First ever guest and a no show

[Denise687]

Hi all, this is my first hosting experience. My Guests have confirmed, I have messaged multiple times and text messaged with no response. They are supposed to be checking in today but have not shown up, nor made contact with me. 

Am I supposed to wait until their check-out date has passed before I contact AirBnb to inform them? Where to from here? Help!

[Ann72]

@Denise687 , it's only about 3 or 4 in the afternoon there, isn't it?  Why not give it a little more time?

[Denise687]

Thanks Ann, you are correct on the time. I have asked for an eta multiple times to ensure I am home to greet them. I am supposed to be out for most of the evening at a community event. I guess I will leave a key out for them and send another message. 

[Sarah977]

@Denise687  They may very well be in transit and no access to Wifi to receive messages, maybe not even a cell signal to see texts. It's important to connect with guests a day or two, if not more, before their arrival to get some fairly accurate idea of their check-in time and to let them know if you have plans for a certain time that day when you won't be available for check-in (of course you do have to honor your check-in window, but you can't be expected to just wait around significantly past that). Also ask them in the future to please let you know if they are going to be late and make sure you get a response to that, that they acknowledge they will.

[Lisa723]

@Denise687 your listing says "Check-in time is 3PM - 9PM " -- this means guests will expect to show up anytime in that time period.  My very first guests said they would arrive by 11pm but did not arrive until 1am.  I have learned to provide self-checkin instructions if I know I will be away (or asleep) for any part of a potential check-in period. You can't rely on guests to let you know. Some will, some won't, and I'd bet that guests who are willing to book an unreviewed Airbnb are among the most laissez-faire. 

[Kath9]

@Denise687, I assume your guests did turn up eventually? It is a source of great frustration for hosts when guests don't inform them of their check in time when you need to be there to meet them. Many people seem to think that booking a room in someone's home means there will be 24-hour check in staff to meet their every need 🙂

@Sarah977is right - guests often don't have Wifi access or even reception when travelling so they can't necessarily contact you on the day. I suggest you set up a saved message in your Airbnb app that you can send to every guest a day or two before they are due to arrive giving them some arrival details and reminding them to give you their expected ETA. If they don't respond, keep messaging them. If they still don't respond, mark them down for communication and send them some feedback in the private review suggesting they let future hosts know about their arrival time.

If you are going to be out, you need to let your guests know and send them some self-checkin instructions. Again, set this up in your saved messages so you don't have to write it out every time.

[Huma0]

@Denise687 

1. I specify in my house rules that guests must let me know their arrival time on booking or at least a week in advance.

2. In my welcome message (if they instant book) they are asked for their estimated time of arrival. Or, for a request booking, I ask them this before accepting the reservation. If they don't answer, I will ask them again until they do. If they don't know yet, I will ask them to let me know as soon as they do. If that doesn't happen, I will chase them! Basically, I will get that arrival time out of them one way or another as far in advance as possible.

3. A few days before the booking, they get a message with directions etc. I remind them that I will expect them at 3pm (or whatever time we have agreed) and to please let me know if they are running late and remind them of my phone number.

4. If a guest does not show up and hasn't contacted me, after half an hour, I message to check they are not lost. If they don't reply, I will wait longer, but if I have no contact from them for more than two hours and I know their flight is not delayed, I will call Airbnb and get them to try to contact the guest.

I have only had to get Airbnb involved twice. In one case, I don't know what the girl was up to because her story when she arrived was totally implausible, but getting a call from Airbnb made her move her backside and come to the house!

In the other case, neither Airbnb nor I could reach the guest and I actually hadn't heard from her in weeks. Airbnb cancelled the reservation for me penalty free and I got paid. I never heard from the guest again. I hope nothing bad happened to her, but I'm relieved I was not sat up all night waiting for a guest who wasn't coming so I'm glad I called Airbnb. Unfortunately, when their plans change and they realise they are not going to get refunded, some guests don't think it's necessary to inform the host. It doesn't happen very often though.

I assume your guests have now showed up?

[Denise687]

Thanks for your feedback everyone, much appreciated. Yes my guests eventually turned up. I'm fortunate that I had made arrangements for them to enter the property, but had hoped to greet them personally. I will in future add details as to how to do this from now on when I confirm a booking.

Super lovely couple, I just would have assumed they would have replied to my multple messages in the week coming  up to the booking, I will not make this assumption in the future!

[Sarah977]

@Denise687  Was there any explanation given for not responding to your messages?  Sometimes guests who aren't experienced Airbnb users don't have their notifications turned on, so never even realize they have a message and don't think to check their message Inbox in the days leading up to their check-in. They just assume they can check in at any point during the check-in window without letting the host know their ETA.