The Best Airbnb Check Out Time

Sound Familiar?

Pesky Problem

Your check out time is too early. (And it’s affecting your reviews.)

Last week we talked about the importance of the first five minutes of your guests’ trip. Now let’s talk about the last few hours. We’re picturing those final, blissful moments of sleeping in and slow coffee chats before folks head out the door and back into the bustle of their day-to-day lives. Here’s our question for you: Is your check out time too early? If your hackles just went up thinking about a later check out time for your guests, stick with us for just a minute! We promise, this could help your reviews.

Let's Try This

Bite-Size Solution

Follow the science and opt for a later check out time.

Ok. Let’s get geeky here for a minute. In social science research, there’s a concept called the peak-end rule pioneered by the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman. Here’s how he explains it: “The peak-end rule is a psychological heuristic in which people judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak (i.e. its most intense point) and at its end, rather than based on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience.”

Vacations are one of the most classic examples social scientists use to describe the peak-end rule. When you ask folks how their latest vacation was (ahem…say through a series of automated emails from Airbnb), their overall memory of the trip will be disproportionately influenced by the most intense moment and their final moment of the trip.

As a host, you have less control over a vacation’s peak. That most intense moment will likely be different for each guest. But you do have a lot of control over the end. By offering a later check out time (and easy-to-follow check out instructions), you can set guests up for a relaxing, alarm-free final morning. And that positive experience will come to mind when they go to leave a review several days later.

5 Minutes

Here's Your First Step

Imagine different check in and check out schedules.

So here’s your first step: just entertain the idea of a later check out. What would that need to look like for you and your schedule? We’d almost always encourage a later check in time in order to accommodate a later check out time. Come back to that good business mantra: “Under promise, over deliver.” You can always text someone when your Airbnb is ready early. It might make their day! But it’s less easy to extend a check out time on a whim. What’s an extra hour when folks have already taken out the trash and packed up the car?

So grab a piece of paper and play with different iterations. And as always, remember: this is your show! You can always experiment and see what works best for you and your guests. Nothing is set in stone.

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