Messaging Airbnb Guests – The Right Way To Give Information & Secure Bookings
As part of our Airbnb management service, we communicate with guests rapidly on your behalf to secure bookings and ensure five-star stays every time. We answer guest questions, deal with their problem or complaints and handle feedback from neighbours.
Every great and experienced holiday let manager knows that hosting always begins with a warm welcome – and we know more than most how important the first dialogue with guests is, as it often sets the tone for all future conversations as well as their potential stay.
We use the Airbnb host inbox as one of our most powerful conversion tools, allowing us to connect and respond to guests instantly, whether before, during or after their trip. We’re the masters of personalised automation and know exactly how to prepare guests before arrival.
Points of communication
Airbnb states six instances where you should be communicating with guests.
- Prior to booking: Most guests we deal with have questions before they book – and it’s only natural. So to turn a user into a booker, you must be prompt and welcoming in your reply.
- At the time of booking: Send them a “thank you message” or get them up to speed about what they can expect from your property and what comes next. It’s also a great time to ask the guests questions and if they like anything in particular so you can be more accommodating to their needs.
- Pre-arrival (day of arrival): Provide crystal clear directions and check-in instructions to help your guests easily check in. Self-check-in often makes guests feel more comfortable, so creating a little house manual including information on all the property’s set-up will be helpful and limit the amount of contact you’ll have to have.
- During their stay: Depending on your host’s style, you might like to keep in touch with guests during their stay. However, don’t make it feel like you’re checking up on them, instead, ask them about their stay and if there’s anything you can do.
- Before check-out: Sometimes, it’s better to merge this stage with the information you provide at check-in. It’s not that you don’t want to speak to your guest, but rather find the right time to bother them. If you are to send a message on checkout, perhaps just a reminder with the time and any instructions.
- After departure: You’ll have a higher chance of getting a five-star review if you ask your guests right away. It’s also a great opportunity to thank them for their stay.
Communicating with guests – when and not to
For some hosts, choosing their personal bandwidth and deciding how much to communicate with their guests can be a struggle.
From experience, we know that guests expect instant, or fast answers to their questions, which means if you don’t want to lose the booking, you need to be relatively quick to respond.
Depending on your property type, your guests will also have certain expectations. For example, guests spending a large amount of money in a private villa are much more likely to have higher expectations, which might require additional communication throughout their stay. So, hosts should always be prepared.
Guest communication – expectation vs reality
As beneficial as guest communication is, it’s one of the most time-consuming duties of any Airbnb host or property manager.
In fact, this study suggests that Airbnb hosts spend 75% of their time talking to current and potential guests. And this might be scary for savvy landlords, who know that spending so much time in one area is a risk to the overall success of their let business.
Remember: You only have 24 hours to respond back!
Automated messages can be a good tool for responding to guests quickly, but they can also be a nuisance as they don’t always consider original guest queries or questions. If not done correctly, it’s very obvious if you’re using a template or a bot, which can be quite frustrating for the user.
Developing a guest-focused mindset
Hosting requires your main focus to be on your guests at all times – it’s all about them, their experience and their holiday.
Regardless of your property type, a host must have a hospitality mindset and have what it takes. An Airbnb host and a landlord are two different roles.
When you decide to host on Airbnb, you’re signing up to offer a much different experience to long-term letting. Instead, you have joined the service industry.
As Airbnb is a platform that ranks listings by their positive reviews, it’s critical for the overall success of your business.
Delivering on rising expectations
- The property must be spotless and completely turned over, with no trace of previous guests.
- WiFi must be reliable unless guests have booked a remote, outdoor location.
- The property must always be safe and secure, and free from any maintenance issues. When issues arise, someone will need to be able to respond to these quickly and repair them to salvage your guest’s stay.
We make hosting simple. From the first point of contact to being on-site to provide support, we’ll be there 24/7 to ensure your home remains safe and that your guests are well taken care of.
Our services in this area are as follows:
- Guest communication and vetting (prior to guest approval).
- We’re 24/7, so we can check guests in whenever suits them best.
- Our seamless check-in service is for every guest upon arrival – they know we are at their disposal and can assist them throughout their stay.
- Your guests can expect to know the fine details of your home, the rules and all the neighbourhood’s hidden gems.
- We hand the keys over, and we’ll check them out when their end of stay approaches.
More often than not, this equates to very happy guests. See how much you could earn.
Managing the process the right way
Different methods have some plus and minuses. For example, some guests appreciate personal meet and greets to welcome and introduce them to the property, while others want to be left alone to relax after a long journey.
Self-check-in methods have become more commonly used. The significant advantage is the flexibility it offers guests when to check in and allows guests to manage their timing – it also resolves issues around travel delays.
Guests will either check out with us or self-check out. In both cases, we provide the information when they need to check out, a reminder to leave the property in a good state and any specific instructions specific to that property (e.g. heating systems, where to leave the keys, etc.).
We respect guests’ privacy but always ensure they know we are available and on hand if they need any help or information about their stay.
Our customer service is online every day from morning until night to support the guests in any way.
We communicate all the details
HelloGuest employs several techniques to ensure guests are well-informed about their upcoming stay.
The day guests book, we send them a welcome message and request information regarding their travel timing.
Once this has been confirmed and closer to the arrival date, we provide guests with all the information they need about the check-in process.
They would have also received this information via email alongside any terms and conditions they may need to sign (for example, you may have a hot tub policy that needs to be acknowledged).
Our guest communication will include details like the property address, directions, access instructions, house rules, operating rules, and helpful tips like local places to visit, where to eat, host contact info and WiFi passwords.
Why hand over your keys?
– We’re staycation and property let experts with real-hand experience.
– You get the support you need with Airbnb professional co-hosts.
– We take care of your home and guests.
– We provide exceptional hosting and guest experiences (five-star rated)
– Allows you to share your space when you are busy or away.
Turn your second home or empty property into an easy and lucrative opportunity. Onboard.
Toby France
Co-Founder
Professionalism and consistently delivering a quality service are his key focus and to ensure the team and operations deliver on this.
Veronica Tribolati
Co-Founder
Being a natural extrovert and a go-getter, Veronica is a great communicator and is the face of Hello Guest.
UK Wide Coverage
We cover the whole of the UK!
Our service provides full UK coverage for short-term letting. Our Airbnb manager services extend to medium and long-term lettings to provide a full range of rental options to help homeowners and landlords maximise their earnings and minimise any problems. Visit this page.
We manage many rental properties in popular areas and tourist destinations. This includes accommodation in all the UK’s major cities and holiday destinations.
Contact us to find out more.
