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

[Sandra126]

If they are not out in time, knock on door before opening. Call out ''Housekeeping!''. If they stumble to the door, bleary straight out of bed, say ''No probs, have a shower, get ready, as long as I can get a move on with the bedroom for starters as timing is of the essence before next guests. '' Then strip the bed and get cracking. 

they will hopefully be grateful you are letting them have a coffee and quick hose-off. But I think they might be ready in time. Mowing the lawn is no good, you need to just knock and move on with it. No stress~!

[Ben551]

Hey tanks for the tips @Sandra126  - I like the housekeeping tip, that's a great idea.  I've had that happen to me in hotels when I slept in by accident and I didn't think anything of it actually.... certainly wasn't offended, I just hauled arse to get ready.

[Donna316]

Ok, so I have had a few guests leave late when we have same day check ins.  I have in our house rules online and in our manual on the table in the studio of checkout time of 10am is strict. Also after a booking has been made I mention the strict checkout time in the welcome message also.  (90% or more dont read any rules).  I have had to on an occassion knock loudly on the door and explain when they get to the door, (after obviously still being in bed), that checkout time is basically now as per the rules and was there a problem as we have a same day check in.  That normally hurries them up, although some still go at their own pace.  lol.  I give them an extra 10mins from 10am and if know sign of life Id be knocking on the door! Good luck and hope they leave on time.  It is very stressful when people dont follow the rules when there is same day check ins so I hear you on that one. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ben551so, did they check out at time? 🙂

[Ben551]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I'll let you know in the morning.  It's 21:45 the night before and they have gone to their concert.  We spoke to them and let them know the deal for the morning.  They seemed fine with it so we'll see how it goes... they were drinking before they left for the concert though so Team Hangover are in full form 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ben551

I would call them 30 min before check out... just in case... 🙂

[Ben551]

@Ann72 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Mark116 @Donna316 @Marit-Anne0  and others I can’t tag easily...

Update for this morning!

Right now in NZ it is roughly 1.5 hours away from our 10AM check-out time. Team Hangover are passed out asleep. They arrived back at 4AM this morning (about 4.5 hours ago). We heard them awake until about 5AM drinking water (running the taps) and cooking food. So our guess is they have been properly asleep for 3 hours.

We have our “swap set” ready and setup to save time (that’s a duplicate of all our linen, dishes, and breakfast pots... so we just swap it all out). I have a cleaners box ready and the vacuum cleaner is fully charged... we are as prepared as we can be.

In 30 minutes I’m gong to start sawing wood in the garage with my mitre saw (wife wants new shelves in office), so that should wake them up... garage backs on to the guest cottage bedrooms 😄 it won’t be comical loud, but it will be enough.

Wife is on communication and will send a message to Team Dubai as soon as it is a reasonable hour (after 10AM most likely) to buy time and arrange curtesy’s like bag drop off...

We got this 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ben551  I would recommend chain saw 😄

[Ben551]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  hahaha if I don’t hear movement I am going to select progressively louder tools in my workshop. Mitre saw in bursts, then dremel, then if I want to be a complete b4stard I’ll get the belt sander with the loose nose... it makes a sound like glass smashing mixed with terror screams...

[Ute42]

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@Branka-and-Silvia0 

I've got one. It is loud and really disturbing, especially if You use it inside the house.

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[Ben551]

@Ute42 Hahahaha! Omg... to be honest, with these particular blokes, I think they’d find it funny

[Sarah977]

@Ben551  This must be one of those karmic things- that the last booking you had to honor under your "no prep day" previous setting reinforces, in technicolor, the wisdom of you setting a day's prep time.

They might just be out cold enough, and have their hearing impaired enough by the decibel level of the concert, that you'll need to get that spray bottle of ice water ready 🙂

Can't wait for the next installment of Team Hangover's Frantic Check-Out.

[Ben551]

@Sarah977 yeah I reckon this is karmic lol, definitely. Righto, I better get a spare spray bottle..

Although, the wife has suggested builder-strength espresso and a couple of eggs... she reckons the smell will lure most Kiwi men out of their drunken, drool puddle..

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

spray bottle  ? you are way to gentle dear  @Ben551 !  take a bucket 😛

[Ute42]

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Hi @Ben551 

ok, if You think they'll find a chainsaw funny, here's another idea how to get those guys out:

Put up a little speaker system and play Frank Sinatra to them. They'll hate it as they are devotees of Eminem.

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