Arrival time given but not as helpful as guest thought

[Terri38]

As soon as she booked, a recent guest gave her arrival time as "I am from [country] and arrive 5 o'clock." and asks the best taxi prices from the airport.  I like this sort of guest! I let my guests know that I will watch online for any updates to their flight arrivals so that they don't have to worry about trying to contact me about the updates.  (It also means that guests are less likely to use the My Flight Was Delayed excuse - but I don't tell them that!)

Then I double checked the flight times.  Nothing remotely matches her arrival time via any of the usual routes from her country. 

As English was not her first language, I thought that perhaps she had given me her best guess as to when she would be arriving at my home.  I searched flight arrivals again for anything arriving about 2 hours earlier.  Still nothing.  Maybe she was stopping in Australia for a couple of days first.  There are several trans-Tasman flights arriving around 3pm or 5pm, so I asked for her flight number.

She promptly replies.  I thank her, double check the arrival times and realise that she was arriving on a direct flight at 5am!!  More communication follows!

[Clare0]

@Terri38. Oh no!  Will you be able to accommodate the guest at that hour or do you have a self check in procedure?

[Helen3]

Give her two option - if the room is available the night before you can offer her early check in for an additional fee (say half day rental) or let her know your earliest check in time and and details of local places she can hang out at.

[Joanne-Flynn0]

I think @Helen3 has great suggestions for this. 

[Terri38]

The result?

I sent her a message re left luggage facilities in the central city and suggestions on how to pass the time before arriving at my home.  She was happy to do this and duly arrived at 5pm.

Sometimes I say to guests that they may arrive after 9am (nobody likes killing time after a 10-14 hour flight) but they should be aware that the previous guests (if I have any) may not have checked out by then and the room will not be made up and ready for them.  If they are happy to accept that, then I OK the early check in.  So far, this has not been a problem.  All messages are done via Air BnB to avoid any "He said, she said".

[Lucy-and-Loic0]

Great way to handle it, and it's great that you were able to figure out the problem before it became a crisis.  In the beginning, I had a string of guests disregarding posted check-in times.  To solve that, first, I re-stated and re-phrased the check-in and check-out times again in the "additional rules" box, which curbed early arrivals somewhat, and second, I did my best within my schedule to work out a way to allow the guest to leave their bags at my workplace until I had the possibility to check them in.  At first sign of resistance or attempts to guilt me into re-arranging for their early check-in, I now also politely inform them the address for the municipal baggage storage center at the main train station.  It is a good address to have on hand. 

[Rachel0]

I do almost exactly the same as Terri.  As I am in Ealing which is relatively close to Heathrow Airport, I get a lot of guests arriving early on long haul flights from places such as Australia and China and understandably they don't want to lug heavy bags around London until 3pm which is my check in time.  If I have nobody the night before I let them check in around 9am - not before as I need my beauty sleep - and if I already have guests I let them leave their bags here, use the loo, have a coffee and then they head off into the centre of town refreshed and happy.  I would not dream of charging extra money for an early check in - never have and never will, and I've been doing this for a long time now.  Result is that I have happy guests and happy guests leave excellent reviews!

[Ange2]

@Terri38   I have had a few of those and some who have also mistakenly written a.m. instead of p.m., now I always respond by using the 24 hour clock, " Is that  05:00  or  17:00",   saves frustration and confusion.