I’ve recently had a little trouble with the self check-in that AirBnB have as part of their app. When they launched it, I added all the details required including step by step photos, including the lock etc. This basically saved to a url and I used to message the guest the night before their stay with the url and the unique key code for the smart lock. This worked a charm for probably a year.
Recently though, I had a guest feedback to me that the link didn’t work. I tested it, and sure enough, it loops back to the AirBnB homepage.
After many chats to support (who didn’t actually realise what I was talking about), we finally came to the conclusion that AirBnB now email this out automatically to guests a couple of days before their stay, meaning I should only need to send the unique key code for the smart lock the night before.
But I’ve had a couple of guests now say that they are waiting for instructions, and one advise me to mention that it’s a smart lock and how to use it. If AirBnB truly are sending out the email with photos, all of this is very clear.
Does anyone actually know the answer or should I just send photos myself just in case?
Always do the just in case. The app / web page changes continuously and no one is notified of the change. I remember when hot water became an amenity and I only found out when a guest asked me why the house was listed with no hot water…
They appear to have changed something and not told us because I had a similar experience, so I removed the information completely and send a message myself when I want to share that information with the guest. I created a standard message with the door instructions, directions and house rules reminder and it has worked much better than their setup did, especially if it is going to change (in typical ABB fashion) without notice.
…and when they changed the Rooms and Spaces page of the listing earlier this year and made many of the areas, including all of the bedrooms shared by default. I have a whole-home listing and I got this text from the guest: “I wanted to clarify, will you be here in the house as well all weekend? I thought we were going to have it to ourselves all weekend.” This would be bad for any guest that thought they accidentally booked a shared space listing when they wanted a whole place, but in this case, it was the guests’ wedding night.