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I set up self check-in instructions within the smart phone app (there’s no option to do so from desktop). It allows you to add photos and text for guests to swipe through as they go through check-in AND sends a message when they’ve completed it.
It looks great in preview, and based on the “so & so has checked in” some guests have apparently been able to access it, but I have no idea how!
In the message I send a few days before arrival I’d like to tell them how to access these instructions. Do any of you know? Help Center is worthless and my Google-fu isn’t revealing much.
It should be somewhere on their reservation I’m not quite sure either.
Though, are you sure you want to add checkin instructions there? It means that everyone that books even months away will have the instructions and then could just cancel…? Or people will use the instructions for early checkin. I personally wouldnt trust my checkin instructions on the system.
@Gem20 I’ve found it super handy, especially with the photos and notification they arrived!
I use a keypad lock with the last 4-digits of the guest’s phone number, so the instructions are generic like that. There’s no lockbox or key they could access.
If they cancel we obviously wouldn’t set their code and they’d have my address anyway. Other than that I’m just telling them where to park, which is no big deal.
I’m not concerned about early check-in either. We set the code as the last step of cleaning, so there’s no danger of them walking into another guests’ stay or into an unclean place.
Just hoping someone might know what guests click to get to these instructions? Airbnb says they send them in advance (7 days or 3 days, depending on the help article) but it would be nice to know what it looks like from the guest side. TIA
Like I said, I’ll stick with using them. Even unsecured or available immediately there’s not much someone could glean that isn’t already apparent from the listing.
Well I am absolutely certain that they don’t @jkamm
There is a huge difference between them getting your address and other details when they book and them receiving self check in details such as codes which hosts fill in separately.
I know because I keep up to date with this sort of thing through the newsletters they send and Airbnb Help Centre (and sorry it’s 72 not 24 hours)
I’m adamant that guests don’t have the code for the keypad until they arrive here. If guests arrive at normal times (in other words, if I meet and greet) then I personally let them know the code. If it’s a self check in then I arrange another means of getting into the apartment (which I’m not disclosing here)and the code is written on their welcome note.
I no longer use the last four digits of the guest’s phone number because it seems that most people with keypads do that so guests can predict what their code will be.
But I don’t want them having the code until the very last minute. I’m not particularly worried about burglaries and so on - I just don’t want guests to have access until I say so
I don’t give the code until the day of arrival either. But you could still set up the instructions for how to work the lock, etc, without actually having the code in the instructions, right?
Yes you can give them everything except their exact code. The couple people who have used the self-checkin find it really easy. You can essentially do a slideshow of arrival at your place - park here, use this door, here’s where you X, Y, Z.
The security risk would be to hosts who keep a lockbox with a static number they also include in the instructions.
I don’t give the code at all to most guests. I tell them I will be here to greet them. Some ask about the code anyway or come in after I’ve gone to bed so then I tell them the door will be unlocked and then they will find the code on the guest instruction sheet once they enter the room. I started doing this after a guy showed up two hours before check in time. He acted like he hadn’t gotten my check in message that morning but I think he was lying and just played dumb to cover for showing up early. Many hosts can’t do it that way but those that can should try to do as Jaquo and I and don’t give out any codes until absolutely necessary.
Hi @Allison_H, I use that app with the link as well. I have had guests thank me for it but the app never let me know they had checked in, It seems to be random whether or not the app link lets the host know. Fortunately I have a Ring Video Doorbell so I always know when they arrive if I cannot be there to greet them personally.
Oh my gosh, I just found out this existed!!! This could save my life!!!
For anyone else who happens upon this, here is the blog article: https://blog.atairbnb.com/check-in/
and like Allison_H said, you cannot do this from the desktop (uggg) only from the app. So I’ll do this asap tomorrow! I want to run outside in the dark and do it tonight!
