Does AirBNB have a policy about hourly rentals?

[Stephanie365]

I recently had a man send a request to rent my unit from 9 am until 1 pm. He claimed he and his "wife" were travelling down the east coast and needed a place to stop for a few hours.

Looking at his profile, his selfie appeared to be a teenager wearing a scuba mask. No biography. He is from a town 30 miles away. And his previous two reviews were also very local, and both reviews stated he "came and went quickly". 

It's pretty obvious this guy is only using his AirBNB to cheat on someone. 

I told him I could not accommodate him because I had another guest coming and my schedule would not give me enough time to prepare the suite for the next party, which was the truth.  

Is this type of behavior up to us as hosts to allow or not, or does AirBNB have a policy about renting rooms by the hour, so to speak?

[Inna22]

Chicago does not allow hourly rentals

[Fred13]

@Stephanie365 What an interesting question. If your normal booking charge is say $100, maybe tell him his first hour will cost him $100, however the other 23 hours are gratis. Be interesting the hear his reaction. 

[Linda108 · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the world of hospitality, @Stephanie365!  People have many reasons for staying in a hotel, motel, tent and Air BNB shared home.  Keep it simple and let the platform do it's work.  You do not need to know the details of the reservation unless it is your policy to refuse guests who do not share your values.

I do not think there are any negative consequences to your refusing this guest.

Isn't it fun to host...:P

[Stephanie365]

@Linda108, it's not about values, LOL.  Since we as hosts are held to such high standards, I just didn't know if AirBNB had certain "standards" for guests if you know what I mean.  

Just imagine how long we'd last on AirBNB if we operated like local "No-Tell Motel". 

[David126]

In some countries it may be illegal but that is the only thing that comes to mind.

[Kelly149]

@Stephanie365 there is no way to do a reservation any shorter than overnight. Now, however long the guest actually stays is a whole nother matter. If you had a reservation from 9am -1pm, ABB would expect it to block your calendar for the night before or the night after, the platform does not recognize a daytime only stay.

[Stephanie365]

@Kelly149, I understand that. 😉  He would have had to book for an entire day, but my check in is 4 pm and check out is 10 am. He wanted to book for the "in between" time, obviously for a quickie. I am flexible on check in time, but firm on check out time. In this case, I had a respectable guest scheduled to arrive and would not have had time to prep the suite before they arrived, so I declined the request.

AirBNB wants us as hosts to act like concierges in a 5* hotel with their 4.7* minimum acceptable standards.
I wanted to know if they had the same standards for their guests because accepting guests under these terms is not 5* behavior. It's dive motel behavior. We can't operate like dive motels on their platform, so should they allow dive motel-type guests? 

[Kelly149]

Right, and you’re penalized for declines. But how about guests who make inappropriate inquiries “my reservation says 2, but we’re really 7 and tight budget so is that ok with you?” *a real example

or inquiries with zero info in a profile, we could probably go on and on. Your basic premise is right, hosts are held to high standards & guests aren’t. 

Your one recourse is to go back to the message thread and Report the guest. Probably doesn’t amount to anything but it’s all you’ve got for a guest who doesn’t stay 

@Stephanie365

[William620]

I actually hope AirBnb implements an hourly rate feature. There are plenty of travelers who just need a power nap or few hours rest before they head back out. Hosts in busy cities like New York and Philadelphia would greatly benefit from it.