Guests are always late!

Lisa367
Level 10
Catania, Italy

Guests are always late!

If hosts are rated on "check in" with stars, why aren't guests?  I literally wait 2-4 hours for guests to arrive, none of them available via phone.  I'm currently 2 hours into another wait.  It's a Saturday night, I've missed a dinner with a friend because the guest is two hours late.   At what point do the hosts have the right to just leave and make the guests wait for them?  If you schedule a time to arrive with your host, then don't show up for 2 - 4 hours, that is beyond rude.  It is ridiculous and completely disrespectful.  Hosts have lives, too, and making someone wait for up to 4 hours for you is completely unacceptable.  Especially since hosts are rated on "check in", yet guests can basically get away with showing up whenever they feel like it.  UNREAL.

50 Replies 50

@Branka-and-Silvia0 - I know!  What the heck.  It was pretty surprising, but the story relayed here  said that they ruled against the host.  I insinuated that it might have been because of some communication that happened between the host and guest, but that never was clarified.  Heck, we have a 2-12am and people ask for times outside of that all the time.  

@Alice-and-Jeff0 Maybe the phrasing should be something like

"we are available to meet you at some point during the checkin window, but not necessarily available to wait on you for the entirety of the checkin window"

"once we have arranged our schedules accordingly, adjustment of checkin time will be subject to host availability "

this is another area I think where you are writing the rule to inform the guest but also writing it to protect yourself from customer service overreach

 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Kelly149......Yeah, I think I like that Kelly, but you still have to pin them down, and it just means more 'banter' more communication. As I said, I like it, you have thought that out, but I think I will stick with my Crocodiles....they definitely get the required results for me!

Cheers.....Rob

@Robin4 You stick w the crocodiles, but I've been to Durham, that's not going to help @Alice-and-Jeff0!!

im sympathetic to anyone who wants to meet a guest at the door but still has to get life done. Right now my solution is to get lots of info up front: names, ages, addresses of every guest & ID of primary guest and then utilize smart lock & exterior entry camera (think ring doorbell camera) and then get myself back over to the barn to meet the guest asap. But it's not my actual house, much as I love the barn, I'm sure I'd have more concerns with the front door of my house. 

@Alice-and-Jeff0 Maybe the phrasing should be something like

"we are available to meet you at some point during the checkin window, but not necessarily available to wait on you for the entirety of the checkin window"

"once we have arranged our schedules accordingly, adjustment of checkin time will be subject to host availability "

this is another area I think where you are writing the rule to inform the guest but also writing it to protect yourself from customer service overrdeach

 

Scott80
Level 10
Honolulu, HI

Why not just do self check-in. Even if you want to meet the guests you can have lockbox, keypad, etc as a backup. Like say your check in time is 2-10pm but you have dinner from 6-8. On check in day message your guests the lockbox code and if they arrive while you are there meet and greet them, but if they arrive during dinner, they get settled in and after dinner, you return home and do the meet and greet then.

 

After-hours self check-in is common among alternate accommodations, such as limited service/extended-stay hotels and time shares. They already have their identity and personal information on file. And it is not like you are giving them the run of the place for the entire time, self check-in gives both the host and guest flexibility which when traveling is important because of transportation schedule uncertainty. Self check-in is so common it even got a New York Times article in 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/business/speedy-check-in-lets-hotel-guests-bypass-front-desk.html

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Self-check in is the way for me. I have a lock box so guests can rock up when they please (within reason). I'm not going to sit around all days waiting for folk to schlepp up.

 

Before I had a lock box some guests were real arses, but one in particular - who arrived at 11pm having decided she'd eat at a restaurant first - got a corker of a review from me. 

Lilian20
Level 10
Argelès-sur-Mer, France

Hello @Gordon0 - I have had similar experience , that's why I also switched to self check in.

@Scott80  There's no way i'm doing a self check in.  it's not an apartment, its a room in our house.  I dont want people checking in without knowing the rules.  we've been hosting for 2 years and people can be completely disrespectful, so i dont want them to just show up and think they have free reign.  there are several rules we have to go over during check in.  if i had just a regular private apartment, no problem, but i dont want random strangers letting themselves into my house at all hours.

That's good but if you have something they aren't used to (like a boat) there are things to show them...

J-Renato0
Level 10
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I agree with you @Lisa367, that it is very boring and inconvenient situation. If I may offer any suggestion and comments, here goes mine's.

There are some guests that prefere to set a precise time to arrive, and once in a while they arrive late or early then expected. It has happened to me, not only when the guest is late, but when they arrive early then expected, sometimes 1 hours in advanced.

In some cases, I think it is better not to set a pre-arranged time, and make things more flexible.

When making the appointment for checkin,  I usually ask the guest to message me when they arrive in the city, meaning, before taking a taxi, bus or whatsoever. Then I can know, at least roughly, what time they will be arriving in the building. It prevents me to wait more than necessary, and the guest will not have to wait if they arrive early than expected.

Anyway, when the guest insists on pre-arranged time and arrive early or late than expected, you can mention it when reviewing the guest by saying something like - "Except for the fact that Mr/Ms ____ arrived early or late than expected for checkin with pre-arranged time, what caused me some inconvenience, everything it was ok".

In some cases, it can be a good idea to adopted the self-checkin.

https://www.airbnb.com.br/help/article/1207/what-is-self-check-in

 

@J-Renato0  Last year we had a girl tell us she was arriving at 3 pm.  Another guest who had stayed for 3 weeks was leaving at 11 am, so I was like "ok that's no problem, plenty of time to clean."   Guess who waltzes in at 11 am?  The next guest.  She was like "well I had an appointment at noon so i decided to come early."  i was like "well, we're not ready for you, sorry.  you can leave your suitcase here and come back and the scheduled time."  she was like "but i need to take a shower!"  i was like "ok, fine, take a shower, but please do it fast because we have the cleaner coming in 15 minutes."  10 min goes by and shes on the couch checking her facebook.  i'm like "what are you doing?"  shes like "i wanted to take a shower after the shower was clean."  i was like "Seriously?  get out my house.  you're not even supposed to be here yet."  she wanted to book the room again the following year and we told her no.

Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Lisa367 I only rent a room, not an entire place. Haven't had a problem to date with self-check in (200+ guests). It's all about clear and consise communication, that's all. 

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

I think those of us who share our homes are going to have to get more comfortable with asking customers to move on & choose something else if they aren't following "the rules". I asked CS to reach out to a guest yesterday who has been non-responsive to messages. "Please let ***** know that they do need to respond to messages if they'd like to stay with us."  No problem, CS is calling guest

Ugh!!! Why can cc work for more than 3 lines in the app?!?

anyway, we all need to be clear in our rules and in our messages and then make CS be our allies when guests don't follow along properly. 

I think there are times (mother's bday, concert tickets, etc) where it is very reasonable to say "we set a time and you have missed it, I will be back at..."