Early Check-In & Late Checkout Requests

When a guest asks for an early check-in or a late checkout from their portal, that request lands in your inbox and sends you a notification — so a revenue opportunity, or a scheduling conflict with your cleaning team, never slips by unseen.

What happens when a guest asks

Guests see early check-in and late checkout options in their guest portal (you control when those options appear — see Early Check-In & Late Checkout Availability). When a guest submits one of these requests:

• It surfaces in your inbox alongside your other guest activity, so it's part of the same flow you already watch — not buried in a separate screen.
• You get a notification the moment it comes in, so you can approve, decline, or coordinate the turnover before the guest is left waiting.
• A "Late Checkout Requested — Awaiting payment confirmation" entry appears on the reservation's dashboard item immediately when the guest submits the request — even if the guest is paying with an alternative payment method like Klarna that takes a moment to settle.

Because the request is visible and timed, you can decide with the full picture: is the unit free early, and does your cleaner have time to turn it before the guest arrives?

How requests appear when guests pay with Klarna or other alternative payment methods

Some guests pay for upsell requests using alternative payment methods — such as Klarna — that don't confirm instantly. Previously, if a guest used one of these methods, the late checkout request wouldn't appear on your dashboard item until payment was fully settled. In some cases, if the payment didn't complete, the request would never appear at all, leaving you unaware a guest had asked.

This has been fixed. Now, as soon as a guest submits a late checkout request — regardless of how they're paying — you'll see a timeline entry on the dashboard item that reads something like:

Late Checkout Requested — Awaiting payment confirmation

This entry appears right away, so you're never left in the dark while payment is processing. Once payment is confirmed, the full approval details and any associated financials post automatically as usual.

Note: This improvement applies to late checkout requests. If you previously noticed a guest had submitted a request that didn't appear on your dashboard, those historical gaps won't be backfilled — but all new requests will show up immediately going forward.

[Screenshot: Dashboard item timeline showing a "Late Checkout Requested — Awaiting payment confirmation" entry]

How availability windows are calculated

The window during which a guest can request an early check-in or late checkout is anchored to that guest's actual booked check-in or checkout time — not your property's standard times.

This matters most for reservations imported from other platforms (such as Booking.com or Airbnb), which often carry a specific agreed check-in time that differs from your default. Previously, those guests could see the request window close at the wrong time. Now, a guest whose booked check-in is 1:00 PM, for example, will see the early check-in option available until exactly your configured cutoff before 1:00 PM — not before your standard check-in hour.

If a reservation doesn't have a specific booked time, the window falls back to your property's standard check-in or checkout time as usual.

Note for imported reservations: Vanio AI automatically resolves your property's correct local time using the listing's location, so guests at properties in any timezone see accurate availability — even if the original reservation was imported without timezone detail.

How many time slots guests see

The number of early check-in and late checkout slots offered to a guest is controlled by the "Max hours early" and "Max hours late" values in your portal settings — not by any other time setting on your booking page.

• If you set Max hours late to 3, guests will see exactly three late checkout slots (for example, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 1:00 PM if standard checkout is 10:00 AM).
• If you set Max hours early to 4, guests will see exactly four early check-in slots.
• If you haven't set a max-hours value, the available window falls back to the earliest or latest times configured on your booking page.

Previously, late checkout options could be hidden entirely — or fewer slots shown than expected — in certain configurations, particularly when your standard checkout time and latest checkout time were set to the same value. This has been corrected. If guests were previously unable to see late checkout options despite your settings indicating they should be available, they will now appear correctly.

[Screenshot: Portal settings panel showing "Max hours early" and "Max hours late" fields]

Turning the notification on or off

This notification is controlled by a toggle in Notification Settings. It's on by default for team members in property-managing roles, because these requests usually need an operator's decision. If you'd rather not be notified for every one — for example, if another workflow already handles them — you can switch it off there at any time.

Automate the response

You don't have to handle every request by hand. When an early check-in or late checkout request is approved or declined, Vanio AI can trigger a workflow — to notify a channel, message the guest, or schedule the turnover accordingly. See Early/Late Request Triggers & Task-Type Conditions to build those rules.

Tips & best practices

• Set "Max hours early" and "Max hours late" in your portal settings to control exactly how many slots guests see. These are the authoritative controls — if you want guests to see three late checkout options, set Max hours late to 3, regardless of what your booking page times say.
• Review your cutoff hours in Early Check-In & Late Checkout Availability to make sure they reflect how much lead time you actually need. Now that windows are tied to each guest's real check-in time, your cutoff settings work more precisely than before.
• For properties that regularly receive bookings from other platforms, check a few upcoming imported reservations in your inbox to confirm guests are seeing the request option at the right time.
• If you accept alternative payment methods like Klarna, keep an eye on the "Awaiting payment confirmation" entries in your dashboard item timeline. These mean a guest has submitted a request and payment is in progress — you'll see the full approval details once it settles.
• Use workflows to automate approvals or guest messaging for common scenarios, so you're only manually reviewing edge cases.

Common questions

My property is in a non-UTC timezone. Will guests still see the right window? Yes. Vanio AI uses your listing's location to determine the correct local time, so the availability window is always calculated in your property's actual timezone — regardless of how the reservation was originally created or imported.

A guest says they can't see the early check-in or late checkout option, but I expected them to. What should I check? First, confirm the guest's booked check-in or checkout time in their reservation details — the request window opens and closes based on your configured cutoff hours relative to that specific time. Next, go to your portal settings and confirm that "Max hours early" or "Max hours late" is set to at least 1. If those fields are blank, the slot window falls back to your booking page times, which may be narrower than intended. Also verify that the early check-in or late checkout option is enabled in Early Check-In & Late Checkout Availability.

I set Max hours late to 4, but guests were only seeing 2 slots (or none at all). Why? This was a known issue that has now been fixed. Previously, the number of slots shown could be limited — or collapsed to zero — by booking page time settings that aren't directly visible in your portal settings. After this update, the "Max hours late" and "Max hours early" values in your portal settings are the definitive controls. If you had this problem before, guests will now see the correct number of slots without any changes needed on your end.

I can see a "Late Checkout Requested — Awaiting payment confirmation" entry on my dashboard item, but I haven't received the full approval details yet. Is something wrong? Not necessarily. This entry means your guest submitted a late checkout request and their payment is still being processed — this is normal when guests pay with methods like Klarna that take a moment to settle. Once payment is confirmed, the full request details and financials will appear automatically. If the entry stays in a pending state for an unusually long time, check with your guest to make sure they completed the payment steps on their end.

What if a reservation has no specific check-in time set? Vanio AI falls back to your property's standard check-in or checkout time to calculate the window. Nothing changes for those reservations — the guest experience is the same as before.

Related

• Early Check-In & Late Checkout Availability — control when guests can request
• Upsells — Earn More Per Booking — turn requests into revenue
• Notification Settings — choose what you're notified about