How can I stop guests ignoring the check in time?

[Huma0]

I really don't want to have to put it in CAPITALS at the beginning of my listing, as that's not very welcoming, but I am starting to get frustrated that so many guests simply ignore my check in time (3pm). It is in my listing and house rules, which I ask them to read.

Check out (12 pm) doesn't seem to be a problem. Occasionally a guest asks if they can leave bags and pick them up later, which is fine, but most leave earlier than noon with no fuss.

Check in is another matter. I would say that the majority of my guests want to come earlier. Some politely ask if that is an option, or if they can drop their bags earlier. Unfortuntely, a lot just assume they can come straight from the airport/train station and wouldn't have bothered to even communicate this to me had I not asked.

I always message them to ask what time they will arrive (the majority don't offer this information without a prompt). Even when I stress in my message that check in is from 3 pm onwards, they still respond saying, "We'll be arriving at 11 am." So, it's not that they don't know check in is after 3, they just simply don't seem to think it matters.

Even at a five star hotel with 24 hour reception, this is usually not okay.

Any tips for how I can prevent this? What am I doing wrong?!

[Ange2]

@John498   @Huma0  

I usually say text me if you are delayed, and at least 30 minutes before you arrive.

It seems to work.  Once, out of sheer frustration with a guest who changed their arrival time so many times it wasted half my day, I finally put a note on the door "back in 20 minutes text me if you arrive before I do, I am just around the corner".

But here's a story when it didn't work out.  I didn't know my guests didn't speak English because they sent me messages in perfect English.  However, the person who was helping them with their English wasn't traveling with them. They changed their check in three times but failed to text me that their last check in time changed again to a much earlier time so I wasn't there to meet them, I had gone out to dinner.  I was only 15 minutes away but they were almost hysterical when I arrived to let them in.  Fortunately,  I speak their language so managed to smooth a few ruffles, but the next day when they returned from sight-seeing they went to the wrong building and called me in hysterics accusing me of changing the locks!  I went downstairs and there they were making a huge scene, banging on my neighbors door and screaming!  It's a funny story now (not so much then),  luckily my neighbors have a sense of humor.  And, yes , the guests did ding me for their mistakes.  btw:  In hindsight, I don't think it would have made any difference if they had spoken English,  what they needed was a chaperon.

[Huma0]

Oh @Ange2  what a nightmare! I think there is almost nothing you can do when you get such clueless guets (and this is not just about language but cluelessness). The only thing to do is try your best to screen them out before they book, but with Airbnb policies severely punishing any host who cancels a non-IB reservation and dinging us on Accpetance Rate, that is not an easy thing to do...

[Yulianna0]

@Huma0, I also get tons of inquiries and even reservation requests with early check in. My listing is for late arrivals. It is in the title! And still some are asking if they can come in the morning or at midday. I wonder what they would say if someone asks them to work for free? 

There are some brave people traveling overseas without printed map or roaming. For sure they get lost, arrive two hours late. And complaining about location and the latest one about check in:) I think that I’ll forget about being nice and understanding and will take it as non respect, mentioning it in the review. Sick and tired of infantile behavior. 

[Huma0]

@Yulianna0 

Yes, this is something that I am getting tired of too. It's not just the constant requests for early check in/bag drop off, but the guests who then mention in the review that they had to store their luggage elsewere, or mark you down for it in their ratings. It's all stated clearly on the listng and mentioned in any pre-booking messages, so if you don't like it, DON'T BOOK MY PLACE! Unfortunately, a lot of people like to have their cake and eat it, i.e. they don't like my rules but they still want to book my place and decide they will simply ignore the policies that don't suit them.

 I have also had guests ignore my directions, get lost (which is really difficult considering how easy it is to get to/find my house) and then mark me down on location/check in/communication, whatever, to take out their frustration. One couple got lost (despite my detailed instructions) and then barked, "Why is your house number so small?!" when they finally arrived. I didn't know what to say. It's not small. It's fairly standard and actually bigger than all of my neighbour's ones. My house is also the only green one on the street (mentioned in my directions and also there is a photo), but if I had pointed any of that out, it would have just made them angrier. Of course they marked me down for check in. Some people hate to admit they made a mistake and just want to blame someone else. 

[Valerie56]

Yes, it is becoming tedious. I just had two guests waltz into my home at 11.00am, without even knocking, just as I was about to get into the bath!

I had agreed a late check-out of 4pm on Sunday, (for an extra £10), but check-in time was clearly stated, and agreed as 3pm.

And to make matters worse, it seems that neither is the person who made the booking! So they probably have not read the house rules in my listing.

I'm going to have to keep the key out of the lock box until check-in time, in future.

[Huma0]

@Valerie56 

That's clearly not cool. Was the person who made the booking also staying, or was this a third party booking situation.

Definitely keep teh key out of the lock box so this can't happen again!

[Valerie56]

The woman who made the booking turned up later, along with the first two. Only two stayed over night, but, unbelievably, one of them broke the shower rail, pulled it clean out of the wall! And of course is refusing to pay for the damage. Or the late check out. Some guests just take the biscuit 🙂

[Huma0]

What a nightmare. 

Yes, there are two problems here. I get all guests to confirm they have read the full listing and agree to the house rules before or as soon as they book. Of course, some lie, but it's there in writing.

Often, the other guests in the party will not have read anything, i.e. they don't bother to do anything more than glance at the listing if that, and the booking guest does not pass on any messages to them, so they turn up not knowing anything, which can include check in windows.

My current guests are a couple and the boyfriend booked. Clearly the girlfriend had not read the listing because, when she turned up and saw my cat, she asked, "Have you got one cat then?" She seemed surprised when I replied, "No, I have three." 

If guests show up significantly before check in time, I simply do not answer the door. If they then call or message me, I politely ask them to come back at the agreed check in time. Then again, I do not have a lockbox or keyless entry so they cannot get in without me letting them in! 

A few times, I have opened the front door to put out the rubbish/recycling only to find a guest sitting in the front garden waiting for the check in time. What can you do in that circumstance other than to let them in, even if you are not ready? So, now I avoid even doing that...

Some girls were repeatedly told no, they could not check in early, because I had work appointments beforehand (true). Somehow, that did not seem like an adequate reason for them.  I made sure though to rush home a bit before their arrival just to make sure I was ready. They then got really annoyed when they turned up 30 minutes early and I answered the door. I heard them say in their own language, "Look, she WAS at home." It was only later, when they happened to spot my calendar with that day's appointments that realised I hadn't been lying.

[Piotr48]

Hello Huma, I'm curious if you still have guests arriving before check-in time?

[Huma0]

@Piotr48 

Sorry for such a late response to your question, which I only saw now.

No, actually, I never have guests showing up before check in anymore. I became super strict about it and it works. I can't actually remember the last time it happened.

I do sometimes agree to an earlier check in if it works for me and especially if it is a returning guest who I already know is amazing, but it remains my choice.

[Robert613]

I am so glad to hear that we are not the only hosts experiencing this problem! I have seen a definite increase in guests completely ignoring posted check in times and announcing their arrival outside of our window.We have been flexible on occasion when a guest has asked (rather than informed) and it wasn't too unreasonable.  Because we rent out multiple rooms in our home, we try to make certain that we aren't disrupting other guests by people coming and going at all hours as well as trying to maintain some life for us!

It happened again this morning. A guest instant booked for one night and then in his message simply stated that he would be arriving at 12:30 pm. Our check in time is plainly stated as 3-8 pm and is also listed in the house rules section. The best part is that this is a person who made an inquiry about staying 2 months ago, stated he wanted to arrive at 10:30 pm. When told that was outside of the check in from 3-8, he then asked to check in at 12:30 (apparently he didn"t understand that would also be outside of the check in). I ended up declining his request but here he is back again this time with an instant book.

I sent him a message reminding him of our previous conversation from April and that early and/or late check in is not possible and that if he could not arrive during the check in, he should cancel the reservation. An hour after sending this, he cancelled his reservation. 

I will definitely be going back into my listings and adding that there will be a fee for APPROVED late arrivals or check outs. I will also not hesitate to contact Airbnb about guests who ignore psoted check in/check out times.

Thank you all for this conversation and insight to hosting.

[Mary419]

I definitely think Airbnb leaves the door open too much for guests to demand this extra time and hold it against hosts if the answer is no. I *would* add a fee schedule at this point, out of frustration from the volume of nature of the demands for both early check in and late checkout... however sometimes it is impossible to  accommodate these requests even for a fee. So a fee schedule posted would cause more confusion making people assume they definitely can go early if they pay.

In my experience "if- then" phrases make guests totally lose the plot. They all say they do not understand. If I said "If it is possible to do late checkout Then there is a fee of X per hour" I would spend too much of my life clarifying the meaning of that. Same as the 24 Hour Grace Period on the cancellation policy which nobody can understand supposedly.

I am a manager of whole home units where most have no common area to store luggage. Many have a key that must be put in a box for the maid, causing even more issues if guests are coming back later to get bags. I have units in a prime tourist area cleaned by maids who have to drive downtown at prime lunchtime based on the calendar. The maids dutifully drive downtown on the random day of checkout, fight rush hour, fight for parking, PAY for parking much of the time, do laundry, etc in the time window between checkout and check in time. The number of people not leaving on time and then trying to come early is making us all insane. The number of people who fly in early or out late is enormous and they all act like their situation is special. They all want it to be our problem. The level of ENTITLEMENT is the issue, they do not want to pay a dime and they do not absorb the reasons when it is not a possibility at all. I even get people asking me AT checkout time for late checkout, and our maids having already driven downtown, taken the bus downtown, etc mean nothing to these people.

[Huma0]

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@Mary419 wrote:

The number of people who fly in early or out late is enormous and they all act like their situation is special. They all want it to be our problem. The level of ENTITLEMENT is the issue, they do not want to pay a dime and they do not absorb the reasons when it is not a possibility at all. 

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Yes, this was the issue I was experiencing frequently (when I posted on this subject). There seems to be a huge lack of empathy. So many people seem to think that they should be the exception, as if no one else matters. This is not just with early check in/late check out etc.

It happens also with guests who want to bring children or pets to a no children or no pets listing. It happens with guests who think it's okay for them to smoke cigarettes or weed in the guest bedroom because they can't be bothered to go down a couple of flights of stairs to the smoking area. It even happens with guests who think that "I have three cats. Please don't book if you are allergic to or don't like cats," doesn't apply to them and that the cats will magically disappear because they desire it.

Although I don't seem to have the early check in problem anymore (sorry, my response here is very late), there will still always be the occasional guest who is just plain ENTITlLED in some other way. Lately, for me that has meant guests who ignore other house rules or expect a lot of things not offered on the listing. Still, I'm grateful that I don't seem to have to deal with the whole early check in/late check out fiasco anymore. Maybe I need to get as strict about the other stuff...