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Hey all. Had a polite request from guest to drop off luggage at around 5.30am for stay next month. Check in is 1.00pm onwards. I have held luggage for guests before check in and guests have headed out more or less straight away
Firstly I dont get up at that time ever but my main problem is that there is nothing open at that time where i live and no public transport running. So i have no idea what they intend to do once luggage is dropped off.
Any polite recommendations or suggestions? As far as i know there are no facilties to store luggage but will double check this.
Thanks in advance x
Can you just say you have another booking for that night so it’s not possible… or alternatively that you don’t have another booking but if they are willing to book from the prior night you are happy to hold it for them (I would get up for the cost of an extra night’s accommodation !)
Like Kirsty, I once hung around Honolulu Airport overnight!
In my defense, I’d been living on the other side of the dateline, and got the date change wrong – I got there the day before my departure further south, instead of the day of… The airport police kindly let me sleep outside the terminal, on a concrete slab.
LOL! Nowadays you’d have been swept up in a homeless raid!
Not to be outdone,we just spent 10 hours at LAX waiting for a flight to Europe. Sometimes you just have to experience inconveniences while traveling. At least there are charging stations and starbux. And sometimes wi fi!
We recently had a similar situation. Two guests who’s flight landed early enough that they arrived here at about 6:15 A.M. I had told them that they were welcome to drop off their luggage, but that the prior night’s guest would be sleeping in the guest room. My husband wakes up at 5:15 A.M. on school days, so he greeted them. He told me that they asked if there was a bed where they could sleep as they were tired. He explained that all beds in the house contained sleeping people. They opted to go to an outlet mall. They arrived from China on Wednesday morning, flew home early on Saturday morning and did nothing but shop and go to Universal Studios while they were here. My idea of the vacation from hell. If you don’t have any stores open near you, do you have any fast food or chain restaurants? They tend to be open 24 hours, at least in the U.S.
So it sounded like they thought you were offering early check in? I don’t understand the shopping holidays because all the stores they want to go to are now all over Asia. Seoul has fantastic shopping but not the name brand kind. And universal Studios, eww. No accounting for taste!
They clearly understood that they could leave their luggage and freshen up, but that they couldn’t check in. I don’t think they realized how tired they would be.
There is nothing that would persuade me to spend my vacation shopping, but virtually all of our Chinese guests spend at least one day shopping with lists from their family and friends. They tell me that consumer goods are much cheaper here. These guests found that due to the value of Chinese currency dropping consumer goods cost as much, sometimes more, here than in China. This did not stop them from buying a frightening amount of stuff. They even drove to the outlet mall in Palm Springs. It took them three hours one way due to traffic. I haven’t been to Universal or any theme park since I was a child, but every one of our guests who has gone to Universal has had a good time. The Harry Potter ride is popular.
Was going to add on the other thread but that was closed. There is nothing open where we live in Dublin, the best option is too stay put at the airport, its pretty quiet up at the airport as i do a pick up for a relative at that time. i think there is a golden arch stucked away somewhere that could be 24 hrs. Am not sure the guest is aware that there wont be any public transport either.
After reading the other thread, i have visions of them landing in my sitting room asking me where are they suppose to go, best to avoid the situation altogether.
In the last week, getting some odd requests. One woman wanted her child to play with my children for 3 weeks so they could learn english and the mother wanted to hang out with me and prepare food for our families.
Another person wanted me to hold off taking bookings for one week until she could confirm which day she needed to stay with me and then asked if it was not until the following week , would i refund her if she booked and transfer that days money to the following wk. The mind boggles
Another guest wanted me to cancel her reservations as she only just made the reservation and made an error with dates. Airbnb would not cancel it for her and she wanted me to cancel so she would get her refund.
I would probably decline this request even if they were willing to pay for the night before, unless they were planning to stay for over 5 nights. 5:30AM is early. Very early. I would need to be up and showered, caffeinated, and ready to be welcoming by 5:30AM. However, if their plane lands at 5:30, reality is that they wouldn’t arrive at my house before 7AM. I am generally up by then if not yet showered and caffeinated.
As I think through this, I realize that context is everything. Is it a time of year I am likely to get a different booking, how long will this person stay [reward factor], and can they write up their interest in complete sentences in a way that sounds as though they understand that this is “above and beyond.”
If no public transport is open at that time, how is the guest planning to get from the airport to your home at 5:30 a.m.? Are you within walking distance?
What time do the earliest places open in your area? Is there a nice safe park he can visit?
That’s what I was thinking at first…but then was questioning it - since the taxi could transport him somewhere. Even if that somewhere isn’t open yet…ha!
And just 'cause I am curious, and have in fact been at the Dublin airport at 5AM, I did a little google. The cafe at the airport serves an atrocious coffee, but a well-steeped tea. It is open at this hour of the day.
Regarding this… There seems to be a new policy regarding issuing refunds. In the past you could just press a button… “Issue Refund” and you never heard about it again. Now, the system wants to take the refund amount out of your next payout! I had this happen recently. The guy didn’t read my listing, didn’t understand where he was traveling to and after blocking my calendar for the weekend demanded I cancel, refund him immediately and not only that but the Air fees too! I’m on strict but I agreed to refund all but $100 for the headache he’s putting me through. Told him to cancel because I wasn’t doing it. When I went to refund, the system said, “You are sending Guest XX so many dollars! We will deduct this amount from your next payout until it is paid off.”
NO WAY!
Now, I have to wait until his reservation next month, get paid, deduct the 3% and make sure to deduct the refund off my gross earnings.
I’m not sure why they did away with the previous refunding button. It will make me completely unwilling to refund for mistake type bookings (such as booking the wrong island.)
That is really early. I would ask the guest about their exact plans. And if in the end they really need a place to leave their luggage you could steer them to other options.
Flights to The UK from the US and other places often arrive in the early AM. If you are lucky, you will have a place to go. If not you just have to wait until check in time. it’s part of traveling. Not everything about international travel is convenient and the host should not be expected to bear the brunt of these travel inconveniences or accommodate travel challenges.
If it were me I would either also book the night before in a place that allowed self check in or probably book a hotel.
It’s not just leaving luggage that early, it’s also waking the host up so the door can be opened and the the luggage accommodated, and like Ellen’s guest, then they will try to ask if they can just sleep since they are already there.
