Quiet hours

[Natalie768]

I am a cohost with my mother but I live here with my husband. We have 2 rooms for airbnb. Although listed in the house rules that quiet hours are between 10pm-9 am which means no music playing or cooking we have had guests blatantly disrespect the rules. We recently had 2 girls who thought it was okay to microwave food and use the stove at 6:30 am when our bedroom is next to the kitchen and we had other guests sleeping. This was even after the night before they were hanging out in the living rook playing music at midnight and I reminded them of the quiet hours.

We have since printed the rules and put it in their rooms as well as made a sign we put out at night in the kitchen reminding them they can get water or access the fridge but not cook during those times. We also bought a lock for our microwave that turns it off between those hours. Me and my husband work very early and hate being woken up by guests who think it’s okay to cook a meal at 1 am.

Is it too strict to tell guests to not make noise especially in the kitchen between those hours??I sometimes feel bad because I know people come back late but I don’t feel we need to suffer because they chose to wait until night time to eat! 

[Sarah977]

@Natalie768  When you home-share, you have to make house rules that work for you and guests should follow them. If they want to just be able to carry on however they wish, they shouldn't book home-share listings. I'm a night owl myself, and work from home on my own schedule, so I wouldn't care if guests are a bit noisy late at night. But plenty of hosts have to get up early and go to work, so of course they need to have rules about being quiet after a certain time.

There's nothing too strict about limiting kitchen usage between the hours of 10 PM and 9 AM. I'd just remind guests of that when they check in (and the reminder in their room is good) and maybe suggest that if they are going to be out late and might want a snack when they get back, that they should prepare it before they go out, so they can just tip`toe in and grab it out of the fridge and take it to their room or somewhere else that you won't be disturbed.

And make sure you leave an honest review- as a home share host myself, I'd want to know if guests were disrespectful about disturbing others in the household. "Guests ignored following the quiet-hours house rule, even after reminders." Along with anything else there is to say about them, good or bad.

Even though I live in a quiet area and only host one guest at a time, and none of them have ever been noisy, I have had to put in my earplugs a few times when I had guests who snored like a locomotive, which I could hear through 2 closed doors and a bathroom in between :-))) If you aren't accustomed to earplugs, you might want to experiment with various types to see which work best for you. I think they're a home-share host's best friend, especially if your bedroom is right next to common areas.