Air BNB Check out times.

[Fusedspur]

So much moaning about checkout times! We have several Air BNBs and the checkout unless arranged otherwise is 10am, because check in (again unless arranged otherwise) is 3pm.

We get more requests for early checkin than we do for late check out and always try and accommodate, but if we have a fast turn around and the housekeeper is booked and ready to go we can’t really be flexible all the time.

So today’s weekend guests should have been out at 10. We have a ring doorbell, and there were still no signs of life at 11:30 so I messaged and said that as we didn’t have any guests immediately they are welcome to stay till later and enjoy the property for an additional fee of £100. (Property is £450 a night.)

They eventually left at 12:30. 😡 It’s cheeky.

I guess it depends on cleaning standards. We have to full strip four beds, hoover two bedrooms, a living room and a snug including moving beds, sofa’s etc. Wet dust all furniture including windowsills, skirting boards, door frames, picture frames etc. Clean the kitchen so oven, hob, sink, fridge front (sometimes also inside), cupboard fronts, hoover and mop the floor in the kitchen diner. Go through the cupboards/drawers to make sure everything is clean and in the right place. Clean the bathroom, so hoover, mop the floor, clean the toilet, two sinks, large mirror, shower cubicle and trap, bath, sauna and window sills.

Then get all the new cushions etc in and in the right place, put the things we leave for guests in the bathroom, kitchen etc.

If its been left clean and tidy I can do it in just over three hours, if its been left a mess, someone has been unwell etc it takes a lot longer.

I think if it’s taking 5 hours to turn the property around you need to get help rather than restrict the hours for your guests. They pay a cleaning fee. Many properties will have 2 cleaners.

Recently I chose to book a hotel over an Airbnb and the hotel has a check out of 12 noon. Very much looking forward to my lie in, nice breakfast and no cleaning! Airbnbs may need to become more competitive. Nobody wants to be up early stripping beds! It’s a holiday not a boot camp.

A couple of points: the going rate for a cleaner is at least £80-100 per changeover, which eats into profit. For stays of less than a week, it makes it unviable.
I do not charge a “cleaning fee” , some hosts do but by no means all. However if you see “service fee” on the bill from Air, it is there commission and does not go to the host.

Covid did change a lot of things- not least guest’s expectations. Now absolutely everything must be spotless- much higher standards of cleanliness are the norm. Which does take longer. Also guests seem to generally be more messy- which also increases cleaning time.

Like most owners, I let guests arrive/ leave early/late if it’s not a same day change, but some take the absolute piss. Ask to leave just after lunch (1pm) then you see two car loads of friends rock up, who go on to have a long bbq and play in the pool until 5. I was not a happy bunny!

Our guests are not asked to do any cleaning- no boot camp !

That all sounds fair enough. There are some very good hosts out there. We had one lovely one that told us not to clean (I obviously left it tidy and wiped around). Would book there again

It’s the ones with ridiculous demands that give everyone a bad name.

I can't agree with those saying 10 is too early. You pack most of your stuff then night before, and in the morning get up, have a shower, have breakfast, wash up breakfast stuff, how long does that realistically take? An hour max I'd say.

(I'm assuming it's not one of those places that expects bed-stripping, bin-emptying, and all that guff).

That’s cos it sleeps 12. And is our main home but we vacate to my flat when the big house is rented, so don’t worry.

How fucking daft. We have done this with our main home because DP was made redundant and I still had my pre marital flat. So, calm your tits. It’s still our house.

Re checkout and cleaning, we don’t charge a cleaning fee, it’s rolled into the night rate. We have a note in the kitchen that says “youre on holiday, relax! If you’re here on bin day (Tuesday) we’d lov it if you put your rubbish out and it’s always appreciated if you could start the dishwasher. Have a great onward journey.”

Not unreasonable.

As a host, my belief in the goodness of humanity is further strengthened mostly. And yet there are always piss takers but in my experience they’re a tiny percentage.

If you’re canny and trust your gut most people really ARE how they first appear. So with the slightest whiff of discomfort, I’m on to airbnb help immediately.

But that's just one of your "several" Air BnBs .....

And again - you said in the original post that you had "several" AirBnBs -so what is it - just the family home or several properties......

I really wouldnt respond to posts like that, you dont have to justify what you do with your property or how you have an income. If people felt so strongly about lack of housing they would have lobbied harder for more social housing and more housing being built

However people didnt do that hard enough and so it is what it is. We have a free market in this country.

I've just been on a hen do where we had 16 women in an Air BnB cottage, specifically marketed for hens. Was an amazing set up but 10am check out was a bloody nightmare - even just trying to empty out the fridges and divvy everything up took ages, never mind having to strip all the beds and hand-wash all the breakfast bits. Especially when we'd got in at 3am 😞

Whilst I could cope with an early check out as a single family I do think some leeway could be shown for larger groups like this, especially when it's unlikely another hen do would be checking in on a Sunday afternoon!

We have 2 properties that we rent out as airbnbs. We clearly state it’s a 10am checkout but still get some people moaning and staying later, often the same ones who leave loads of mess. If people think 10am is too early, then they shouldn’t book with us.

It’s no difference to cctv which lots of people have

loads of people have ring doorbells and cctv that will capture you as you go past, does it matter?

We are surrounded by cctv on everything we do, is that going to stop you shopping, going to the drs, hospitals, sports centres etc etc etc

how are abnb owners supposed to know if people have left? Particularly if it’s a way away?

doesn’t bother me

This. The OP should have a privacy statement clearly giving the location of any cameras, Guests must be notified of any such cameras in advance and the camera purpose. It should also state whether or not the data is recorded and retained and state the retention period.

By law you are now unable to add on extra fees that cannot be opted out. For example, an airline can charge for seat selection where you can choose not to select your seat.

Landmark Trust (pre covid, pre Airbnb) have a checkout time of 10am and ask that you strip beds etc if you possibly can. Of course a hotel can have a later checkout time than a holiday home because there’s a lot less to do (no dishwasher, cleaning a hob, sweeping the outdoor area, topping up the bbq fuel or calor gas canister etc all in that timeframe). Plus a hotel would be unlucky to have all rooms on changeover at once, so can prioritise as needed.

But I don’t clean an Airbnb when I have paid a cleaning fee. I will be helpful eg start the dishwasher but I’m not mopping and stripping beds.

On Airbnb you have to declare it, I imagine the same for other advertising platforms.

I do feel this changed a bit with Covid to allow for a extra cleaning and never changed back.
I personally prefer an 11am check out and would choose a hotel over an Airbnb because of this. Also many Airbnbs have those ridiculous cleaning demands. I don’t want to get up at 8am and do 2 hours cleaning on my holiday.

I agree @Delatron and prefer hotels these days

Exactly this! My cleaner is extremely thorough too and does all this plus clean bbq, outside garden furniture, summerhouse etc etc. Plus the garden will need a bit of a weed/water etc regularly through the summer (which i do). Very different to a hotel which is basically cleaning one room and a bathroom!

Innit. I don't want to go on holiday and get up earlier and do more cleaning than I do at home!

I prefer 11am check out and 3pm check in as it takes me a while to get going in the morning. Saying that the night before departure we’ve usually packed up as much as we can to make a 10am check out and have breakfast in a local cafe before hitting the road.

Re the Ring doorbell, airbnb ensure that any cctv has to be declared and ours is.

As for “hotel prices” ours most certainly isn’t. We are near a popular wedding venue and get a lot of large family groups for the big house, which depending on the set up is never any more than 45 a night pp. Our nearest hotel is a chain and they have nothing even close to that price point.