Unreasonable guest backed by unreasonable AirBnb?

[Roger76]

Hello Community

Had my first really negative Airbnb experience today. Today's guest was scheduled to arrive at 10pm but messaged me earlier today to let me know she had missed a flight and the changes meant she would be arriving early at 4:30-5:00pm. I hung around at my apartment from 4:15pm-6:00pm and hadn't heard from her.  I messaged and even sent an international text message to her cellphone. No reply. I had to leave as I have a toddler at home I needed to see before bed. She then messaged me at abut 7:30pm to say she'd arrived at the airport. I told her that I couldn't come now until our originally scheduled meeting time of 10pm. She probably wouldnt have arrived at my apartment until 9:00pm anyway but she told me waiting until 10pm was unacceptable because she was tired and needed a shower. I mentioned the fact she has wasted a couple of hour of my time already and I wasn't in a position to drop everything now she'd arrived (3 hours late). Things escalated after that so she decided I should cancel her booking (so she would receive a fulll refund since I was being so unreasonable).

At this point I called Airbnb and uprisingly they answered within a few minutes.  After discussing it with the case manager and them reading the message exchange which took place, they got back to me and said the guest would receive a full refund except half the fee for the first night. Lucky it was only a 2 night booking and there is no cancellation penalty. Anyway, the reason they gave me that I had to refund most of the money was that my stated check-in time was 2pm-10pm and that since she was arriving within this time frame I should really provide her with a key.  Not necessarily in person but at least via some sort of secure dropbox. This is not an option where my apartment is located. So it appears guests can arrive whenever the heck they want and its fine whereas us hosts need to be at their beck and call so they can check-in whenever it suits them.

I guess I know Airbnb won't give a toss about this but at least I got to have a wee rant 🙂

Does anyone agree or disagree that I've been a little hard done by here? And am I wrong in my assessment that this guest is a spoilt little brat who thinks he whole world should revolve around her? I definitely feel I dodged a bullet by cancelling the guest - if she doesn't respect my time I doubt she'll respect my property

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Roger76 - This situation is indeed disappointing. It's more concerning that Airbnb doesn't seem to understand the constraints of hosts and arrival times.  For my own personal concern,  we offer a check in range - which is what I thought this check-in timeslot indicated - and then we've added to our house rules: 

* BE ON TIME: We'll expect you to work with us to find a mutually acceptable check-in time and commit to arriving at the agreed upon time.

It would be of great concern to me that a guest would be able to get a full refund if they agreed to a 5pm check in and we had expensive tickets to a concert or dinner reservations to celebrate an anniversary and were expected to cancel and drop everything because a guest showed up at 7:30 instead of the agreed-upon time.  It's bad enough that a guest can mark their "check-in" experience as less than 5-stars when I arrive at the door in my robe, still dripping from a shower, because they are 2 hours early.  Airbnb needs to hear the voice of the home-owner that doesn't want self-service check-in because, frankly, I don't want someone wandering around my home, checking in when they want, while my husband and I are having an afternoon shag.  

I don't want to be a hostage in my own home while waiting on guests to arrive.  

[Roger76]

@Alice-and-Jeff0 It really seems AirBnb expect all hosts to provide a "hotel level" service which is not really what I signed up for and not what I understood AirBnb to be. I'm sure there are a million reasons why hosts don't want to or can't offer self check-in.

And then if I don't want to offer self check-in, does this mean I need to set the check-in window for my apartment to "blank".  Because there is no option for this so I can't atually comply with AirBnb's wishes even if I wanted to!

Part of me is suspecting Airbnb made up an excuse to give me so they could reduce the fallout from my crazy guest who surely wouldn't accept losing her payment due to late cancellation.

Your part solution of having it in the house rules to be on time probably still won't address the problem that a guest can turn up whenever they want no matter what time was actually arranged for check-in and Airbnb thinks its ok.  Luckily the vast majority of people are reaonable and don't think they own their host because they paid a few bucks to stay at their place.

[A2]

AirBnB can give the guest a travel credit if they're in the wrong. I think sometimes there are newer case managers that don't know or bean counters that just don't want to.  I'm sure there are limits on how much they can do without approval and such, but treat everything like an insurance claim/court case and cover yoru bases up front. 

[Michael-and-Dru0]

@Roger76 I would recommend you modify your check-in time policy to be more clear.  If you say 2:00 to 10:00 p.m. then this is what, you, as the host, need to be willing to do.  Maybe change the wordking a bit to:  I am available to provide a one hour time slot for check-in between the hours of 2:00 and 10:00 p.m.

I'd also recommend a keyless entry or working out a secure lock box situation somehow.

[Michael-and-Dru0]

@Roger76 I would recommend you modify your check-in time policy to be more clear.  If you say 2:00 to 10:00 p.m. then this is what, you, as the host, need to be willing to do.  Maybe change the wordking a bit to:  I am available to provide a one hour time slot for check-in between the hours of 2:00 and 10:00 p.m.

I'd also recommend a keyless entry or working out a secure lock box situation somehow.

[A2]

I know what you mean about not wanting guests to show up unannounced. I actually text them the code to the keypad only if I'm not at home when they arrive at my doorstep.  I've selected the keypad self-checkin option, but instead of a code, it says that I'll text them the code upon arrival.  This adds a layer of security because if they cancel, I don't need to change the code. And if AirBnB is hackedI don't have someone running around with a code to my door without my knowledge. 

[Joel75]

Your check in time was listed as 2pm to 10pm. The guest arrived during that time. If you have to be present during the guest arrival then I would narrow your checkin time to a smaller window. 

[David126]

I have a 5pm to 10pm check in time and expect in the worst case scenario to be there during those hours.

I try and find out when somebody is coming so I do not need to rush back if they are not coming to say 10pm. I used to say 11pm but found people were coming later so now say say 10pm on the basis that if they turn up an hour late they are still before 11pm.

AirBnB provide Hosts requiring Security Deposits little in the way of protection, when renting out a seperate property you have to do some basic management and self check in seems fraught with risk and of course not everybody can do it.

In your case well you have to play the system, and the way of doing that is to have a limited window when you will be there and allowing specific exception if it suits you.

[Andi14]

How did you call airbnb what's the number to call them on and is there one in the U.K.?

andi

[Mariann4]

Hello @Andi14

If you go to the frontpage of this Communitypage, use the search-tool and write "contact Airbnb" or "phone number Airbnb" you will find numerous post with this as a subject. Click on one or two and the numbers will be posted by some member in the thread 🙂

Mariann 🙂

[Andrea546]

This article is great. I think we need to know that Airbnb  it is only a platform where they provide us with a digital place to be a host , where no one is directing it. So there are no complains really to give to anyone. I definately think that host are more vulnerable that guests. I had a horrible experience with young guests from Australia recently, but since i was new in Airbnb , my comments about their stay where too nice., Instead, even though I saw them before they left and they wrote horrible comments about my apartment . there is no real place to complain , is like talking to a robot. 

Thank you Roger to know about this. 

hopefully it wont happen to you anymore.

andrea from chile.

[Dee9]

@Roger76I totally agree with Joel. If your checkin time says 2 to 10 that means anytime between 2 to 10.

If that no longer works for you then you should shorten the window.

I agree with airbnb's decision.

You asked.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

I seriously could not disagree more with the "range of time" meaning "you can show up any time you want".  If that were the case, I, too, would want "blank" as the check in time because I will not be held hostage in my own home for 8 - 10 hours a day "in case" the guest shows up whenever.  There is a basic lack of mutual respect that goes along with failing to communicate about travel plans or making sure you are not completely inconveniencing the host who is graciously letting out their room to you at a fraction of what the local hotels offer.  Hopefully I make that crystal clear in my communication beforehand and in my house rules.  When a guest wants to give us a "range of time" this is the message we send them: 

"We have busy lives. Since it's our home, we would like to commit to an arrival time with you. We both have commitments and jobs that often force us to be away from the house.  There is no full-time staff, it's just us, so we need to make sure one of us is available to greet you, let you in, and show you around.  There is no remote key or keybox and we'd hate to leave you stranded on the porch wanting to check in while we're off running errands. We hope you understand.  We'd be happy to put you down for a xxpm check in if that works for you.  Then we can set about planning our day around your arrival. " 

There is absolutely no reason I should be "surprised" at my own front door with the arrival of a guest I am not expecting at that time any more than a guest should be surprised to wait for an hour because I'm off running an errand.  Airbnb is built on the ideals of mutual trust and respect. If you were arriving at your friend's house, you'd tell her exactly when you were coming to her home, why should any host expect less than that same courtesy?   

My guess is that Airbnb sided with the guest because of the email exchange that happened between the two of you afterwards but we'll never really know.  

We have several very expensive concert tickets coming up in the next few weeks.  There is no way to note on individual days when we have a conflict to the normal check in "range".  We are not able to post that on Friday the 18th check in needs to happen before 7pm or after 11pm because we are not going to be home.  We do not have a co-host to come by and check in guests for us when these occassions arise (nor do we want to pay for one) - they doen't even offer it here in Durham.  So what's the solution.... we can never go out ever again  - we're booked more than 90% of a given month?  

This is most definitely an opportunity for Airbnb to reconsider the Host Voice suggestion that they make a guest pick a check in time at the time of booking.  

[Dee9]

My personal opinion is that's it's unfair to a paying guest (regardless of how inexpensive) to force them to commit to "come at this time or don't come at all" when, as a traveler, it is very often quite possible unforeseen circumstances cause changes in plans that are no one's fault. I feel the paying traveler does not need the extra stress of feeling intrusive on the host. Yes the host is busy but so is the guest. Not sure what makes anyone think the travelers time is less important. 

Thus, the whole reason airbnb allows us to SET chack in times. What is the point of setting the check in time if we are not going to abide by it ourselves? If it says "2 to 10" how else is that supposed to be perceived?? 

If a hosts wants to narrow that to 5 to 7 pm (example) then the option is there to make that setting. Even if it's a strict setting (which I find it is) but at least it's clear, honest & upfront. What's wrong with that? 

All a couple of us suggested was to adjust the check in parameters. Since he asked.