Just a quick vent ...

[Robin129]

I've had a nice first summer with ABB so far. I've been as busy as I wanted, while being able to work on outside projects like painting, getting a driveway poured, and small indoor projects. 

I know this is the sixth time since June I've had a guest tell me they are not arriving until an hour or more past my check in time. 

I have a tight window, from 2-6 pm. I am not obligated to explain why, but I often do. We get up at 5 every morning. I am even up by 5 on weekends. That means to get 8 hours of sleep we need to be asleep by 9 pm. Few people drop off immediately so we need to be in bed by 8-830. It takes a couple hours for the house, and dogs, to settle down once a guest arrives. That means 6:00 is the best time to cut off arrivals.

I have the time clearly stated in my listing. Yet I still get people trying to check in at 10 pm.

It is maddening! 

I always contact them a day or so before arrival and ask what time they hope to arrive. I like to be watching for them and welcome them as they get out of their car. THAT is when I find out whether they read the listing. Tomorrow's guest just told me she won't be here till around 7. (sigh) 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Robin129

Glad you got to vent that. I also get up with the checkens and go to bed early.

I have changed my personal schedule for those times when we are lucky enough to have guests. It is just not possible for guests to get off work on a Friday, change their shoes, eat and then drive here, all before dark. Likewise, on a weekend or holiday they are out and about all day, and it is not practical nor, I feel, courteous to request them to end their day's activities according to my clock.

For me, it is about service to my guests, and that this is a business, which necessitates certain accommodations from me.  For you and others it is different. For me it is about the joy of giving my guests a superlative experience. That, for me, unlike for many other hosts, is why I go the extra to be flexible for my guests. It takes a bit of effort on my part to not get uptight about their encounters with traffic and late airplanes, how they get delayed in enjoying a local restaurant's superior food and service, or cannot tear themselves away from a spectacular sunset. A quick sit in their shoes is enough for me to develop the empathy needed to be as gracious as possible.

[Robin129]

@Kitty-and-Creek0 I assure you, the service I give my guests is exemplary. I will make accomodations for guests who are considerate enough to discuss them more than 10 hours before check-in. When the situation calls for it I provide the combination to the keybox, should they return from an activity after we go to bed.

I share my home. I rent my spare bedroom, directly across from my room upstairs. I give a personal "tour" of the house when they arrive to show them not only their room, but the bathroom downstairs, the breakfast area, and properly introduce our two large Boxers. My guests often have questions regarding the area and I do answer them. I provide a very nice breakfast of cereals (hot and cold) bagels, muffins, homemade breads, homemade apple and peach butter, homemade unsalted dairy butter, juice, milk, coffee, and tea. 

I stock an "in case you forgot" drawer of sample toiletries, and provide free samples of soaps I make.  I don't simply send a keybox combination for a cabin down the road, with juice and bagels in the fridge, an extra roll of TP, and wish them a happy stay. 

This isn't a situation of a delayed flight, it is a failure to read the listing. Failing to read the listing, the house rules, and check-in/out times shows a lack of consideration for the host. 

[Andrea9]

@Robin129

Congratulations you got that mega job done! it sounded daunting a few monts ago, but didn't want to comment and dampen your enthusiasm 😉

My check-in is from 14h on - how difficult is that?!

Every time I used to ask what their ETA was, and around almost half then named a time before that in the morning.

(well, I did ask when they arrive, duuhh)

Then I started saying my check-in window is... and followed up by "approximately what time after 14:00 (2PM) do you expect to arrive at my place?". That works better, still doesn't filter out asking for earlier arrivel or baggage drop....

So now I ask with saying as above my check-in window is...but also add that I probably won't be home much earlier than that and "approximately what time after 14:00 (2PM) do you expect to arrive at my place?"

I always feel like I'm repeating way too many times, but a couple of recent visitors have again shown me that conversations in the past are often magically wiped from memory... 

So now it'll additionally refer to the time they named at some point and say I'll be home in good time to receive them.

Although it's super irritating when it happens, it's always the little push to re-evaluate where the leaks may be in my manner of communicating and how to improve on not inadvertently giving too much option leeway.

In your situation I'd also stress before accepting or right after accepting a booking how important it is for check ins to be before a certain time. Then repeat it again later. 

I'm floored by how much guests forget, really. And I've noticed how apps seem to only induce this more and more. Old-fashioned paper hard copies give much better oversight than fidley, jumpy little screens that only show a limited amount of signs at any one time.

Really, don't rely on pple remembering or even reading what's in your listing alone. A good third or more of my inquiries and requests miss the most important parts, so I've become this automated Momma Bear, but it sure has helped fine-tune things. And where it didn't go as well, was where I'd gotten lazy in reminding or broken my own rule.

Maybe there's something here that's adaptable to your situation, though it's obviously more difficult in an area not near an airport and which involves arriving after a drive of several hours.

[Robin129]

@Andrea9 I think you might have me confused with another Robin. 🙂 I think he was working on a very large project. Mine are smaller, necessary projects, fresh paint on the porches, a concrete parking pad, re-fencing parts of the yard, and working on the back porch. 

I usually do check with guests about arrival times. Several of the students who have stayed here miscalculated the drive time. Some arrived a couple hours early, a couple an hour or so late. Oddly, it seems my international guests are better at predicting arrival than my fellow US citizens. 🙂

Generally after I accept a reservation I send a follow-up note reminding them to carefully read the listing because I've had guests who were upset that I have Boxers, don't know how to dress in common areas, thought they were renting the entire house, didn't like sharing the bathroom, and are allergic to cats. All these things are address in the listing.

Airbnb has an entire project on "educating" first timers on the Airbnb experience. So I am not the only host facing these challenges. I hope they introduce a "refresher course" for experienced travelers, too. 🙂

[Andrea9]

Hi @Robin129, no I wasn't mixing you up with Robin in AUS and his house projects... but now I think it was a host (can't remember her name off the bat) who had the outside and some inside projects planned. Can happen with everything merging here on the forum ;D

I wish the guest refresher was clearer. I saw a post by a host (maybe on FB) as guest who said that the new educating message Air sends to (new) guests seems to show the house rules, but that they are truncated. Meaning all the guests (most of them( with only app devices miss part or most of them. Nice to know that 😕

Especially since the personalized house rules aren't visible on the app at all. Which I find pretty horrifying. And probably the reason many guests are clueless about them...

[Bruce43]

@Andrea9@Robin129  thought I had the one day before and after block button pushed.

I haven't had 1  day of rest this whole month.

looking back I didn't notice 5 times this month and tomorrow it's back to back booking.

I was getting a bad case of hosting burnout.

im lucky I can leave work at 12:00 and "work from home"

Mabel the maid 

[Robin129]

"Work at home" was sold to us as something great. I am having doubts about that. 🙂 

Everyone needs a little venting now and then. @Bruce43 hope you can get a little rest.

[Bruce43]

@Robin129   next week we are flying to England and soak up the sunshine for three weeks.  yeah!

[Cormac0]

@Robin

The only thing that annoys me about in check-in times is Guests not keeping me informed about delays or diversions, my check-in time is between 15:00 and whenever provided they keep me informed.

I have suggested Airbnb share the location of my Guests one hours before my check-in time, so I can see if they are in reasonable proximity or stranded in an Airport or God forbid a theme park somewhere. 

For example, I get Guest from the Ukraine crossing the border into Poland can take between three to seven hours this is something they can't control and I feel giving them a tight arrival window is unreasonable and impractical.

Regards

Cormac

ECK III

[Robin129]

@Cormac0 there are always odd circumstances. I don't mind those as much. I've had guests get caught in traffic and delayed. There are some areas of our highway sytems in West Virginia that have no cell service, interferring with guests communications sometimes. My annoyance is mostly people who just don't read the listing then get upset. 

Well, and Captian Underpants .... 

[Anonymous]

@Robin129 , due to work and other things, it's common that I have scheduling issues on certain days when a guest might be planning to check in. The best solution I've found for this is to add a step of communication with the guest before approving the request, asking them to confirm that their arrival will be within the specified time window, and to know that if their arrival is delayed their check-in will have to occur on the following day. This doesn't happen all that often, as usually I can plan my day around a check-in, but it does give pause to guests who can't guarantee a timely arrival - perhaps due to the possibility of air or traffic delays - and a chance for them to back out and consider a host with more flexible times.

On the balance of things, I'd rather lose some potential business and search rank than take the money from guests whose needs are not mutually compatible with those of my household. If you feel the same, then your best approach would be to confirm the arrival time before hitting the Accept button, and decline guests who are unresponsive or uncertain.

[Robin129]

@Anonymous I completely agree. I do regularly communicate with my guests. I always ask if they have read the listing, if they are aware of the dogs and cats, the bathroom is shared, the room is upstairs and the bathroom downstairs. I swear, if I tried to cover everything I will have to copy/paste the full listing in a message.

But, yes, it looks as thought I will have to specifically ask the anticipated check-in time.

[Huma0]

@Robin129 I wouldn't wait until a day or so before to ask a guest what time they will arrive. Better to get this clarified ASAP. Guests ignoring check in times is a particular bug bear for me and I also started a post about it. Thanks to advice from hosts like @Andrea9 I have learnt to be much more strict with the guests about this.

So, not only are the check in/out times specified on the listing, but they are mentioned again in detail in my house rules (including that they need to let me know their arrival time a minimum of seven days before, or when they book if they are booking less than seven days in advance).

Before I will even accept a booking (I don't use Instant Book, so understand this may not be possible if you do) I ask the guests to confirm they've read the whole listing and agree to all the house rules. When I mention the house rules in this message, I stress a few particularly important ones for them to pay attention to and this includes check in/check out times. I absolutely will not accept a booking until they have done this as I always ended up regretting it when I did in the past.

If they don't specifiy a time, I will chase them until they do. If they want to check in outside of my specified hours (like @Andrea9 I tend to have more of a problem with guests wanting to arrive early) I tell them, sorry, no I can't do an earlier check in, but here is some left luggage info etc. unless an earlier check in works for me that day. They have no way to argue about this because they already said they agreed to my house rules and, specifically, my check in/out times!

Of course, it doesn't always work. There are some guests still determined to ignore your rules if they find them inconvenient. However, in general, it has worked with most guests.

[Marzena4]

And each host encountering problems with a disorderly nonobservant guest should make sure to leave a trace of their performance in reviews and/or public responses because the current system does not make it possible to read the guest's review before posting your own (host's). Maybe it was meant to be good. But in this duel it is guests, however, who are in a better position because hosts are more likely to forget or simply to not mention at all guests' misbehaviour. You write a good review for your guest, though they were demanding with their check-in/check-out, and then bummer - a bad or low scored review for yourself, and you cannot change yours.