How do I prompt my guests to communicate more effectively?

[Rebecca676]

Hi All, does anyone else have the issue where getting guests to commit to a check in time is like pulling teeth?

Unfortunately we cannot offer self check in to our apartment. It's a secured building where the mailboxes are accessed inside the building and attaching a lock box outside the building is not permitted.

As someone that has travelled and used AirBnb a lot I understrand the importance as a host of being flexible for check in, and I really don't care what time someone wants to arrive but getting them to commit to a time is so difficult! We live about 45 minutes away from our listing and all I'm asking for is to know 24 hours before they arrive what time they want to check in so I can manage my own life.

For guests that don't nominate a time at booking, I send them a message 2 days before they are due to arrive and often I just don't get a response. For the majority of guests I think we'd get a response to our question of when they want to check in between 2-3 hours before they arrive! 

At this stage I'm considering just renting the property out traditionally because it's becoming too hard - imagine being in the middle of lunch with friends and having to drop everything to check a guest in that couldn't be bothered agreeing to a time.

I'm looking for feedback and suggestions from hosts that also don't provide self check in, what has worked for you and what could I try?

Many thanks in advance!!!

FYI - This is what we have noted on our listing;

"Check In: Whilst we do not offer self check in we are very flexible and will accommodate you to the best of our ability after 1pm and up to 10pm. Let us know what time you'll be there and we will meet you at the agreed time. We'd prefer you nominate a time that is realistic to accommodate your travel plans, otherwise we are 45 mins to an hour away from the apartment and will leave to meet you once you advise you're at the apartment."

[Robin4]

@Rebecca676 

Hi Rebecca, I have found the best way is to bring a bit of humour into it....something to grab the guests attention.

I will quite often use something like this......

Of course it's a bit of nonsense.......but Rebecca, it always gets the desired result! Within a couple of minutes I will have a response, most of them funny, some of them perplexed....I had this one guy shoot back to me....."Crocodiles! what crocodiles, what sort of place are we coming too, a zoo!" It achieved what it was supposed though, it got me a response! I just sent back to him..."Nothing like the mention of animals to get the ball rolling, I assure you the only old crocs around here are Ade and I! What time can we expect to greet you?"

Introducing humour has another advantage Rebecca, it gets the hosting off on a nice comfortable footing, it make guests feel at ease and it's a fact of life....people do not like fighting with people they like!

It is not for everyone, but it works fo me, only once did I ever had a guest who didn't respond...and I always know when my guests are going to arrive!

Cheers......Rob

[Rebecca676]

Hi @Robin4 thanks for your reply! That certainly is an interesting conversation starter 😄

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Rebecca676 

For guests that don't provide ETA, I always casually mention the possibility of waiting on the street for up to 1 hr if Henry happens to be out running errands on the day/time of their arrival and add it's not a problem for us if they don't provide ETA since they can always wait at a nearby cafe just 1 minute away,  have a coffee and wait comfortably until Henry is back. 

Most guests were quick to reply after they realize if THEY don't give us an approximate arrival time, then THEY would be the ones waiting around for us.

I usually word messages so that everything is for their sake just as much as it is for mine. 

[Rebecca676]

Thanks @Jessica-and-Henry0  I think I may take this advice and go a bit harder in the message I send 2 days before their arrival. Stating that they may have to wait for an hour is a good idea, I note it in our listing but as we know guests rarely read all our information. Putting it in my pre arrival message is a good idea. Thank You!!

[Gulay1]

Hi @Rebecca676 ,

Like you, I cannot provide self-check in as there is a security gate in my building and I cannot put a lockbox either, even outside of the property. My building management specifically forbids this.

I usually ask the guest 3-5 days before their check in at what time they would be arriving, so I can plan accordingly. Most of the the guest gives me a 30-minute window and everything goes swimmingly!

Sometimes the guest gives me a timeframe, but arrives several hours after they had mentioned. Honestly, it's a waiting game at this point. If you have to be there in person for check in, like I do, there is nothing you can do other than hope for them to arrive sooner than later. I always bring my work and coffee with me to check in. If you leave the location to come back when you hear back from the guest with an update, you risk great retribution from the guest and Airbnb. I once asked Airbnb to remove a 1-star review from a guest who arrived 4 hours late and I checked them in half an hour late, because I had left. It didn't go in my favor.

Rarely the guest does not respond to answer when they would be arriving. I involve Airbnb in these cases and usually the guest call or messages me right back. Ever-so-rarely (about 1/20 for me) there is a serious problem with the booking that is causing the guest to avoid responding. If the guest knows how to work the system, Airbnb proceeds ignore its own rules and violate my rights.

TL;DR: If you need to be present for your check in, we can only hope that the guest shows up at the time they mentioned. If the guest isn't communicating at all, Airbnb customer service usually can get them to reply.

[Cynthia475]

@Rebecca676   I was just thinking about one of my first trips as a guest (long before I was a host).  I was staying at a resort and I could not understand why the host was so interested in what time I was arriving.  It was not clear to me that they needed to meet us there in order to give us a key since it was a privately owned unit.  After I felt bad since I was a bit vague and not very punctual.  All because it was not clear to me why they needed to be there.  Your listing states that you "do not offer" self check in.  I would suggest rewording it so that guests understand that it is not possible to offer self check in so that they take it more serious.  It is not that you want to drive the 45 minutes to meet and greet them, it is that it is the only way they can access the property.

[Rebecca676]

Thanks @Cynthia475 that's a good point! I didn't think of it from that perspective. I'll work on re-wording this.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Rebecca676 

same here.

We have it in our house rules, prebooking message and our first message to the guest. Almost all of them tell us when they will arrive and for those who ignore our question we do the same as @Jessica-and-Henry0 - casually mention that they will have to wait for us for up to an hour. It works  🙂

Our main problem are those guests who are late and don't tell us on time. Often we are already there at the time they said they will arrive and then we receive a message that they will be 30, 60, 90 min.... late. It makes us very angry, we are losing our time and money waiting for them in a cafe while we had other plans and things to do.

[Rebecca676]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 Oh yes the 'late' arrivers! If people genuinally have issues when travelling with traffic, late flights etc then I understand of course. However, I had an experience once where a young lady and her partner were late because 'the weather was so great we couldn't leave the beach', my reply 'yes it was a lovely day, pity I spent it waiting for over 2 hours for you to arrive'. What is wrong with people?! If people want to arrive without nominating a time then book with a host that can provide self check in or a hotel that has 24 hour reception. So frustrating!

[Suzanne302]

I like what @Jessica-and-Henry0  and @Branka-and-Silvia0  suggest, make it clear they could wait up to an hour if they don't provide a clear ETA:

"PLEASE NOTE: Without a clear ETA, you may be waiting up to an hour after arrival to be checked-in."

Or something to that effect.

You're not the only one with this problem! I offer self check-in so it's not a big deal, but some guests just ignore the ETA request.

[Rebecca676]

Thanks to all you lovely people that have helped and replied to my post! I've amended my pre check in message and taken your feedback into consideration. Fingers crossed that this improves things.

FYI - new pre check in message; "Hi [Name], please let me know what time you’d like to check in as soon as possible. We'd prefer you nominate a time that is realistic to accommodate your travel plans, otherwise, we are 45 mins to an hour away from the apartment and you may find yourself waiting for us to arrive if we have other appointments that can’t be changed without notice. Many thanks, Rebecca"

[Mark116]

@Rebecca676   I would message them sooner than 2 days, more like 5 or 7 days, then 2 days before send a message, very short, 1/2 sentences. 

When people don't respond to our 1st message, our 2nd message says to please let us know what time to expect you so someone can be at home to let you into the apartment and give you the keys.  This will get a reply.

[Kath9]

Oh @Rebecca676, this has got to be my number one pet hate ... why, oh why, don't people just let us know what time they are coming??? Apart from anything else, it's just common courtesy! Maybe I should add $100 to the room price so I can hire a little man to sit just inside my front door to check people in 24 hours a day.

On my listing description I have the following: Remember, this is my home, not a hotel, and I do not have 24-hour check-in staff. Please let me know your approximate estimated arrival time so I can plan my day and make sure I am home to meet you. Then, when people book, I send them a message with some details and a reminder to let me know what time they're arriving, then two days before they are due to arrive, another message with a reminder: Check in time is 3pm-7pm but please let me know what time you expect to arrive so I can plan my day and make sure I am home to meet you. 

This seems to help but it doesn't always. Sometimes, I've just gone out when I don't hear from people and if they have to wait, well, they have to wait 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Rebecca676 @Kath9 @Mark116 @Suzanne302 @Cynthia475 

The epic fail was done by one of our guests. She didn't read and answer our questions about the exact time of arrival so there was nobody to check her in. She couldn't enter the backyard parking with a ramp so she called us.

We said- find a parking spot on the street and buy a parking ticket at the machine and then meet us in front of the building in half an hour.

She found free parking spot 3 blocks away, parked and met us in front of our building when we arrived.

I said - OK, let's go to pick up your car, btw, did you pay street parking as I said you should?

She said - no, it didn't accept my credit card."

- Of course it didn't, you have to put coins in it!

- But I don't have coins or Croatian kuna, just a credit card.

So, we hurried up to her car and found the parking fine on 20€. Then we went back to the apartment and she parked in the backyard.

When I asked her why she didn't let us know her time of arrival, she said - I didn't know it will be so complicated"

Well... it is not complicated when guests think in advance, read and answer our messages  🙂

BTW she was a nice lady but not very organized 🙂