Guest requires a room with an external lock

[Juan21]

Hello!

I would like to ask if anyone have the same situation than us. Our guest cancel the reservation because the room doesn't have a lock (you can not lock the door when you are not inside of the room).

Should we do something?

Thanks

[Helen3]

Hi @Andrew90

As I mentioned I only have one room to let in my home. Trust is a two way thing. I am trusting the guest with my home and my safety. If they can't reciprocate I wouldn't feel comfortable with having them in my home.

I was awarded Superhost status within the first three months of me hosting, which I have retained since, so my guests obviously don't see not havig a lock for the door  as an issue. (I have never been asked about this ).

However if I was letting multiple rooms to different people I would think about what sort of security I could provide for guest rooms.

Although I always vet my guests carefully before confirming I know nothing in life is foolproof and guests who appear great and have good reviews don't always turn out to be that way.

I can speak for my own characters but in a multiple listing situation I wouldn't be able to speak for others.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Tend to agree with Helen - if it's just one room then we don't have a lock on any bedroom doors. If renting multiple rooms in a house I would provide a lock for each bedroom door

[Trevor71]

i (i am a female) had my first experience w an&b mostly everything was great until a THIRD guest in another room we caught trying ti SNEAK into myy room while she knew i was in the kitchen n saw me in there n spoke to me in the kitvhen  she didnt know my best friend was staying with me  two min later my friend (whos handicapped / disabled!) who was in my room sees the door open verry slowely and a foot enter  she looked up & sees this strange woman ENTERING our room  she goes OH SORRY  and leaves  the woman was on her way to check out and stayed the nt before and just walked out of her room and the bathroom  it was NO MISTAKE & she knew what she was doing  now i am nervous to leave the house without one of us being here bc there is no lock on the outside  just the inside..she ruined it for me   i notified the host though  

[Marlene56]

Many answers here focus on a debate on whether or not one SHOULD provide a lock. Regardless of the opinion on this point, there is no explicit requirement, and as hosts point out, the option to indicate if one is present makes it clear that it's optional.

However, an overzealous Airbnb rep may arbitrarily determine something different, and because of the terms of use, you really have no recourse to that decision.

I just had a guest cancel after checking in because she was a newbie and expected the room to be a hotel room within the house - en suite bathroom, separately locked door. She cancelled because of "safety" concerns - she did not feel comfortable having to enter a common hall to use her private bathroom, nor in the fact that she could not lock her belongings in the room when leaving. Ironically, she seemed to have no problem having unfettered access to everything of mine. 

Even though I do not have the lock box checked, she specifically asked me beforehand if there was a room key to which I answered no, AND she checked in and messed up the room before cancelling, Airbnb still gave her a full refund - with no feedback from me - because the lack of a lock was a "violation of hosting standards" and a safety issue.  More, I was given only 2 hours to respond to an non-emergency email from the case rep before they made this determination, which is why they received no feedback from me, as I was at work. 

Of course, once a guest has been told that they will get a refund, unwinding that decision is nearly impossible, so even though Airbnb was clearly 100% wrong, guess who took the hit?

[Paul154]

As a host, I like the beautiful idea of "This is my house, we are all beautiful trusting people, no locks are needed here"

As a guest I like the convenient idea of "I don't have to bring my wallet into the shower/bathroom, I can keep it in the locked bedroom"

I know when I first used Airbnb, I was worried about my travel plans being upset by theft of my wallet. (perhaps irrational, but pragmatic). I was glad the host had locks on the door, it made my stay more convenient.

A host does not need to put locks on bedroom, but it should be disclosed in the listing

"We are a trusting people  - no locks on doors here."

[Kenneth12]

What if there's a safe or other secure container in the room?  What if the door locks from the inside but not the out?

In some cases,  our rooms are vintage experiences,  and I would not want to replace with modern equipment or features.

[Helga0]

If you rent only to one party at a time, the lock question is mute. When you buy a lock, it comes with several keys or they are easy to duplicate, so the host will certainly have another key. A bolt on the inside is safer.

if there are several guests at a given time, who do not know each other, I would probably install locks on every door. Otherwise the host is on watch duty, whenever a guest is home.

[Elina36]

I'm finding myself in this situation right now. I guess I expected a lock but there wasn't one. My host seems very nice but I just couldn't sleep. As a young women travelling by myself I think it's reasonable to opt for safety precautions like locks. I get that the expectation is for trust to go both ways but there's also a difference between damaged/stolen property and someone being assaulted...

[Marie21]

@Elin3a do not expect a lock, if he was a majeur issue for you u should have asked to host prior to booking. Far too many guests book room without carefully reading and found themselve in situation like this and end up costing to the host (either bad review or asking to leave earlier than booked).

[Kenneth12]

Hi @Elina36:

First, this is the hosts' forum,  not the guests' forum!

I'm sorry you my feel uncomfortable,   and can't address specifics you have not mentioned.   I do think interior locks are really a necessity,  given what we know,  and probably should be a key amenity.

That said,  Airbnb's search feature allows you to select whether your room has a lock.  

Best,  Ken

[Marlene56]

Yes, but why would anyone expect to be assaulted by a host who has good recommendations and no apparent history of extremely criminal behavior? That seems like a very intense personal fear that is not reasonable to expect others to accommodate. While certainly the Kavanaugh issue in the US. is highlighting the frequency of  various levels of assaults against women, it is quite rare that those assaults are by strangers. I am a single woman who hosts. Yet, I am not lying awake and fear that a random guest is going to suddenly turn criminal. The far more likely probability is theft.

[Jacqueline506 · Accepted solution]

A host is not always home. Don't expect single women to feel safe in a home with a male guest when no one else is home - they are a stranger! Respect the guest who puts money in your pocket - spend the $10. on the minimum of an inside lock - then again - if she takes a shower and heads back into a room she would like to know no one is in there waiting! Spend $20. for a key lock. If something happened to a woman in your home - don't apologize - it's to late!

[Marlene56]

I personally am not running a boarding house. I have 1 guest room. Even if I am not home, random people won't be there instead. On the other hand, I don't assume all men are dangerous rapists just waiting to attack me, so as a traveler, I have stayed in many places without the slightest concern - and as a woman host, I never have concern about male guests. I do think the argument for hostel-arrangements to have individual door locks is stronger. Host/guest must trust each other, but guest/guest is 1 step removed. That just doesn't apply to my listing.

[Sarah977]

My guest room just happens to be lockable from the outside because of how I designed my house- the guest room, as well as my room and a bathroom (which is exclusively for guest use when they're here, I have a downstairs bathroom as well) are off a second story terrace accessed by an outside staircase.' so both bedrooms have outside locks. But the bathroom is between the 2 bedrooms (no hallway, just doors to the bedrooms) and when I have a guest, I lock the bathroom door knob from the guest's side, more to remind myself not to wander in there for  pee in the middle of the night half asleep, forgetting I have a guest in there than for any other reason. As a bathroom door, the lock could be opened from my bedroom by putting something in the emergency slot, but of course I'd never do that if I had a guest, unless I heard them slip and fall and then dead silence and no answer to a knock (that's why bathroom knobs have that slot). And the door can be easily opened from the bathroom side by just turning the knob, at which point they would be in my bedroom.

Definitely if I had multiple rooms rented to guests, I can see the guests desiring a lockable door. But as a host with only one private room, I feel the trust has to be there from both sides. I've never been afraid a guest would enter my room, even any of the single men I've hosted, and I'm a single woman. There's such a thing as caution, and then there's such a thing as living a fear-based life.  I wouldn't host if my guests were afraid of me or I of them.

[Yulianna0]

I don’t want to install locks inside my  home, I’m renting one room. And the reason is safety. For any emergency issue the doors have to be opened quickly.