What should my Airbnb check-in instructions message say?

What the message has to do

A check-in message has one job: no phone call on arrival. The guest reading it may be in a taxi, in the rain, at night, in their second language. Write for that person. Short lines, one step per line, in the order they'll do things.

It also sets the tone for the stay. A clear, calm message tells the guest the rest of the home will be just as well prepared. A wall of text with the door code buried in paragraph four does the opposite.

What to include, in order

1. 1.The address, and what the building looks like from the street: door color, gate, house number location, which entrance if there are several.
2. 2.Parking: where to park, how many cars, and where not to park.
3. 3.Check-in time, and what happens if they arrive early. Say whether they can drop bags and when you confirm early arrivals.
4. 4.Entry steps, one per line, with a photo for anything tricky: the lockbox, the keypad, the gate latch, the right apartment door.
5. 5.Wi-Fi network name and password.
6. 6.The first hour: where the light switches are, how the heating or air conditioning works, where spare towels are.
7. 7.The two or three house rules that matter on night one, such as quiet hours, no parties and where the trash goes.
8. 8.What to do if something goes wrong: how to reach you or your co-host, and the backup if a code doesn't work.
9. 9.A short heads-up about checkout time, with a pointer to the checkout steps.

Your arrival time rules belong in the same place as everything else. If guests often ask to come early, see how to handle a guest who asks for early check-in.

Where it goes on Airbnb, and when guests see it

Airbnb gives you two places, and you should use both.

• •The arrival guide, in your listing editor. Choose a check-in method (smart lock, keypad, lockbox, building staff, in-person greeting or other) and add your instructions. Guests see the method right away, and the detailed instructions 48 hours before check-in. For self check-in, Airbnb also emails and messages the code 48 hours before arrival.
• •Scheduled quick replies, in Messages under Settings. Write a template, choose your listings and pick when it sends, such as a day or two before check-in. Details like the guest's first name, check-in time, address, directions and Wi-Fi name and password fill in from your listing; if a field is empty, the message shows it as unavailable.

Turn on “Send for last minute bookings and short stays” when you save the template. Without it, a guest who books the day before arrival can miss a message whose send time has already passed. Airbnb messages are capped at 4,000 characters, which is a good reason to keep this one short.

An example message

The times and details below are examples; use your own. Keep the code out of anything public; in a private message to a confirmed guest it's fine. Airbnb's safety requirements say to change entry codes between reservations, so don't save a fixed code in a template: let Airbnb's self check-in message or your lock software send each guest's code, or update the lockbox code and the template before each stay.

Test it before a guest does

Open your arrival guide with the View option to see it as a guest would. Then hand the message to a friend who has never been to the home and ask them to follow it, ideally after dark. Every place they hesitate is a line to rewrite or a photo to add. Do it again whenever you change a lock, a code, the parking or the router.

Mistakes to avoid

• •Putting a door code or Wi-Fi password in the listing description or a public guidebook.
• •Sending everything at booking, weeks before arrival, and nothing closer to the day.
• •Instructions in the arrival guide that disagree with your scheduled message.
• •Changing a code and forgetting to update the arrival guide and the template.
• •Describing the entrance without a photo when there's more than one door.
• •Leaving out the backup plan. A guest locked out with no number to call is the stay you'll remember.

Good check-in instructions also cut down on repeat questions later in the stay; see how to stop guests asking questions that are already in the listing.