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

[Ann72]

Well done, @Ben551!   You've pulled it off brilliantly.  Have fun with Team Dubai, and thanks for the Ben-ificent Ben-ison of Team Awesome!

[Jo13]

@Ben551 

@Sarah977 

@Ann

@Ute

@Susan

This is one of the best form threads ever! Thanks for the entertainment.

[Cathie19]

@Ben551 , I think #TeamHangoverCleaningCo deserve one of those good NZ bottles of wine! Maybe something nice for “she” “who has the look!”   Lol..

[Sarah977]

And with that, the first gripping season of Ben: Misfit Millennial draws to a close. Be sure to tune in next season for the new edge-of-your-seat episodes- "Yuppie Stagette Party Vs. The Giant Spiders".

[Ben551]

Hehehehe @Sarah977  it's been quite eventful now I think about it... could expand that to "Yuppie Staggette Party and Gun Wielding Geriatric in underpants team up to take down Shelob..." jeez, maybe I should give Pete Jackson a ring... he lives just down the road lol

[Barbara453]

I make it a habbit to communicate with my comminnnng in Guests  THE EXPECTED TIME OF ARRIVAL  &  the night before DEPARTURE I alwys make sure very casually ,SAD TO SEE YOU LEAVE TOMORROW....WHAT TIME IS YOUR FLIGHT ? THEN ACCORDING TO THE TIME REMIND THEM CHECK OUT IS AT 11AM....or what ever time you have listed..have fun with it,it works for me.

[Mia93]

Hi @Ben551 , if you are a host in major city and have lots of younger guests, you will be quite likely to encounter this problem. We had lots of different issuse related to this kind of hangover people even we vent our guests a lot. My approach is to start making noise at a sensible early time, e.g. 8am. If they are not leaving, I will knock the door at 10am and explain we need to go out soon and so do they. I will give them extra 15-20 minutes, after that I will charge them for late check out. Hope it helps. 

[Susan151]

@Mia93  You really wake people up two hours before your checkout time by making noise on purpose? This seems really passive-aggressive, not to mention a bit unfair. Guests have paid for the time; and maybe they wish to sleep.

Do others do this type of thing to guests hours before check out time?

[Mia93]

@Susan151 Sorry if there is any misunderstanding. I didn't mean that I wake guests purposely. On the contrary, I'm over concerned for guests. Let's say I will turn TV volume to 3 ( normally 15-20) if they are sleeping no matter what time . What I do is just not keeping noise or sound down like what I do during night. Hope it clarifies.    

[Sarah977]

@Mia93   If I were a guest and the host started making noise at 8AM, when there was a 10AM check-out time, I'd be pretty upset. You might get up at 7AM to start your day and think it's fine to start going about your daily routine, without regard for guests sleeping, but as someone who's a late sleeper myself, I would find that disrespectful. As a responsible adult, I'd make sure to be out by check-out, I don't need someone to start making noise at 8AM to make sure I'm out in time.

[Mia93]

@Sarah977 I agree with you as the feeling of being a normal guest. I used the word "noise", maybe it's inappropriate in this circumstance. Anyway, in this thread, we are talking about disrespectful drunk guests who are very likely  gonna check out late. If the guests can look after themselves time wisely, I will carry on my "over concerned" gesture to make sure they feel comfortable. It's a mutual respect thing.