lock the door. I live in a town centre apartment block + having my door unlocked will invalidate my insurance should anything go missing. I placed a note on the door, eye level, you cannot miss it, asking to keep the door locked at all times. It had no effect. Yesterday, when leaving the place, I locked the door just to receive a call telling me they could not get in. I advised using the key and had an interesting response: oh, so it was not locked from inside?

I have them for another three days. I wish I could ask them to leave and find some other place. I do not want any confrontation.

What is best to do?

[John1080]

We do not lock the doors where we live in our primary residence, but I do expect that when a guest rents our cabin that the doors to be locked, and windows closed. Some of this is more for weather events, but also it feels like common sense that when you visit someone's place, you lock the doors! 

[Olena15]

Regrettably, the income from my Airbnb business will cover lock upgrades in, possibly, six months. Small town, hah. 

First, I have found this https://www.nello.io/en/  for downstairs. Does anyone have comments?

And a smart lock for the apartment.

[Gordon0]

Don't you need a smart guest in order to utilise a smart lock? Good luck with that then.  

[Gordon0]

@Olena15 We have similar issues, and then some. We have Banham locks which are pretty easy to operate and I always make guests demonstrate they can work them on arrival. I also make it very clear that the lock should not be deadlocked from the inside.

This morning I hear the palaver of  somebody trying to get out. I go down to see the guest has deadlocked in and, obviously, can't open the door. 

Me: "Don't you remember me telling you [less than 24 hours ago] not to lock this from inside?
Her: "Yes"
Me: "So, why then?"
Her: "I wanted to be safe"

I screamed, inside anyway. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Gordon0

lool 😄

I also wonder how my guests would manage to operate smart locks if the most ordinary lock is to complicate for so many of them?

[Olena15]

If they managed to register, verify themselves with Airbnb, they should be able to figure out how to get in and out using their smartphones. They do it not because they cannot operate the locks. They do it because they can be not bothered to operate the locks. They have little to nothing to lose if a place is burglarised, even then, they can blame the host. Where does the responsibility lie?

[Olena15]

Lose-lose. It is either a doorman or ... here is an idea! Penalty. 

Commit an offence [against house rules] - pay a fine. How will Airbnb look at such measure to protect hosts?

Did not lock the door? - There goes a charge 10% of the total cost. Surely, next time guests will think twice.

[Sarah977]

Airbnb message to guest: " Hi XXX, I just found that you had gone out without locking the door again. Just to clarify, the door needs to be kept locked at all times. Should someone enter and steal anything from the unit, you will be held financially responsible for replacement. Thanks for your future attention to this." 

[Olena15]

Yeeessssss!

[Yulianna0]

Oh, those who are not closing the doors have problem to open the doors too. Such an effort to turn the key to the left! They woke me up at night with it. Rrrrrrr. Wondering, how to put it into my house rules? “Use your brain and turn the key”? 

[Olena15]

I feel your pain, Yulianna.

I was thinking in lines of: 

For the duration of your stay, you will be given a key. It allows you full freedom to come and go at any time and, also, comes with a responsibility to keep the door locked at all times to ensure our personal safety and security of our possessions, both, yours and mine. I will respect your privacy and whichever daily routine you choose and I expect you to do the same for me, e.g. I do not wake you up, you do not wake me up by slamming doors, stomping or ringing my doorbell or my phone unless it is an emergency.

Should you disregard the above, I will inform the Airbnb community and request a penalty fee is applied to your account.

[Yulianna0]

Thank you, @Olena15. In fact I feel ashamed to put such obvious things in my house rules. Most people will feel that I’m treating them stupid. Those guests were not precisely good. 3 hours late to arrive without sending a message and even not apologizing. After that not closing and not opening doors and now half an hour late to check out. Great that they are gone! 

[Linda108]

@Olena15  Air BNB will not penalize guest for breaking rules.  Security deposit is only for damages.  Your only recourse is to mention the issue in the review of the guest.  Meanwhile, "inspect what you expect" is the rule I used to raise a child and manage employees 😄  and now use for guests.  Sigh...

[Olena15]

Update and closure.

Me, Monday at 22:02: ...Please make sure the flat door is locked overnight and when you check out tomorrow. Drop the keys ... and send me a short text.

Guest, Tuesday at 09:22: ...We left early yesterday. The key is in the room.

Airbnb: ...I completely understand your concern regarding unlocked room left after the check out by the guests. It's your property if anything mishap happens you would, unfortunately, have to handle the loss. ...

Me to the next guest: Keep the door locked at all times.

Next guest looked rather shocked I suggested they would not. Better safe than sorry.

Thank you, everyone, for the support.

[Olena15]

More from Airbnb:

However, if you want a compensation for this you can open a Resolution Center.

Here, you can ask the guest to pay you the compensation for breaking the house rule. This is considered as penalty for the guest.

After 72hrs, if the guest do not accept the compensation request or even within 72hrs if the guest rejects the request, you'll get a tab opened up for you to involve Airbnb.

A representative will contact you very soon and help you both to come to a conclusion. Airbnb is very fair with its users and give a justified judgment.

My reply: Thank you. This is useful to know and again, DIY. Could you, as Airbnb, put a clear disclaimer that a host has a right to impose a penalty for not following the house rules and have them tick ‘agree’ before proceeding with the reservation?