A guest asks to leave their bags after checkout. Should you say yes?

"Our train isn't until the evening. Could we leave our bags somewhere after checkout?" It's a common request, and an understandable one. Nobody wants to drag suitcases round a city for eight hours. Whether you can help depends on your space, your turnover and how comfortable you are being responsible for someone else's stuff.

Check the turnover first

The main question is whether the bags will get in the way. If your cleaner arrives at 11:30 and the next guest checks in at 3pm, a pile of suitcases in the hallway is a problem. Your cleaner has to work around them, and the new guest might arrive before the old one comes back for them.

Luggage storage tends to work when:

• There's a spot out of the way: a cupboard, a lockable storeroom, a garage.
• There's no same-day check-in, or the old guest will collect well before it.
• Your cleaner knows about it and is happy to work around it.

It doesn't work when the only place for bags is in the middle of the living space, or when the pick-up time would overlap with the next guest's arrival.

If you say yes, agree the details

Be specific in writing, through Airbnb messages:

Happy to help. You can leave your bags in the hall cupboard until 4pm. I'll keep your door code active until then so you can let yourself back in. Bags are left at your own risk, so please take any valuables with you.

That covers the essentials: where, until when, how they get back in and who's responsible. If you have a smart lock, you can extend their code for a few hours. If your entry relies on a key, you'll need a plan for how they return it. Our post on smart locks explains why codes make this kind of request easier.

Tell your cleaner straight away, so they aren't surprised by someone else's luggage. If you keep a cleaning checklist, a quick note at the top for that turnover does the job.

Ask the guest to label their bags with a name and phone number, and to send a quick message when they've collected them. That way your cleaner knows which bags belong to whom, and you know the space is clear before the next arrival.

If you say no, help them anyway

You don't have to store anything, and "no" is a fair answer if it doesn't suit your setup. But a bare refusal leaves the guest stuck. Point them somewhere useful instead:

I'm sorry, there isn't anywhere I can safely keep bags between guests. There's a luggage storage point at the station, about 10 minutes' walk, and several shops nearby offer storage through apps. That should let you enjoy the rest of the day.

Most cities now have luggage storage services in shops, cafés and stations, bookable by the hour. Mentioning one turns a "no" into help, which is what guests remember. Our post on saying no to guest requests covers this approach more generally.

Consider a late checkout instead

If there's no guest arriving that day, a late checkout might be simpler than storing bags. The guest keeps the whole place for a few extra hours and leaves when they're ready. Our post on late checkout requests covers when that makes sense and whether to charge.

Put the answer in your checkout instructions

If guests ask about bags often, answer it before they ask. A single line in your checkout information does it:

Need to store bags after checkout? We can't keep luggage between guests, but there's storage at the station, a 10-minute walk away.

Our checkout instructions template has space for this kind of line. One sentence there saves a message on most stays with a late departure.