Early morning guest messaging - your opinion

21

That doesn’t quite explain why you can’t send a message at a reasonable hour.

22

Great idea! Especially if you have a guest who might accidentally on purpose sleep past check out.

23

Perhaps texting them the night before with check out instructions would be best.

1 Like
24

IMO, waking me that early, as a guest on holiday, I would feel murderous towards you for waking me! I simply can’t believe that you think it might be ok; it’s not. I’m up and at it for leaving an STR by 8 am, but I am not at my best at that ungodly hour. And you would wake me, because my phone is nearby for emergencies, but not you I’m afraid. Apart from anything I would find it an invasion of my privacy, and you would feel it in my review.

4 Likes
25

For checkout reminders you could use an automatation service like smartBNB.

1 Like
26

Or do it in your lunch break.

1 Like
27

Have you seen Smartbnb? You can schedule messages to be sent at certain times - requires no input from you. Eg send message to person X at 6pm the night before checkout

1 Like
28

My opinion is if you don’t want to be waken up early , switch off your phone.
I send message at any hour as often me and guests are in different time zone.

2 Likes
29

That has always been my opinion but clearly most people don’t agree with us. I work three jobs from my house and get up at 4 am. I usually do all email correspondence while enjoying my first cup of tea. I’m going to check out smartBNB.

30

We started using Smartbnb’s messaging services a couple years ago to handle all of our repetitive guest messages. “Thank you for booking” message right after confirmed booking. “Check/in info” a few days before their arrival. “Now that you’ve checked in” mid-morning after arrival. “Check out time and instructions” the evening before check out, so they have time to prepare, but not too early as to ruin their last day of vacation. It’s well worth the $18/month to have this part of hosting automated. I work a full time job outside the home, as well as a freelance graphic design gig… so anything that consistently saves me time is a blessing. And this way your messaging can arrive at a time that best suits your guests. Smartbnb.io has recently added HomeAway/VRBO to the list of products they support and offers much more than just messaging services.

1 Like
31

We all have different types of clients and levels of service provided.

  • Some have described gamers that stay up all night
  • Some have guests that need to stay connected for family or work.
  • Some have guests that are not tech-savvy
  • Etc.

I don’t make assumptions as to whether guests turn off their phones or not, because that seems inward focused. I would not expect a hotel front desk to call/text me during off hours (just because that’s when they have free time). I use that as MY benchmark because that is my type of client. You need to determine yours and what level of hospitality you aspire to AND what your targeted guests would expect. Maybe survey your prior guests?

I also don’t think people should be questioning or criticizing you for your approach or work/sleep hours. But, with that said, you asked for opinions and that you have gotten.

1 Like
32

I send mine the evening before.