Guests ignoring arrival/departure times

[AngloDutch]

Although we have always stated our 'arrival from' and 'departure before' times on our websites, listing ads, and always put them into the enquiry replies and booking confirmations, it now seems, more than ever before, that guests just seem to turn up whenever they feel like it. Even getting guests to leave on time seems to occur more frequently as well.

We do get quite a lot of guests coming off transatlantic night flights which tend to come into Amsterdam between 6-9 a.m. If we notice that there are young children in the group when they book, then we will always say that we will do our best to accommodate them earlier than 4 p.m. if we can. This of course depends on whether we have a changeover on their arrival day and we explain that this is subject to no one booking with a departure on their arrival date, otherwise it will be 4 p.m. unless we are finished with the cleaning earlier. These guests are not really the problem, because if they do come through, say at 1 p.m., and we are still busy, then we will tell them just to park up and go off into the village and that we will text them if we are ready for them before 4 p.m.

It is mostly our groups from around Europe that seem to turn up whenever they want. Actually, have never seen it as bad as recently.

Last Friday, we had a group turn up at 12 p.m. as I was just about to sit at the table with my daughters who come home for lunch. The guests also arrived with 2 extra children that they hadn't mentioned about previously. As I currently have a broken wrist, I told them that they would have to put the 2 Z-frames together and after giving them the sheets, that they would have to make those extra beds up as well.

This Tuesday, we had 4 guests from the UK turn up exactly at the same time - 12 p.m. – I know the time because I had just sat down again with my poor daughters who once again had to eat lunch on their own before cycling back to primary school! The guests had actually emailed a few days before saying they would be here around 5 p.m. They told me when they arrived that they had docked on the Stena Line from Harwich early that morning but because of the atrocious weather had decided to come up to us earlier. I suppose we must be thankful that they didn't come straight through otherwise they would have been here at 10 a.m.!
They were coming for the second time to our farmhouse, so didn't want to be too hard on them (believe they arrived at the normal time previously). But I did tell them that I'd only just finished getting the house ready for them and made sure that they saw me going from room to room collecting cleaning products that I hadn't even had time to remove. I had planned to wash down the laminated floors as well, but really, if guests arrive early they can't expect to have it as clean as it should be!

We often get requests from Dutch groups asking if they can arrive early (as a 'special request', as most of them put it). We explain that we have guests leaving on the same day, who should be out before 10 a.m. but who very often are not and that if they arrive earlier that it is impossible to have the house in the condition that we and they would expect it to be in.

Knocking on the door at 10.15 we often find our local guests making coffee. 'Just having a farewell drink together before we say our goodbyes, as we all live in different parts of the country', they will say. We have often had to explain to these groups that we have guests arriving that very same day. That the other guests should be coming at 4 p.m. but that they often arrive between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. (if we're lucky). Which leaves us with just 4 hours to clean instead of the normal 6 hours (because the guests are flaunting our rules at both ends!)

This creates so much stress, and we have often had to say to guests who are not out by 10.30 a.m. that we can no longer wait with the cleaning and have then just started with the beds upstairs while they are busy trying to finish their coffees and apple cake and push the grandparents into the car.

We always stay in holiday rentals when we go away and follow the owners rules to the book, including reading all the notes in the accommodation and respecting their homes and the owners' wishes, as I'm sure most of us do.

Accordingly, we would never leave late or arrive earlier. Why do so many people these days seem to be out to discard our rules in favour of their plans?

[Nemo]

You need to stay strong and enforce your rules and therefore your timing. I know it's hard when you are dealing with people face to face, but ultimately it's compromising the service you offer and may one day come back to bite you. Hopefully more here will give you some specific help or wording.

[JanB]

I know how you feel! It really does compromise everything.

Upon advice from someone on this forum, I now add the following to the arrival instructions as well as posting it in the cottage:

"We take enormous pride and care in preparing the cottage to the highest possible standards. This takes several hours between guests and we therefore ask you to adhere to the arrival and departure times"

I always confirm bookings with exact details, for instance

YOUR ARRIVAL: SATURDAY 27 JUNE (from 4.00pm)
YOUR DEPARTURE: SATURDAY 4 JULY (BEFORE 10.30am)

I also mention again in subsequent directions etc as I know this can be forgotten.

This approach has the two-fold effect of confirming exact arrival day and date, precluding any misunderstandings as well as the timings. Seems to have worked for me, following guests leaving late or trying to arrive early.

I decided about three years not to compromise myself on the cleanliness, or my sanity, so I do not and will not vary this.

[Mouse]

I agree, you need to be stronger, particularly with the departures.

If you are on site then you need to go talk with them the day before departure to re-inforce that they have to be out at 10am as cleaning has to start. You must say that unfortunately it is not up for discussion.

Regarding arrivals; yes we do what you are doing for early arrivees. They drop their bags and we tell them to head to the village until we call to say the house is ready. Can you not do this with the other early arrivals? Just send them on their way?
Perhaps also say that if anyone arrives between 11.30 and 1pm you are not available and can not meet them.

An interesting story; my friend who rents his villa got so sick and tired of people turning up early or late (long after the original arrival time they gave...often going shopping, having lunch etc). So he did 2 things;
Told people he was not available to check them in until the appropriate time; they wouldn't even get through the gate, so not to try! Instead to go to the bar at the end of the lane until arrival time.
If people were more than an hour later he would lock up the house, switch off his phone and go off for his siesta!

Mouse
x

[SandyBeaches]

We regularly get people turning up early - one or two hours is the norm. With their arrival instructions I always start with 'the cottage will be ready for you from 4pm onwards. If you would like to arrive in the village early there is a cafe, beach, pub etc.'

However, two weeks ago some guests arrived at 11.30am when the checkout time is 10 am! We hadn't even got to that cottage as it was second on the list for cleaning, so the key was still in the keysafe and they let themselves in to find it as the previous guests had left it!! They texted me to apologise, then asked me to text when it was ready. I told the cleaners not to rush but to do their usual thorough job.

I think it's all about setting boundaries and managing expectations. I used to bend over backwards to accommodate early arrivals and late departures, but inevitably found that something would go wrong. It would end up an incredibly stressful situation as I struggled to deliver something which I had promised, but had no need to.

[annedab]

We do get people turning up early, but our main problem is getting guests to give us any indication at all of what time they will arrive. We rarely get any sort of response to e mails asking them to confirm this so I am just in the process of amending our arrival information to state a specific timeframe. I guess many guests assume that just because we live on site we will not have anything else to do but wait for them to turn up. At the very least we need to eat as stopping for lunch is a rarity on a summer Saturday

One group last year turned up before midday - their accommodation wasn't ready as we were changing over two houses and the safari tent and the robot was in the pool. I said that they could unload the car and go out or use the games room, but they chose to line all the kids up in their swimming gear outside the pool gate. The children then did a sort of variation on the "are we there yet" theme whilst brandishing an assortment of inflatable creatures. Funnily enough, the robot took a little bit longer than usual that day.

[Mouse]

However, two weeks ago some guests arrived at 11.30am when the checkout time is 10 am!

We once actually had the new guests arrive just as the old guests were leaving!! They had a nice chat whilst the taxi drivers waited patiently

I do know what you mean about being more accommodating when you're new sandybeaches. I too used to bend over backwards and worry if I had to say no but I think, like kids, guests just need boundaries.

To be honest I don't mind people turning up early (as long as I know) as they can see how hard we're working to get them in early...plus it gives me an opt out as I can say that in the rush things may have been missed so to let me know if this was the case.

annedab - I absolutely get the comment about on site owners seemingly being available, and the difficulty getting arrival times. We're lucky because I can get the flight details, find out if they're hiring a car or getting a taxi and then can estimate their arrival. But it is a struggle...however they don't get the maps/directions until I have the flight details. That concentrates the mind.
With other villas I manage I also ask them to call me when they're on their way from the airport...but this rarely works. I get calls when they've landed, collected baggage, waiting at the car hire...in fact any time except when they're leaving the airport

Mouse
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[annedab]

Mouse, the majority of our guests drive - flight times would be a luxury

We had a situation a couple of years ago when guests rang at 6 ish to say they were an hour away but would be going out to eat first so would be with us about 9. Unfortunately we were going out just before then and asked them if they could make it half an hour earlier (building in a bit of wiggle room for getting lost etc etc). They didn't want to do this but said they would be happy to arrive at 1am once we were home. Goodness knows what they thought they would find to do with 3 small kids until 1am in rural France?? As they were renting the tent in the middle of the campsite we didn't think this was a sociable option.......we went back and forth with several calls trying to find a mutually convenient solution and lo and behold, they managed to arrive less than 15 mins later.

[AngloDutch]

I agree, you need to be stronger, particularly with the departures.

If you are on site then you need to go talk with them the day before departure to re-inforce that they have to be out at 10am as cleaning has to start. You must say that unfortunately it is not up for discussion.

Regarding arrivals; yes we do what you are doing for early arrivees. They drop their bags and we tell them to head to the village until we call to say the house is ready. Can you not do this with the other early arrivals? Just send them on their way?
Perhaps also say that if anyone arrives between 11.30 and 1pm you are not available and can not meet them.

Mouse
x

Thanks, Mouse and everyone else for all the input and ideas. I suppose because we are on site they see us in the garden or through a window, so know we are there. Once I had a group approach me when I was sweeping the drive. 'As you are now busy with the garden, that probably means that your ready for us in the farmhouse. Yes?' This was when we first started and we made the mistake of being kind to them and letting them in. They repaid our generosity by stealing half of our DVDs....

Most of our big offenders are Dutch groups coming via agencies. They receive arrival and departure information on the confirmations sent out by the agency stating clearly that arrival is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. (and to inform us if they will be arriving after this time) and it also states that departure is to be no later than 8 p.m. on Sunday evening, or 10 a.m. on a Monday or Friday. Yet, some will try to come earlier and there will always be those who think that 10 a.m. means between 10 - 11 a.m.

If the house is not ready (visibly unclean) we would never allow them in. We try to make sure that the floors are clean as well, but like this Tuesday, if they arrive early, you know that it's pointless trying to do that because you just know that they won't wipe their feet before they come in and will make it dirty again anyway.

You just get so tired of all the attempts made by people to add an extra afternoon or morning to their weekend booking, don't you?

We once had the CEO of a major UK TV company stay one year over Christmas. Apart from putting so much pressure on our internet connection (he brought so much equipment with him so that he could remain in contact with the studios) that the kids were unable to access Youtube or even watch TV properly for the week while they were here, I will never forget his wife's reply, when I went round to confirm with them that the cleaners were coming in at 10 a.m on their Sunday departure day. She said, 'we normally like a lie in on Sunday and won't be leaving until around midday. Please tell the cleaners to come a little later'.
I was completely gobsmacked!

[French Cricket]

I do know what you mean about being more accommodating when you're new sandybeaches. I too used to bend over backwards and worry if I had to say no but I think, like kids, guests just need boundaries.

I think that's exactly right ... and my experience is that if given clear and firm boundaries - with explanation of why it's necessary, but without apology, the vast majority of guests will respect them.

We've learned to start preparing the ground right at the booking stage: we include a box on the booking form asking them to specify one of two arrival slots, either between 16h30 and 17h30, or between 17h30 and 19h.

Then when I send the pre-arrival email, I remind them of the slot they've chosen and ask them to let us know if it's changed. The same email also includes this:

We'd also respectfully ask you not to arrive at the house before 4.30pm (unless we've already agreed an earlier check in with you) as it really does take us until then to get everything properly ready for you inside and out!

The booking form also asks for flight number if they're flying (or travel details if they're not) - I always check the airport website for arrivals or delays.

Since we introduced this slow-drip approach we've had no problem with early arrivals. One guest did phone just before 4pm to ask if they could come then but I was still mowing the lawn so didn't get the message until after they'd got here (at 5pm)!