Guest can choose early checkin time?

[Justin131]

I had a guest instant book for a checkin today. We have a strict 4pm checkin time & they showed up at 2:15 saying they chose 2-4pm as their checkin time. To my surprise, they were right. I double checked the listing settings & my checkin time is 4pm or after. Why is Airbnb allowing guests to dictate an early checkin before the stated checkin time?!

[Jonna-Margaux0]

I have my check in set from 2:00 to 10::00 and I say in my description that I will allow guests to drop their luggage in my garage. However, you must have a tag somewhere that gives people this option. Don’t know how to remove that.  My check in booklet and guest communications are always about the guest time of arrival because I have a busy life and want to schedule my time. I ask where they are coming from and offer recommendations on things to do if they have to wait to check in.  This way I always know when they will arrive. Occasionally, I also offer a late checkout but that is only if I have the night blocked after them.  Communication is the key. 

[Ben551]

@Justin131  Wow I had no idea about this until now. I was just reading through an older post on the same subject. https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guest-check-in-time-Is-this-new/td-p/323793

It sounds like a change they put in late 2017. It’s crazy!

[Paul154]

@Justin131, This terrible feature has been around for a year.

To gather useful arrival information, Airbnb asks guest to choose a time period. Unfortunately, It is not synched up to our checkin times.

I'm dissappointed that it still has not been corrected 😞

My checkin is 2:00pm. Usually, I have it prepped by noon.

This summer, a same day reservation came in at 11:00 am. He said he was coming at 11-12. He was so dissappointed that the room was not ready, he cancelled. I was so confused when airbnb called me, until I figured out what had happened. I castigated Airbnb for letting it happen and was paid for the cancelled stay.

[Huma0]

Yes, this is a terrible idea if it bears no relation to the check in window the host has chosen. It is just encouraging guests to totally ignore that window, which is a nightmare for hosts and potentially very confusing for guests. Not all hosts do this full time and may have another job, or need to pick up the kids from school or whatever. We can't all be available 24/7 and nor should we have to be. Most hotels do not allow check in before 3pm, so why should we?

@Paul154

Out of interest, when your guest selected the check in window of 11-12, did you get any sort of notification about it?

[Jamey-and-Michelle0]

This happened to me twice recently.  The first time the guest selected checkin at 7:30 am while a previous guest was still in the listing.  Since she couldn’t checkin she called airbnb, they cancelled the reservation and charged me $50 plus loss of the income for the reservation.  I refuted it twice and they stuck with the decision and would not refund me.  It just happened again with another listing and seems to be a recurring problem.

PLEASE take a minute to provide feedback at Airbnb.com/feedback asking them to fix this.  It’s the only way know towards a solution.