Guest not answering - Arrival

1

Hi everyone.

I need a wee advice. In two days I have a guest arriving and they haven’t answered yet to my question of when they arrive, the time. My check in is after 1pm but I don’t want to be waiting at home until they show up.

What do you usually do in such situations? They actually only sent a ‘hello’ mail and didn’t answer any of my other 2 mails.

They have a UK number which in this case is helpful because I’m in the UK as well but was wondering how would you generally manage this.

Thanks

2

Don’t worry :slight_smile:

Most guests don’t contact me until the day before arrival. If they don’t, I send them a message (via the Airbnb system) on the evening before their booking reminding them what time check in is and telling them that if they’re not sure of the exact time, they can let me know in the morning.

Most guests reply. If they don’t then I message them again on the morning they are due to arrive. If I remember rightly I don’t think I’ve ever had a guest who hasn’t responded to one of the two messages.

Although you are both in the UK, it’s possible that your guests are travelling - they may be booking into your place after a trip to the USA for example. If that’s the case and they are on a long haul flight, then they might not see your ‘evening before’ message.

3 Likes
3

Thank you @jaquo, its always helpful to know about others experiences. I’ll wait then and probably follow your same steps :slight_smile:

4

Have you noticed that in your inbox you can save messages that you use often? It’s a good idea to create an ‘evening before’ message that you can store there - then it only takes a second or two to send it to the guest. It saves having to write out the message every time. :slight_smile:

5

In the future set a firm time later in the day. The 1pm check in doesn’t allow enough time to clean if you have back-to-back bookings. What I do is tell them check in is 4PM and an ETA text is required if it will be much later than that.

6

I have 11am checkout and 4pm check in. I really do need all that time to thoroughly clean. (One bedroom apartment). I also say in the listing that check in should be before 7.30 pm.

In reality I can be a little more flexible (if it suits me!) but I don’t advertise the fact :slight_smile:

7

I’ve had this happen, and I didn’t like it at all.

But some people just do not relate well electronically.

You have a phone number - just give them a call. You’ll feel better.

The first time this happened to me the guest turned out to be absolutely wonderful - they just don’t read email that much.

8

Learn something every day.

1 Like
9

Two days before check-in? Relax!!!

At 12:50 PM on arrival day, if they still haven’t arrived, I would give them a call. Just because you say 1 PM doesn’t mean that they can get there at that specific moment. In the hospitality world, check in is usually considered a “not before” time, not a precise moment to sign the register.

10

I’m never there at check-in. In fact, I’m generally about a hundred miles away. I have a key safe on the door.

11

Thank you all guys, they answered the day before just a few hours before (an early) arrival/check in.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and how-tos, has been very helpful

Willem

1 Like