Can hosts enter entire places during stay?

[Janice1]

I am investigating listing an entire house while the owners are away for 2 months.  I feel very responsible for the welfare of the owners house. 

What steps can hosts take during a stay to check on the welfare of a property? 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Regards

Janice

[Andrea9]

@Janice1

Outside security cameras (must be disclose in the listing!) help keep an eye on possible extra bodies staying.

In your listing you can include for ex. that fresh linens will be brought personally once or twice a week. Some hosts don't give a reduction and explain that this is because the rental comes with regular weekly cleaning. That helps keep an eyeball on the place.

Inform any neighbors living within earshot that they have permission to call the police in case of any irregularities - party noise etc. (and possibly inform you too). Then make sure they get a nice bottle of wine or flowers as thank you.

Nothing else pops to mind right now, though I'm sure other hosts with separate units at a distance will give you more tips.

All the best!

[Holly43]

I rent a whole condo. I personally would not want to enter the property unless the guests agree and are present while I enter. That saves me from any drama if a guest looses something and I happen to be the only other person who was inside the property.  I also use Airbnb when I travel, and aside from chatting together at check in, I would find it invasive if the host entered for non-emergency reasons during my stay. I tend to clutter the place (but obviously I tidy everything up before check-out) with my clothes and stuff, so if the host was entering, I would feel like I need to clean everything up before they enter. 

[Janice1]

Thank you @Andrea9 and @Holly43 

I'm thinking a gardener working outside could be a good way of keeping an eye on things also.  The lawns and gardens will need to be kept and also the rubbish taken to the curb.  Something in the listing advising a gardener drops in occassionally. 

[Matthew285 · Accepted solution]

@Janice1 you ask an excellent question, and it is terrific that you are working to be as responsible as you can be when acting as caretaker for the property.

The difficulty is that with "Entire House" listings, the expectation of the guest is that no one will enter the property during their stay. (The rules are somewhat different for long term stays.) (I know you mentioned renting the place out for two months, but I didn't think you meant the entire 2 months would be for one set of guests.)

Our listing is pretty ideal for keeping an eye on the property, because even though it is for an Entire Apartment and we do not enter, we can hear if the guests are making a lot of noise (we are on the floor below them).

Are you physically close to the listing? It is certainly okay to swing by the outside and eyeball what is going on from the outside. Also, it makes a lot of sense to check in periodically with the guests via the AirBnB messaging system to see how things are going.

And, of course, in a pinch you can ask for permission to enter the listing during the guest's stay. They may not say yes, but you can always ask. Think of some innocuous reason (maybe you are offering daily garbage pickup, or to check on the amount of toilet paper, or "that darned leaky toilet"). Anything other than having to say:

"Hello! I am going to swing by the property to see if you have damaged anything or are throwing a party! Cheers!"

[Susie5]

@Janice1, you could always use the "fresh towels" rationale  - you will bring fresh towels every 3 days for example.  Easier than changing the sheets!!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Janice1

My listing is a private room and I mention in my description that I will enter occasionally to vaccum floor and change the sheets. If I were hosting a private home it would still be the same - I would absolutely get surveillance for the main entrances, and personally do a quick check-up of the home on a weekly basis to make sure problem behaviors don't fester. I'd probably use new sheets/towels/amenities as an excuse to enter or even consider saying (bi-)weekly vaccum of the common areas and a quick tidying of the bathrooms are mandatory and build this into the price without having to ask for an additional cleaning fee (by limiting monthly discounts). Most people don't want to waste time and energy cleaning other people's homes so 2 months worth of grime, dust, water marks and crumbs will require a huge deep-clean that may take a couple days.

[Danielle681]

Hi,

I am a co-host who started with the family business of hosting this year January. We have a huge property and list about the surveillance cameras on the outdoors only, housekeeping and so forth. What we have found is that after security and hosts review camera footage, we discover outdoor lights are kept on in the day time all day, from start to finish of booking. At times AC, fans and lights are left on upon check-out even though indicated when doing routine check and  there is signage in each room and on the site about it.

What suggestions would you have to get around keeping on the lights all day? Thank you

[Amy1577]

We are staying in a whole space and the host entered today while we were out then sent me a nasty message. Airbnb help isn’t responding. Any suggestions welcomed 

[Sarah977]

@Amy1577  What was the reason the host gave for entering? Did they see lights on  or maybe have an app that tells them the heat or AC was left turned up high while you were out? If it's that, and you were asked to turn those things down or off when you go out, and didn't, some hosts feel they have the right to enter. Personally, I don't agree with that- they should message first, asking you to please comply with these requests, and if they have any other reason they feel they need to enter, that also should be messaged about first. 

Then there are true emergencies, like security alarms going off, or smoke alarms or plumbing issues which might require an enrty with no notice.

And of course, there is never an excuse to send a nasty message. 

I guess all you can do is keep trying to contact Airbnb if you think the host is too unreasonable to deal with.