How to handle this situation

Jamie69
Level 7
Wheat Ridge, CO

How to handle this situation

I'm currently hosting a group of six. They arrived Monday and are scheduled to leave Thursday.

 

After the initial booking, the guest emailed me to ask if they could arrive early in the morning on Monday. I told them my check-in time was 3pm, and I couldn't accomodate an early check-in.

 

Then a few days later, the guest emailed me to ask again if they could arrive early on Monday. I replied that my check-in time is 3pm, but if they wanted to book Sunday night, they could arrive anytime they wanted on Sunday or early Monday morning. The guest asked what the additional cost would be, and when I replied with the amount, she said she didn't want to do that, that they were trying to save money. She ended the message with "We'll be there at 3."

 

On Monday, the day of their arrival, I got the rooms ready in the morning and headed out to do some errands, planning to be back home by 3 to greet them. I have self check-in with a keyless entry.

 

At noon on Monday, I got a message from the guest that they had arrived and let themselves in.

I found this to be extremely disrespectful, especially considering we had already discussed this twice and I told her she would have to book the night before in order to arrive early.

There isn't a way to add an early check-in charge, but could I change their reservation, or request money through the resolution center? Would you do that?

 

They've been here less than 24 hours at this point. So far, they haven't been great guests. In addition to arriving three hours early, they've left quite a few personal belongings in the kitchen and living room of my home and dirty dishes on the stove and in the sink. That's not a house rule, but I find it to be inconsiderate.

 

Jamie

19 Replies 19
Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Jamie69

uf 😞 I don't know what to do now except to speak with them and explain the house rules or kick them out because they already violated your house rules

 

but in the future maybe you shouldn't give a code for keyless entry before you make check in personally. Specially if you live on the property.

 

 

 

 

My schedule is such that I can't often be home to greet guests. So far, it's worked fine with everyone else.

 

My electronic lock is pretty basic. Some locks allow you to put a time window on the code, and if I had one like that, I could make it so the code isn't valid until check-in. Unfortunately my lock isn't like that, and I wasn't certain I would be home before 3, so I set the code in the morning before I left.

 

I did consider asking them to leave, based on this breach of the rules... but I let it go. It's irritating, and makes me mad, but they didn't damage anything or cause any problems.

 

What I'm leaning toward doing is submitting a fee request through the resolution center for the early check-in. I'll do this when they leave, after I make sure nothing is damaged in the rooms. I fully understand that the guest can decline to pay the fee.

Jamie

Hi

I may be in the minority here but.... I'd just "let it go".  I would downgrade them in the review you give and leave a note in the space "is there anything you want to tell AIrbnb about these guests?", but I wouldn't try to recover additional money from them, especially since as you admit, the unit actually WAS ready for them at the earlier time.  It will just sour the relationship further. I would take them to task on their cleanliness etc since that is clearly not OK.  I have used a keybox (simple, no timer) for a long while, and have had a few similar slightly early arrivals but I've just let it go - as long as the unit was ready. I do allow them to "drop their bags" and head back out, but I don't want them to start to hang out if the cleaner is still there.  Good luck!

Cynthia-and-Chris1
Level 10
Vancouver, WA

Wow, that's annoying.  Personally, I wouldn't try to collect extra money from them but I definitely would have a talk with them.  I would let them know you are displeased with their checking in early after you told them twice you would not allow it and that they need to make it a point to pickup around the house.  Express to them this isn't a hotel environment and there's no housekeeper to follow up after them to pick up their things.  If they straighten up and abide by the rules from here on out, I'd give them an OK review.  If they continue to leave personal belongings around the common areas or aren't receptive to your feedback, I'd definitely mention it in their review.

I disagree. I would not give them an "OK" review at all.

 

If I was a guest and was told that a check-in before 3pm was not possible I would NEVER enter a host's home before that time and especially not when the host wasn't home.

To be clear, I do have self check-in. Before arrival, I message my guests the check-in information and add that I might not be home. I work a crazy schedule and I never know when I'll be home or not.

 

I invite my guests to let themselves in. I also point out in my welcome message that check-in is at 3pm, as I did in this case.

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hi @Jamie69

 

If you have a check in time and you aren't going to be available to check guests in at that time, then get a proper electronic system so that guests can only check in after your agreed check in time.

 

They aren't too expensive and you can claim the cost against your taxes.

 

You should clearly say in your house rules and when you check guests in about your expectations around house rules and how they look after your home.

This may be the lesson I learn coming out of this. I think I'll price some of the smart locks on the market and see if I think it's worth having one I can program.

Jamie69
Level 7
Wheat Ridge, CO

Interesting development in this story.

 

So as I mentioned, they arrived when I wasn't home, and when I did make it home later, they had left and gone out. So I hadn't ever met them in person.

 

This morning, I get up early, planning on meeting a friend, and when I go out the main part of the house, I discover four people sleeping in my living room.

 

I left the house to make my appointment, but I sent a message to the guest who booked the rooms and asked, simply "How many people are in your group?"

 

About 20 minutes later, I got a response, "There are ten of us."

 

That was the last straw for me. I called Airbnb and talked to a rep who looked at the message history (And responded with, "Oh my gosh! Ten people?" when he read her message) and asked how I wanted to resolve the situation. I told him I'd had some other issues with them since their arrival, and I was no longer comfortable with them in my house.

So the rep called the guest, then called me back to tell me that he had explained to the guest that she had violated the house rule and airbnb policy and that she and her group would need to leave as soon as possible. He told me she took the news quite well and agreed to leave.

 

I had a friend run over to my house to make sure they left without incident.

 

I just got home a few minutes ago. The house and rooms are actually very clean. They did a great job of picking up all their messes. The guest left a long note in my guestbook saying basically that I have a very nice home and they wished they could finish out their stay and that I had ruined their trip and they didn't know they could only have six people and I didn't make it very clear about the maximum number of people.

 

I'm guessing I'm not going to get paid for the nights they didn't stay. The change was made by the Airbnb rep and showed up as an alteration to the booking, not a cancellation.

 

So now I get to compose a review for this group...

@Jamie69,

 

1.  The word "disrespect" is overused in this forum so I don't even know what it means anymore.  In my world, disrespect is someone sizing up my daughter head to toe.

 

2. Your review should say "great guests but they can't count to ten".  Seriously.... say that and nothing else.

 

3. You left your house to meet your friend so you weren't terribly worried even after calling ABB to report ten guests.

 

4. You sent a friend to check your house while you were out and about so you relegated your responsibility to an uninterested party.

 

5. You got paid, your house is still standing, everything is clean, so really.... what's the problem?

 

I guess I can respond to your points so you can get an idea where I'm coming from.

 

1. Huh?

 

2. I'll probably end up leaving something like that. Fairly short, but indicative of the issues.

 

3. I guess I should be more specific about what happened. As I said, I hadn't met my guests. The booking was for six people. They had a big van parked in my driveway, and brought lots and lots of luggage into my house, including boxes of groceries and cases of bottled water. When I woke up in the morning, I discovered four people sleeping in the living room. I didn't know who was sleeping in the three bedrooms. It occurred to me that perhaps these four weren't comfortable in the bed, or maybe the rooms got too warm during the night. So at that moment, I didn't know it was ten people, though I did suspect that it was likely more than six.

I had an appointment with a friend, and you're right in assuming that I wasn't terribly worried. I didn't think my property was in danger, and I didn't think this situation needed immediate attention, but I didn't want guests sleeping in my living room. I like to use my living room too. That's not a sleeping area. I was confident that I could resolve the situation without being home, and I didn't feel the need to wake everybody up just to do a head count.

So I sent a message to the guest who booked the rooms asking how many people were in the group, and I left to meet my friend. She responded to my message about 30 minutes later, informing me that there were ten people.

To me, that was an unresolvable issue. I'm pretty easy-going and accomodating, but bringing four extra people to my home, after you've booked for six people was unacceptable. So I called Airbnb to ask how to proceed. They walked me through the rest of the situation including calling the guest to let her know that she would need to leave my home as soon as possible. In this case, Airbnb was very helpful and thorough. Kudos to them.

 

4. My friend is my designated Airbnb on-call property manager. Before I put my listing online, I contacted him to see if he'd be able to assist if something came up while I wasn't available. For example, I'm always afraid that the electronic lock won't work when guests arrive. So my friend has keys to let people in if necessary.

He lives just a few minutes from me. So in this case I called him to ask if he had a moment to stop by and check to make sure the guests were leaving. He said it was no problem.

 

5. The guests booked three nights on my calendar, and ended up staying one night. So you're right that I got paid for a single night... And I'm very thankful nothing was damaged or broken. I have my friend to thank for that, in part.

 

And to answer your last question, per point three, there is no longer a problem. The guests were asked to leave, and they did.

Michael653
Level 2
New York, NY

Hey Jamie!

 

I have a similar check-in process as you. I personally don't exchange the code with guests until they check in with me via text. As far as them disrepsecting your wishes for check-in - I think you have the right to charge them a fee. I would not make it a large amount because you kind of messed up too. But, I would charge something either through the resolution center or in person. For the future, you can just put it in your house rules or details that you offer a early checkin / late checkout for a fee. Once its clearly stated the guest should not and cannot argue.

 

Hope this helped a little! Hosting gets easier, I promise! 

Deborah1
Level 10
Beaufort, SC

I would keep the review simple. Guests left the space clean however they broke house rules by checking in 3 hours early after being told that early check in was not possible and then had 10 people in the house which has a 6 person maximum. I would not host them again.

 

By the way, I am curious, why could they not come early? If the house is ready and especially if I am not home, I allow early check in and late check out. Why not? I would want a host to do the same for me if it was possible. (I don't do it if I have a check out or in, but if not, I do.) In my opinion, we are hosts and should offer hospitality. Just my 2 cents. I know not everyone sees it that way.

When the guest initially inquired about early check-in, it was about a week before their scheduled arrival date. At the time, I didn't have anyone booked for the night before their arrival, but I was not willing to block that date out just so they could arrive early.

 

As it turns out, nobody booked for that night, so I had it cleaned and ready to go in plenty of time.

 

So the early check-in didn't cause any problems, except that the guest and I had discussed the check-in time on two occasions and I informed her both times that 3pm was the earliest I would be able to accomodate her, unless she wanted to book the night before and then they could arrive whenever they wanted. She told me she wasn't willing to do that because they were trying to save money. So I told her 3pm was the earliest they should arrive. They showed up at noon, anyway.

 

I work in hospitality in my real job, and I would otherwise have no problem accomodating a guest's special request if I were able to, but in this case, I had told her what my house rule was, and explained the reason for it, and gave her an option that would suit her needs. She declined my suggestion, but then went ahead with her original plan to arrive early. So that's what upset me about the early arrival.

 

Jamie