Hotel-style checkout times need to go

[Kyril0]

Love AirBNB, been hosting for five years. 

But when I book as a guest for my own travel - I often notice that a lot of hosts put '10-11AM checkout time'.
 
While it may make sense for some, when they have new guests arriving the same afternoon - what percentage of hosts get booked solid like that?
Many are not - but the 10AM checkout requirement is still there.

I feel like it's something that people do automatically,  without giving it a second thought - just because we're all so used to hotels doing it, we don't notice anymore.

But my guests are mostly european, so their return flights  - from here in New York - mostly depart at night.
So I learned early on that I just can't push people out at 11 AM and have them hover around town with kids and bags for 6 hours - as convenient as that is would be for me, I just couldn't feel right about doing that.

Can we maybe ask AirBNB to add a dialog to the host interface that brings this to the host's attention?

Even better - can we ask airBNB to add logic to bookings that makes the checkout time default to (Guest's Return Flight time)  minus (4 hours).
And allow us hosts to override that on a case-by-case basis, if we really need the cleaning done early.


I know that for my own travel, if I see in a listing the 'checkout time 10AM', and the host is not flexible - I am moving on to another host.
This is inhumane treatment of guests.

For hotels, I understand - they have shifts of cleaning maids sweeping the building, they have rooms turning over the same day.

But for us - I believe airBNB should change the default, and link it to guests' flight departure time.

Again - I am a host,  and I believe this is one more practice that could set us apart as a better alternative to hotels.

[Christine615]

No host is forced to adhere to specific check-in/check-out schedules. They're free to do what makes sense.

I have an 11 am checkout but Airbnb is more than hosting. It's cleaning and resetting and inspecting.  So far no one has complained

Hosts have to book cleaning staff or make arrangments in their own schedule to clean. It's too hard for those of us who are not full-time available to have to arrange our day jobs and errands around inconsistent check-out times. For instance, It takes at least 4 hours to reclean my apartment even if it's not been used heavily by the guests.

Having said that, if I don't have a guest checking in during the evening I do sometimes offer to allow a guest to have a late check-out and it's worked pretty well. I sometimes also let people know they can check in early. But I don't know what is possible until close to the arrival because I am sometimes booked back to back. But I once had someone assume late checkout was later that evening. That's inconvenient when you need to get back into the space. Give an inch - a few people will take a mile.

[Noel63]

We have back to back bookings, so a late check out would be impossible for us. It's great that it's working out for you though.

[Kath9]

@Kyril0, automatically adjusting the checkout time according to guest's flight time would cause utter chaos! For a start, it would only apply to very specific situations i.e. where guests are actually flying out from the same city. What if they aren't flying? My guests ALL arrive and leave by car as I live in a remote area.

The reason for the 10-11am checkout is precisely so hosts can get the accommodation ready for the next guest and it is frankly insulting that you are implying that we do it without thinking. I am booked up back to back in high season and I work full-time, so I need my guests to leave by 11am in order to have the room ready by 3pm for the next guest. 11am checkout is completely reasonable and normal and I've never had a complaint about it. It is hardly 'inhumane'. Of course, there is the option to be flexible and allow for early check ins and/or late check outs if required - that is entirely up to you as a host. If your guests wish to stay around until night time, then they need to pay for an extra night - this is not unreasonable. It is not your responsibility if they have to 'hover around town' for the day. You can offer them the option of leaving their luggage with you so they can spend the day exploring the city with their kids unencumbered by luggage. Alternatively, block off the day before and after the booking so that guests can hang around for as long as they like. As others have said, make this feature of your listing to attract people - I'm sure you'll do well.

[Carol354]

My guests have a checkout time of 10am. Check in is 3-8pm. We did try having a check in of 2-8, but we had guests turn up at 1.30pm, so we went to 3, as it wouldn't worry us if guests turn up at 2.30pm. (hope that makes sense)

In my area most of our guests are just overnight, so in peak season I am cleaning the bedroom & shared areas every day. & we do need some time to ourselves.

No time is ever going to suit every guest. We had friends who used to run an accommodation/hiking business. Check out was no later than 2, check in was any time after 5pm. & they still had people wanting to drop off bags  at 3 or check in early. They learned to be very firm.

[Suzanne302]

@Kyril0

You are assuming most hosts choose the 10am or 11am check out time simply because they are following hotel standards. That is a big assumption.

I have an 11am check out time because that is what works for me. My house, my rules. I would say 75% of my guests actually check out significantly earlier. I am usually booked solid with back to back guests and it takes me 2-3 hours to do a complete turnaround on the room. My check in time is 4pm.

There are many ABB hosts around the world and while visitors to New York may be catching flights, there are many other areas where the majority of guests are driving.

The beauty of ABB is you can do what works for you, for the most part. As others have said, your suggestion would cause chaos and confusion. If you want to offer late check out, great! If you want to pass on a listing with an 11am check out, great! There are many, many options out there...

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

I think it really depends on the individual host's situation. I am sure there are plenty of hosts that are flexible if they can be.

I get a lot of international guests that stay long-term. Therefore I usually let my guests come straight home from the airport upon arrival. My current guest's flight landed about 6:30am so I told her to come straight home. She arrived for check in around 9:30 even though my check-in time is after 2pm. And although my check out time is "before noon", I had a guest on an 11pm flight so I told him to stay and have dinner with me and Henry before leaving to go to the airport at about 7pm. Most of our guests stay for 1~4 months so we usually block a day before and after the booking which makes this possible but I do not think this would work for hosts that have mostly short term stays which are 1~3 nights.

Also, even though I allow this I would NEVER state on my listing or promise this to any random potential guest that I allow check in/check out at any time during the day.

Most hotels I've been to usually have an 11am or noon check out time. I don't think I've ever been to a place with a 10am check out time 🙂 But then again, hotels have lobbys and luggage storage services. Most host's don't.

[Noel63]

@Jessica-and-Henry0It must vary from country to country. Australian motels tend to have a check out time of 10am and a check in time of 2pm.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Noel63

In Korea, most hotels/motels/resorts have an 11am or noon check out (often depending on high/low season) and a 2pm or 3pm check in time.

Thanks for the info! I should certainly keep it in mind for when I manage to travel to your neck of the woods.....which I hope will be soon!

Australia (mostly me), U.S. West coast(both), and a Belgium-Germany (Oktoberfest!)-Czech beer tour (mostly Henry) are on our bucket list for places we want to visit within the next 10 yrs while we are still in our 40s  🙂

[Noel63]

I'm envious, it sounds like quite a bucket list

[Fred13]

  There is a reason why  10am-Noon is the most common check-out times throughout the world, because - it probably makes the most sense to most hotels & individual hosts (and guests); the practice has probably become the norm because it fits human preference. They get up at 8am, have coffee (or tea), then have breakfast and by 10am start packing and out by 11am, a very relax tempo if on vacation.

   Every host is totally free to deviate from it for whatever reason they personally desire. Hopefully, if they are smart,  whatever strikes their fancy fits the needs of their particular clientele. 

   IF I had a situation where my guests tend to fly out at 6pm, one thing I would work on is where they could conveniently leave their luggage between the hours of check-out time very late afternoon.

[Jackie148]

My home my rules if it's availabile to let guests stay I offer if it's availabile for early check in I offer why complicate things if someone has to wait 6 hours to catch a flight that's life we have all experienced this I'm sure if you want to lose a night's booking due to late check outs that's your business just my thoughts 

[Olga394]

@Kyril0 This is where communication comes in. My check out time is set at 10am. I do my own cleaning and have to get it done before Ipick my kids up from school. If a guest asks to check out later, I will do my best to accommodate them. We all do what works best for us as hosts. And not everyone book flights before they book on airbnb....

I do understand where you are coming from. I've also been a guest, and had to check out early, just to spend almost 6 hours at the airport. I did not hold this against my host...and that was even before I started hosting on airbnb....

Maybe you can mention on your listing that you are totally flexible.... 

It is great that you are so accommodating....if ever I am to visit New York,  I will book with you! Olga xx

[Huma0]

I think this suggestion would be impractical for a huge number of hosts. Like many, I am booked back to back and I have three rooms listed on Airbnb, as well as a job and other commitments. The check in/out times are not selected mindlessly. I absolutely need that time between check out and check in to prepare for the next guests.

Most of my guests leave before the 11am check out anyway, even if they have later flights. Very few want to check out later. If I can let them store their bags for a while I will and, if not, there are plenty of cheap left luggage services available. It's far less of an inconvenience to them than it would be to my next guests to arrive and find the place not ready or the previous guests occupying their space. I'm also not sure why I should block off the departure date and lose hundreds of nights worth of bookings a year because the occasional guest is too cheap to pay a few pounds for luggage storage.

Already, all hosts have the choice of selecting flexible check out and that's fine. Making it default and linking it to flight times would be a nightmare and would create utter chaos. If Airbnb ever tried to introduce such a scheme, I'd be the first to delist.

[Catherine232]

We frequently are booked solid, from May-end of September in particular, so have the 10:00 am checkout to enable us to deal with back to backs. But if we have any wiggle room we let people leave later. For people arriving later, we also offer to hold luggage (same for departing guests) and for desperate guests (with little ones, for example, coming off a long flight) we recruit family members, bust our asses cleaning etc, to finish faster. We find European guests often arrive late as well as early, so there is no consistency in arrival/departure times. Sometimes we have to be firm, but we have even let guests relax in the living room while we finish cleaning, so we try to be as flexible as possible.

[Donna240]

I have never had a guest fail to ask for a later check out, if that’s what they needed, prior to booking. It’s easy enough to be flexible when guests book well in advance of their trips. I’m always flexible when  no prior booking prevents it. I list check-in as flexible, but the system prevents me from listing check-out that way, so 11:00 a.m. seems reasonable.