How to ensure hungover guests leave on time?

[Ben551]

Howdy folks! It’s ideas time!

My wife and I have identified a risk that is oh so very likely to materialise tomorrow morning. We would very much like some advice, ideas, thoughts... and luck.

You see, we (in our inexperience) did not have gaps or preparation days in our early days with Airbnb. We turned this feature on almost immediately after we realised not even break-neck speed could manage a same day turnover to our required standard... so we relaxed our bookings and added a preparation day before and after each new booking.

Tomorrow is the very last of the “same day turnover” collisions we inherited from our initial settings and we will be glad when it is behind us.

But there is a problem...

We have discovered that our current guests (lets call them “Team Hangover”) are 2 delightful, beer loving Kiwi blokes who are staying overnight to attend an Eminem concert this evening. They arrived at 2am this morning and (based on our covert Facebook research) tonight we expect they will be back late, rat 4rsed drunk and in the morning likely hungover... 

After Team Hangover checks out, we have a mad rush to prepare our place for guests staying for 2.5 weeks!  These incoming long term guests (lets call them “Team Dubai”) are Super-hosts from Dubai. Naturally, we want to present our place very well for them, at our highest standard... but they arrive at 1PM and our quickest turnover time is 4 hours (with just me). It’s a big space and lots to do... with 2 of us we should be able to get it done in 2 hours but it will be a real push if Team Hangover have left a mess... which is possible. We have also discovered they are smokers... it takes time to air the room from smokers, even if they don’t smoke inside. It “clings” and last time we had smokers it took a full day to de-stink the place, including a chlorine wipe down.

Our success tomorrow morning all hinges on our ability to get Team Hangover out on time at 10AM. If they are late, or sleep in... the whole system will fall down and we will have an unhappy Team Dubai.

So far I’m thinking we will head down tonight and mention somehow that they can’t be late in the morning.... but.... I’m not entirely sure how to say it casually enough. I’ve thought of the old “mow the lawn at 9AM tomorrow morning” trick... but it’s rather a last resort. We have also tried asking Team Dubai to not checkin until 3PM but it’s unclear if they will show up early. It sounds like they are checking out of their other accomodation in the morning and wanted to come straight over! Not good... we’ll still be cleaning....

Help me experienced hosts! What else can we do to avoid a potential disaster? 

~ Ben

[Cathie19]

@Ben551, @Sarah977  I’m the late arrival to this party line connection... but like a good book, refuse to go to the last page to find out the conclusion. I’m enthralled with the instalments....

(more popcorn please.... )

[David3610]

This post speaks to my #1 problem as a host (at least in terms of how stressful it feels when you know a guest is sleeping still and their checkout time has come and gone). I have lots and lots of same day turnovers and usually I manage to kick things into overdrive and get it done somehow. I'm totally doing the night before reminder from here on out. I'm always surprised by how many guests overstay our 11am checkout. What's even more surprising are the number of requests I get for early check-in and/or late checkout. But at least those folks are forthright and I'll accommodate when I can (which usually isn't that often)

[Ute42]

.

David: Off topic. Right now and right here we're in the comedy departement.

[Ann72]

@Ute42 LMAO

[David3610]

Alright then. Carry on

[Cathie19]

@Ben551, @Ute, Ann  (Now it won’t tag..... grrr)

More popcorn please.....

[Ria16]

@Ben551 It’s Sunday ..hopefully Team Dubai are catching the bus 😉 Good luck!  I bet the blokes are well trained and will leave the place spotless 😉 

[Ben551]

Quick update before the blaze of turnover begins...!

Team Hangover have now checked out, a mere 3 minutes late.

Hammers, chain saws, blasting "Doom" the movie upstairs, thumping about... none of it worked! lol.  My wife, knocking on the door with builders grade coffee got them out of bed and into their car.  I think she also deployed "the look"... do women all go to a special school to learn it or what?  It's subtle but it says "if you don't get the hell out of here in an orderly fashion, I'm calling your wives."  Yet, there are no words.  Just a stare...

Team Dubai have been sent their email to say "woah! need more time" - or something more professional I'm sure. Wife in charge of that.

... GO GO GO!

PS:  The entire cottage smells of Team Hangover's man f4rts... industrial grade air freshener being deployed..

[Sarah977]

@Ben551  Left it spotless, no doubt?

[Ann72]

@Ben551  I win.

[Susan17]

@Ben551 Well played - excellent result! 

@Ann Well called! 😉

[Ute42]

.

@Ben551 

Congratulations that everything turned out ok.

You must admid though that we all did our best to help You sort this out. 

We're all one family, one team, the airbnb trouble shooters.

[Sarah977]

@Ben551   No schooling needed- the "look" is in the DNA. Kinda like men being able to sleep through anything 🙂

[Ann72]

@Sarah977 Or their inability to multitask?  Take two messy kitchens.  Put a man on the phone in one, and put a woman on the phone in the other.  Spot the differences.

[Ben551]

@Ann72  @Branka-and-Silvia0  @Sarah977  @Ute42  @Susan17  - update!

Well I know you're all waiting to see how this turns out, so I have good news to report!

Team Hangover, apart from inglorious levels of man smell, left the place like it was barely used.  They barely used anything, didn't cook in the kitchen, barely touched a single utensil. All they did was sleep in the beds and use the bathoom.  Easy to deal with and we got on with it.

All said and done, we were finished in 2 hours with my wife and I working together.  We even had time to weed the cobble stone paved path outside!  Well done to Team Hangover!!!  They've done a good job here, so @Ann72  certainly wins this one, against all odds 🙂

Team Dubai have been great and we've just told them the place will be spotless by 2PM, which gives us time to pop out and grab an extra bottle of wine to thank them for being understanding (we wanted to do that anyway for long term guests, token gesture and NZ wine is good and cheap here).

Team Dubai have just messaged as I write this, with a super nice message.  They must be great hosts too so are being completely understanding about the whole thing - I expect they have seen and managed much trickier situations!  Can't wait to meet them now, what a great sort 🙂

That's it for now!  We're off to grab fresh fruit and wine, then job done 🙂

Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread to give good advice - or even just to stop by with words of support - this is a great hosting community.  I've avoided flying into panic mode, being able to vent, share and discuss... so thanks.  I dub thee all Team Awesome from here out.