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I’ve got someone arriving tomorrow who hasn’t given me an arrival time, or sent me any messages. I sent her a ‘thanks for booking etc’ message when she made the reservation two weeks ago, and then messaged her again this morning asking for an ETA. So that was about five hours ago.
I’m usually out of the house for a couple of hours on Wednesday evenings from 5.15pm to 7.15pm depending on guest arrival times (so flexible, but need to confirm now).
Can I go ahead tomorrow under grounds guest can’t expect me to keep diary open from 4pm onwards if she doesn’t give me a time, and she can work around that.
OR should I suck this one up and not commit to the thing tomorrow so that I can be home from 4pm onwards?
I’m guessing the answer is the latter, and that in the future I need to be clear either from the time of booking, or a week before the arrival or so, that I need plenty of notice on arrival times?
Also, just quite odd not to get in touch since the time of booking two weeks ago, or to reply to a message 24 hours before your booking begins?
It doesn’t seem odd to me because I haven’t found it to be unusual. At least 40% of my guests do not respond to me until the morning of their check-in date. Your guest will also respond eventually, once they are worried about checking in.
But as @Debthecat mentioned, you can call them (or text or email them). They are probably not checking their Airbnb app and don’t have notifications turned on. They’ll check it and get your messages once they need the details or you can “poke” them by contacting them another way.
Yes. You will need to emphasize it in your booking message and even put it in your house rules if it is crucial.
I would never wait until the day before check-in to try to get an ETA.
Also make sure that when you send messages to guests that you are clear
that you require an answer. I have to email map to my guests because my place is hard to find. I do this a week before check-in, and I specifically tell them to confirm that they received it, making it clear that they will likely get lost without the map.
And yes, if you haven’t gotten an ETA, and don’t offer self-check-in, you need to be available to let them in anytime during your stated check-in window.
Once they realise that they can’t get into the rental unless they tell you what time they’ll be there, you can be sure that they’ll get in touch.
Just leave them a message saying that you’re expecting them between 4 and 5 pm and will meet them to let them in and show them around the rental.
Going forward, arrange your diary around guest check-ins.
I have guests who book a year in advance but don’t get in touch until the day of arrival. Why should they? Most guests are like that. As a guest, I wouldn’t contact the host until arrival day to get the check-in details.
I had this happen until I started texting a couple days before instead of relying on the message thread. I try to direct people back to the Airbnb thread since my directions are complex. When people first book I suggest that they save or print the directions from my response and if possible check the Airbnb thread before their trip. That said, there are people who don’t respond. I have a homeshare in a very safe area so I text and message them if I plan to be out stating that the door is open and that there is written information and signage sufficient to get them settled. I tell them that I will check in at the time that I plan to return and go over other details such as breakfast plans. Rarely my LTR tenants have to ask guests to repark when they put their car someplace odd, but otherwise it works out well. It seems that for your own convenience some kind of back-up self check-in might be useful.
if they are used to hotels, you just book it, there’s not need for follow up “get to know you” emails. and if someone is doing a big trip with many stops, they don’t care to do “get to know you” chats with every host.
It’s also probable they don’t have the app installed on their phone. i have plenty of guests who never respond to a single message.
True but she’s had two weeks before that. Can’t imagine leaving it til you’ve arrived in a somewhat unfamiliar country, but yes of course we’re all different.
People do normally tell me in advance, I know others have said not so for them, but I find most of my guests to be more careful and more considerate. It’s just a small room in my home I’m not charging much per night, so perhaps that comes in to play.
I actually heard from this guest just as a posted the original message on here so all is well!
I went to Japan in 2018 and had about 6 different accomms booked for the 2 week trip. I didn’t have extended chats with any of them. i made sure i had printed out the res details in case i couldnt access the internet but i had so many other things to worry about. generally i’d only care about the accomm on the day before or day of arrival.
This was the day before! Also, it wasn’t about an extended chat. It was about getting an ETA, so I’d know if I could go to my volunteering session.
Perhaps I tend to hear in advance more because it’s a room in my home. Not sure If your Japan trip was stay-in hosts or not, but it sounds like an amazing trip!
I think I’ll just update my listing to say if arriving on Wednesday evening please notify in advance as I am out between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, so will arrange for a co-host to be there if you’re arriving that time… or similar. Although probably shouldn’t be announcing when I’m out on a public platform?!
I never assume that guests use the Airbnb App or get notifications.
I require info (check in time, car, agree to house rules, etc) within 24 hours of booking. If I don’t get a response, I send them a text to let them know that info is due by X time today. I make a point of telling them to respond via the Airbnb website or App.
If I don’t hear back from them by the deadline, I call and leave a message.
If I don’t hear from them still I contact Airbnb via message and ask that they get ahold of the guest. (This almost never happens.) If the guest isn’t responding to Airbnb either, then I have a legit reason to ask for the reservation to be cancelled because when they book they agree to provide the info requested within 24 hours. (Not all Airbnb reps will agree with me but…)
By doing this proactive
a) I eliminate the third-party booking issue because of the info requested.
b) I get all info needed before the 48 hour free cancellation for guests.
Yeah, it’s a bit more work when they first book but it makes check in a breeze.
I really don’t think you should assume that guests will read your listing. Yes, put it in to cover yourself with Airbnb but never assume that guests understand how Airbnb works.
I agree with @Lynick4442 - no one reads listings. If someone books for arrival on a Wednesday, then send them that as a response to their booking. Keep your listing as short as possible.
I wouldn’t assume that it’s a lack of carefulness or consideration, it could be as simple as not having notifications enabled on the app. If you don’t get a ding, a text or an email notification when a message comes through then you’d have no idea that you have a message on the app. Anytime I’ve had to reach out to a guest in another way, that has generally been why they didn’t get my message.
Something that seemed to help is that I added this to my booking message, along with the questions they’re supposed to answer, “Please turn on notifications for easier communication”.
And in thinking about why I don’t hear from a lot of guests until the day of is because I send the check-in info only a day or two before and I don’t really directly ask for an ETA. It only says something about appreciating an approximate arrival time if possible in order to provide the best stay. And I almost always get an ETA the morning of but I only asked for it the day before. Most of my guests are driving so they really don’t know until that morning anyway.
it was both, 3 apartments and 1 was a shared stay in a traditional wooden home in the country. she even cooked us breakfast which was included .
Here, we initially did share house hosting and we had to ask twice to get arrival time. i had an auto msg go out on arrival day at 10am asking what time they expected to arrive, so we could be sure to be home for them. Then we would send another one at check in time advising that the suite was ready and they just needed to give us an eta. there were a few occasions where a guest had to wait for us as they hadn’t bothered to tell us what they were doing.
Anyway it was driving us crazy so we turned the suite into self check-in, put in a kitchenette and took away their kitchen privileges. no change in bookings, if anything, i’d say bookings are up. We are lucky that our house set up allows for this, i realise not everyone can do this.
We always call the guest (must SPEAK by phone, not text) about a week before arrival. This clears up any possible issues, establishes a rapport, helps us finally in some blanks and is also when we collect a refundable security deposit, depending on how they booked. A lot can change between time of booking and week before arrival, especially if booked far in advance. This can take just three minutes or so and we find it always helps. Also, we always email thru the platform and directly to their outside email address.
