Learnings from a New Host

[Jennifer842]

Well, we started our AirBnb in our extra guest room in March of this year and have to date hosted 8 times with 7 more bookings as of this time. 7 of the experiences have been great. Yesterday though, our guest asked if they could check in in the early afternoon...so my husband hurried home from work to accommodate this as we had a "flexible check-in" time set. The couple barely communicated, disappeared into the room and that was it...until we saw him rush down the stairs past all four of us who were sitting in the livingroom about 7pm at night. I thought maybe he was going out for food. We are not near anything and so we heard his car start and off he went. Around 8:30 I sent him a note through the app asking if they would like tea or coffee in the morning and if so, what time, as we usually put out cereal and bread for toast and make coffee or tea. The response was very pleasant but that he would be leaving very early for work in the morning, so not to worry.

So we carried on with our evening...but by 10pm, he hadn't returned and we were wanting to lock our front door and head to bed being a Sunday night and kids have school today etc. We fully assumed she was still in the room. I sent another note via the app asking what time he expected to be back as we knew he had no key and we wanted to go to bed soon. Finally near midnight, I sent a note saying we were about to lock our door as we were well past bedtime waiting. (We knew he had not asked for a key.) After midnight we got a note saying he had no belongings in the room and would just check out, and that his friend had an urgent matter and he had to help her. I responded...isn't she still in the room? (No one had seen or heard her leave...it was just him rushing out of the house at 7pm.) He responded that no, no one was in the room...his friend was in the hospital. Yeah right. (You would think if there was an emergency we would have seen her leave and maybe known something was going on...they had to go right past us to exit...so she must have snuck out when we were getting our food in the kitchen. There are four of us and the stairs are right where we were sitting.)

We went to look, and no one was there. So here we'd been waiting ALL evening. So....lessons learned: don't let people check in before late afternoon....and don't take bookings from a town 45 mins away unless it makes sense. Which this one didn't.

So, we feel rather used (a little afternoon delight was all they wanted it seems). I'm sure this happens, but it's not why we decided to host. If we hadn't waited up on a Sunday night worried the guy couldn't get back into our house, it would not have been so bad.

ugh.

Jennifer

[Amy38]

He came, he paid, he didnt trash anything.  He was not interested in socializing with you. From his point of view, he was renting a room not making new friends.

He was inconsiderate of yourtime,but you cannot know what was going on with this mystery ‘her’  and you got paid.  

This kind of thing can happen and probably has happened to all of us hosts,  but you are running a business now and cant take it personally.

 As long as there is no damage or breaking of house rules, just shrug it off and think about what you would change about how you handled it. 

Best luck down the road.

[Amy38]

PS. I think they just rented the room for a quickie.

[Jennifer842]

Yes, in perspective it was better than it could have been...and yes, they were just renting it for a quickie and we did get paid. I get that. I just don't get why they had to sneak out and not just say, we're leaving so we weren't waiting up. We would not have cared if they stayed or left, as long as we knew and weren't waiting up for hours. We never expect to socialize, but I guess when everyone else to date has been so courteous it's a bit of a wake up. Anyhow, like I said, lesson learned. 🙂

[Elizabeth429]

Hello @Jennifer842,

I am curious...Why would they rent a room in a family home for a quickie? Wouldnt it have been better for them to check in into a hotel?

[Lawrene0]

Can I answer that, @Jennifer842? @Elizabeth429, Jennifer's place is $35 CDN to rent, whereas a hotel in Langley starts at $100 CDN. Cheap date.

Jennifer, to save all the waiting up, because it may happen again for various reasons, is providing a key a possibility? Installing a numbered keypad? 

[Jennifer842]

Yes, I think it’s the price point for sure...we haven’t raised our prices much as I was waiting until we got more reviews/bookings.  We have keys if people let us know they are going to go in and out...it’s never been an issue before, and many of our bookings are one night because we are on the way places. Most of our bookings are people passing through from one place to another...several directly from the airport.   The thing is these folks went directly into their room at 1:30pm and by the time we saw him zoom downstairs and out in the early evening, (we had no idea she had gone) it was too late. It was just weird! Any other time we’ve had the chance to offer a key if needed. A keypad will eventually be something we do on the front door. 

Here’s a question: do you automatically give out keys? Or a keypad code? Is that a good practice? Like I said, still learning and so glad I can ask you all about these things! 

[Lawrene0]

I do, @Jennifer842. It used to be keys here, but since I am not always on-site at checkout, they didn't always remember to return them to the hook, and that was a hassle. Since installing a numbered keypad last fall, it has been great, and I do automatically provide it. The keypad allows for more than one code, so I have a master for us, and then the guest's code is always the last four digits of their phone number. Easy for them to remember, and saves me conjuring up new numbers all the time. I recommend it. 

[Jennifer842]

Thanks @Lawrene0, that’s great advice. We have to recoup our expenses before we spend any more, but we are getting there! I like the keypad idea. 

[Jennifer842]

Well yes, would have been but yes, cost would likely be why. Thankfully they were very quiet as we were all sitting down the hall in the afternoon/early evening. 

[Jennifer842]

Here’s another question: is it better to just not review this guest? 

[Fred13]

Not much to review; they did their thing, minded their own business, and paid, about all can be said.

Your present set up lacks one policy; guests are sometimes not given keys because they didn't ask or you didn't volunteer one, so now you are both ~co-dependent~ on each other's actions. Guests should be in parallel to a host (if the logistics permit), rather than in series, so host will never have the need to wait nor wonder. 

[Jennifer842]

Thanks Fred, that's true.

Jennifer

[Cathy172]

@Jennifer842Just...ew.