One of the key steps for a 5 start guest experience.

The check-in message is by far the most important message you need to craft. Hence, the word, craft and not simply create. This message must be concise yet contain everything the guest needs for their check-in. Do include key items such as:

• Wifi information
• Address
• Door code
• Garbage collection
• Your contact info
• etc

Don’t include items such as:

• Restaurant recommendations
• Nearby attractions
• House rules
• TV Channel Guide
• etcThe above items are for your guidebook.

This message should have bullet points and never ever have long run-on sentences here.

When traveling, we often stay in Airbnb, and we have seen so many convoluted check-in messages or messages with missing key details.

You must use paragraphs and bullet points in your check-in email.

In one of the local real estate meetups, I met a couple with a lakefront duplex in a popular summer destination. Both sides of the duplex were in Airbnb and they were thinking of converting a 3rd place they owned into an Airbnb, but only when the wife retired. As we were talking, they mentioned how, on average, every guest generated 4-5 questions, and almost everyone had questions when they checked in. The questions were always similar.

If you get the same question 2 or 3 times, this means your instructions need to include something else. Fix it. The check-in message should be tweaked until it is close to perfect.

Finally, one of the most overlooked items in your check-in message is how to contact you and that you want your guests to have a 5/5 experience. In your Check-In message, you do want to stress for your guests to contact you if anything is keeping them from giving you a 5/5 rating. We stress to use the app, but for high priority items we give them a phone number to call. This phone number rings our 4 cells at the same time with a distinct ring.

In addition, this check-in message should stress that you are open to any and all feedback.

All hosts know that anything less than a 5 is a failure, but your guests may not know this. The newsgroups are full of hosts who are frustrated with their guests saying everything was awesome, and they rate it 4 out of 5.

Your goal is to have an average higher than 4.9. Sooner or later, you will have someone who will leave less than 5, but as long as most reviews are 5/5, you are ok.

In the hosting world, sooner or later you will have to handle fires such as the cleaning crew forgetting this turnover and guests arriving with a completely uncleaned house, power outage, the dishwasher broke, the washing machine breaking and water pouring down in the living room, HVAC stopped working and thermostat hit 101 degrees, smart lock stopped working, dozens of roaches in the garage, the dreaded double booking, etc. These are all real emergencies that we have had to deal with. If guests can quickly contact you for these emergencies, and they are handled appropriately, you can still recover and have a good review.

Here is our exact welcome message and key pints. We have a single template with tags for all of our properties.

Hi [$GUEST_FIRST_NAME$],

Thank you for staying in our place. Below you will find all the information you need to prepare for your arrival. Let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to hosting you.

ADDRESS:
[$PROPERTY_ADDRESS$]
[$ADDITIONAL_CHECKIN_INFO$]

The [$ADDITIONAL_CHECKIN_INFO$] field is for properties that may be complicated to find, we add additional info. For example, the property we have on an Island, we have a link to a walking video. For our small apartment, we describe what it looks like.

HOUSE MANUAL:
[$GUIDEBOOK_URL$]

TRASH:
[$GARBAGE$]

Give the specifics on to do with garbage. Is the garbage bins in the basement? It the city garbage pick up every Monday, and you need guests to move to the end of the driveway, etc.

WIFI INFO:
Network Name: [$PROPERTY_WIFI_NETWORK$]
Network Password: [$PROPERTY_WIFI_PASSWORD$]

Check-in:
Your Arrival Date: [$LEAD_ARRIVAL_DATE$]

Your Check-In time: 4 PM

Your Smart Lock Door Code: [$LEAD_PINCODE$]
(your code starts working at Check-In time only).
The keypad is located above the door handle in front door. Use your code to both lock and unlock.

[$EXTRA_INFO_$]

In this [$EXTRA_INFO_$], we specify additional info for check-in if the property requires it. Only a couple of properties use this field. For example, in one property, we describe how to get an elevator card, while in another, we describe the main gate access info.

PARKING:
[$PARKING$]

In this area, very descriptive on parking info. Is there are limit on the number of cars they can park? Is there a gate access or is the parking lot shared, etc. Can they be fined if they park over the public side walk, etc.

REMINDER:
[$REMINDER$]

In this field, we use any specific reminders for this property. This may be quiet hours, or don’t let dogs and kids outside at night since there may be wild animals in the forest backyard, or drive slow on the one-way dirt road, or make sure you have a 4-wheel drive in the winter, etc.

ANYTHING ELSE:
For any property questions please email us or use the inbox feature in AirBnB/VrBO.
For any property-related emergencies, please call or text 555.555.5555

The above number is shared number that rings our 4 cell phones. It is a way to make sure we always answer this phone day or night. Have we received calls after hours, yes, but very rare. Perhaps once or twice a year.

You’re staying at our home away from home, and we want your experience to be as comfortable as possible. If any issues or concerns arise during your stay, please reach out so we can address them promptly. If there’s anything that might prevent you from giving us a 5-star rating, we’d appreciate it if you contacted us right away. Your feedback is always welcome, as it helps us improve.

As a small business, low ratings impact our ability to grow and don’t give us the chance to resolve concerns. We’re here to ensure you have a wonderful stay!

[Your contact info again]

The above paragraph is very important. We have tried different variations of this and this is our current version. We basicaly want to stress for guest to contact us for any improvement feedback instead of leaving in a review. In addition, we are not a Hilton or Marriot, but we are a small business and we are trying to give them a 5-star experience.

Thanks for reading!