The risk of having a “flexible” check-in time

Answered!
Thais66
Level 2
Madrid, Spain

The risk of having a “flexible” check-in time

I used to set a “flexible” check-in time for my listing as I thought it would make my listing more attractive. This has never been a problem, but my last guests requested to check-in at 12:00am from the day of the booking.

 

I asked airbnb support team if this was allowed and they confirmed that it is. And as this listing has a “self check-in” process, guests don’t even need to tell me in advance their time of arrival.

 

As a guest I´ve never thought about this and how easy it is to get an extra night for free.

I just changed my check-in settings and defined a time window to avoid this from happening again, but still wanted to ask other hosts if you think this policy is fare.

1 Best Answer
Robin4
Top Contributor
Mount Barker, Australia

@Alon1

You make good points Alon....I was just trying to Illustrate to @Thais66 that any timespan in the listing beyond 24 hours is technically classified as 2 days. Thais asked if the company's stance was 'fair' to allow someone to abuse the check-in process in order to get essentially another night free, but that has nothing to do with the company. It is up to the host to set their check-in and check-out times so that this cannot happen, and inform the guest of this so that the guest cannot just spring it on the host (Check-in facility will be available after 1.00pm on the day of stay) or, as you say be flexible and let it happen every now and then.

In close to 300 stays, 240 of them with Airbnb, it has never happened to me. On odd occasions I may get a guest arrive at 9.00am one day and leave at 11.00 am the following day so I could technically request another nights rent, but I have allowed that to happen and Airbnb would not support me if I tried to do that and I am sure it would be a great way to get an angry customer!

You bend with the situation and allow it, or not...it's up to the host, not Airbnb.

Thanks for your input, good points Alon.

 

Cheers......Rob

 

 

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18 Replies 18
Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hi @Thais66 I hope you are well!

 

I think the advice given by Airbnb CS can vary person to person, depending who you speak to.

 

Sure, 12:00am check-in is allowed, as is any check-in time is if agreed between host and guest- but I don't see that this could be forced upon you by a guest or an Airbnb CS rep.

 

What if you had a guest on-stay who would be expecting to check-out in the morning on 1st Feb (say for example 10am) and your new guest wishes to arrive at 12:01am on 1st Feb?

 

Airbnb states the following:

 

Know your reservation details

After a reservation is confirmed, refer to your itinerary for useful information about your reservation, such as the check-in and checkout time, the listing's address, your host's contact information, and your billing receipt. If there's no check-in or check-out time specified within a listing's description, check-in is 3:00 PM local time and checkout is 11:00 AM local time.

 

I'd say you're wise to set a clearer check-in time to a defined window, but check-in/out times displayed on our listings are hidden so far down the listing body I am sure most guests don't even see them or pay attention to them anyway, so communicating these with guests in messaging is important!

 

Best wishes

 

Paul 🙂

 

 

 

 

Thanks @Paul1255!

My main issue with the whole sitution is that airbnb doen´t request guests to inform their check in time in advance if the listing is set with a self check in option.

 

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

Tnx @Paul1255 , I didn't know this: " If there's no check-in or check-out time specified within a listing's description, check-in is 3:00 PM local time and checkout is 11:00 AM local time."

 

🙂

Robin4
Top Contributor
Mount Barker, Australia

@Thais66 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Paul1255

A booking cannot take place if there is an existing booking for that night, so the guest would not have the opportunity to request a midnight check-in ! Nominated check-in times are only applicable and respected by the system if they do not clash with another reservation. Your guest can subsequently request a midnight check-in if the previous day was not booked when they placed their booking. It is up to you to refuse that check-in time if it does not suit you. 

It's not up to Airbnb to pre-judge how much flexibility you allow on check-in and check-out!  But Airbnb will consider a nights rental to be between your check-in and checkout times. so if a guest is booked for the night of 26th January a check-in time before your nominated check-out  time on the 25th January will be considered an additional night!   Can you understand what I am saying there Thais...and that is from the Airbnb rules!

I had guests who requested a 2.00 am check-in which I allowed. It did not clash with another booking so, why not! They were gone by 7.00am that same morning so there was no isue, it was simply one night of rental!

I hope I have shed some light on this for you!

 

Cheers.....Rob

Hi @Robin4 thanks for your reply. I think you case is different because they actually payed for the night they stayed in. In my case the would't.

Robin4
Top Contributor
Mount Barker, Australia

@Thais66

Yes the case I gave is different but I only included that to show to you that I do accept late check-ins. Look at the part of my last post that I underlined! If a guest is booked with you for the night of 26th January that means they are booked after your checkout time on the 25th January! If they want to arrive before your check-out time on the 25th January....that is called another night as far as Airbnb are concerned! You can overide that and give them an early check-in but you are entitled to claim another night as far as Airbnb are concerned! 

 

Cheers........Rob

Hi @Robin4,

Unfortunately, this wasn´t the understanding of the customer service representative  that assisted me.

My check out time is 4pm, but according to him:

 

"The term flexible means that you are allowing your guests to check in anytime as long as it falls on the same day of their check-in date based on your local time. It also appears that you set your listing to self check-in so technically the guest does not have to inform you of their check-in time."

 

"The guest can check in anytime as long as it's the check in date on the accepted reservation. For example, the check in date is January 25, 2019. The guest arrived on January 25, 2019 at 12:01 AM. The guest can check in to the listing."

 

This is why I've decided to to set a time window for my listing. And also make this post to alert other hosts.

 

Best,

Thais

 

 

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

@Thais66 Airbnb tends to accomodate guests to the extreme, nice of them.

    Hosts better set their hosting parameters as narrow as they need be to accomodate themselves. In other words, best never to depend on Airbnb (or anyone else) to determine what is fair, for all

    When you think about, who would find it logical to check into a place at 12:01am in the morning and be covered by a technicality. That is why when dealing with the public (ranging from devils to angels), parameters must be in place.

 

   PS #1: And Hola from Belize, I am originally from Mallorca. How the heck I landed in Belize is a long story. 😉

 

   PS #2; And hello to all others, after being totally 'gone' for 1.5 months. I been busy setting this up ( https://www.privaseaadventures.com/ ), thus the disspearing act. 

    

Hey @Fred13- welcome back, missed your pithy comments and humor. Congrats on your new venture- I take it you're still in the process of setting up the website? Because nothing loaded or went anywhere- there's a big blank space between the heading and the graphics below and clicking on anything didn't go anywhere.

Ok try now. 😆

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Thais,

 

Firstly, my initial impression  - without checking your profile - was that you are an experienced Airbnb Host, in which case it seemed odd that you would chose to change your flexible Check-In time based on one experience. 

 

However, your profile shows only 2 reviews from September & October 2018.  Perhaps you're operating on a new account? Even so it's 3 months since a last booking on this profile.

 

Curiousity aside, based on 6 years of experience of Flexible Check in & out times I wouldn't change it for any other. In my case, because it's most suitable, I predominantly work from home, and often late in the night; so  hardly ever perturbed if Guests don't turn up on time. Indeed, I've had Guests turn up at every hour round the clock. It's part of the nature of travel, delays unavoidable. 

 

In all this time I only recall two occasions as you describe.  Far more often it's rather 24 hours later, i.e. in the early hours of the 2nd day. -- In any case, Guests have always been most grateful that they can comfortably arrive without undue worry or feeling of inconveniencing the Host.

 

Last but not least, the Flexible option can be also beneficial for me. On a few occasions I knew I couldn't be home at e.t.a. and kindly asked the guests to turn up later. Though more common is that room may not be ready, but Guests are welcome to drop off luggage and pick up keys, so return at an agreed time when the room will be ready.

 

In sum, my advice, if it generally works, don't fix it, because no doubt sooner or later you will experience a problem with a fixed check-in. It's swings and roundabouts, and ultimately what's most suitable in the normal course of events for you.

 

 

 

Robin4
Top Contributor
Mount Barker, Australia

@Alon1

You make good points Alon....I was just trying to Illustrate to @Thais66 that any timespan in the listing beyond 24 hours is technically classified as 2 days. Thais asked if the company's stance was 'fair' to allow someone to abuse the check-in process in order to get essentially another night free, but that has nothing to do with the company. It is up to the host to set their check-in and check-out times so that this cannot happen, and inform the guest of this so that the guest cannot just spring it on the host (Check-in facility will be available after 1.00pm on the day of stay) or, as you say be flexible and let it happen every now and then.

In close to 300 stays, 240 of them with Airbnb, it has never happened to me. On odd occasions I may get a guest arrive at 9.00am one day and leave at 11.00 am the following day so I could technically request another nights rent, but I have allowed that to happen and Airbnb would not support me if I tried to do that and I am sure it would be a great way to get an angry customer!

You bend with the situation and allow it, or not...it's up to the host, not Airbnb.

Thanks for your input, good points Alon.

 

Cheers......Rob

 

 

Alon1
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Robin,

 

I entirely agree that Host & Guest should aim to conduct  Check-In independent of the company. So do Airbnb for that matter: 'Guests and hosts work out details for checking in, exchanging keys, and checking out directly with each other. There is no online check-in or checkout process.'

 

And like you,  I've never experienced someone trying to take advantage or abuse Check-In. 

Thus I would be surprised to discover it repeatedly occuring to any particular Host.

And if it's not a pattern of behaviour one should guard against, on the contrary, quite rare, it shouldn't dictate a change of practise.  

 

We need only address the matter otherwise vis-a-vis  Cancellation policies, where 12pm is deemed.the offical check-in time:

 

'12pm cutoff time re. Cancellation:

Trips are deemed to start at 12pm local time of the listing on the date of check-in, regardless of the guest’s actual scheduled check-in time. All cancellation periods prior to a trip are calculated based upon this cutoff time of 12pm local time for your listing. For cancellations during a trip, the cutoff time for cancellation is 12pm local time for the listing. After 12pm on any given day, the penalties for cancelling may be different.'

@Alon1 "Guests and hosts work out details for checking in, exchanging keys, and checking out directly with each other. There is no online check-in or checkout process." not the same process for self check in