I’m usually a big stickler on keeping all communication with guests via the Airbnb app save for a major emergency. I make this clear in my listing and reiterate with guests if I feel that’s needed. Yesterday, I had a guest book a week in April/May for her and her husband. After booking and reading my initial welcome message she sends me this:
“Thanks, if you need to text us the # is --____ for my husband Bill’s cell phone. Looking forward to seeing your place, looks great. Bills email is [bill@_________.net]”
I’ve had several guests in the past fail to see the check-in info because they don’t check the app, so I sent her the following message just to reiterate that communication would be handled via the app:
“Thanks for the info! For safety reasons, we prefer to keep communication on the app except in the event of an emergency. I always let guests know that because we send all the check-in info via the app and some people don’t know to look out for it. Thanks!”
Then this morning I got a booking inquiry from a SEPARATE profile for the same dates, with the following message:
“Hi Lauren. I’m _________’ husband, Bill. She made us reservations yesterday for April 28 to May 5th. I wanted to send you a message through the app on my phone so we can have any future correspondence that way. Thanks and looking forward to staying in _______.”
My concern is that it appears that the guests made a booking through the wife’s airbnb profile but prefer to correspond with me through the husband’s profile. I don’t feel comfortable messaging them through any other thread than the one that is associated with the booking.
These guests have multiple reviews which all appear excellent. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the past, they may have corresponded with hosts via email or text or some unique way and I understand that some hosts are okay with that (fine, everyone runs their stuff differently) but I could see the guests finding me inflexible and unwilling to be accommodating because of how things may have been handled in their past experiences.
I’d like to know what you guys think. Am I simply creating more obstacles for these guests? Should I just respond to his inquiry and send the check-in info to both accounts? I do want them to understand that it’s not only important to keep communication through the app but through the actual thread associated with the booking - I believe this protects them as guests just as much as it does me as a host.
I look to hearing everyone’s thoughts!