Hi~
In my tourist city, about 20% guests always ask to check in/check out at odd hours, however, there are flights landing every hour on the hour until 5am-11pm.
Generally, it is not a great practice to bend yourself for the EXTREME guest needs. Most often we find that guests that ask for these accommodations, oddly enough, have flights issues and wind up checking in at our normal times...or they are very problematic, and we wish we never booked them.
Our practice is...
peak season, an hour here or there, but can only confirm this on the day of check in/ check out, just like a hotel...we know day of, last minute, like a hotel, we do not charge for this. When guests ask, we say, we could potentially offer your earlier check in, our policy is x....
During the slowest season, we are flexible, but, our priority is cleaners schedule, and our own... Never ever before 7:am, as we want our neighbors happy.
Very late check out, after 6pm, we typically charge 25%-100% of the day rate, it quite frankly all depends upon the guest, and the cleaners schedule.
My check in/check out polices reflect that of the hotels in the area, also have a list of places guest can go or bag check, 1/2 day hotel rental, spa rental, etc for the extreme guests...
As a new host, you want ratings, but at what cost? And keep in mind that some guests just show up whenever they want, even if you state, we cant check you in until x time, they show up at 8am trying to get inside.
One thing to consider....what is the flight arrival/departure pattern in PR? Is 4am/9pm standard arrival/departure times?
If yes, you may need to rethink your schedule. For a year, 70% of our guests were European, and their arrival times were extreme, we had to adjust, until we had more reviews.
Cheers!
