Educating first-time guests

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a good week.

We know how much time and effort you all put into welcoming your guests and making them feel at home.This is why, when you have guests booking on Airbnb for the first time, we want to set the right expectations for you and your home.

If your expectations are misaligned, this can lead to less than ideal trips and reviews, which is discouraging for everyone involved and something that has been mentioned here in the Community Center before. So to help these travelers understand the unique, local experience they can have when they stay in your home, I wanted to let you know that we’re reaching out to educate first-time guests before they arrive at your doorstep!

To find out more information about this take a look at this blog article.

Do you have any handy tips on how you manage expectations for your first-time Airbnb guests?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Sharion0]

@Mark-And-Mandy0 I agree Mark and Mandy, this waiting around is getting really old! I had a guest check in yesterday, I sent him a message when he first booked with me asking for an arrival time...no response. 2 days before arrival I again asked him to give me an app. time of arrival, as I need to go to my office, run errands...you know real life stuff:). Again, no response. On the day of arrival I sent one last message in the morning...I recieved a response 15 minutes before arrival at 6:30 pm, they showed at 9:30pm. Needless to say, I was not as cheerful as I usually am when I answered the door. I did give him one star for communication and left a " for hosts only" information.   

[Clara116]

@Sharion0 @Mark And Mandy -Hello and this is not just to you Sharion but several others mentioned waiting around for guest. We have to teach our guest - I have a keypad lock so the people can come in when they like after 3pm....BUT I feel it important to meet and greet and give a short tour- I have a cottage behind my home.  So far it has been great. I do contact them a few days before arrival with the code and the question : what is their ETA, estimated time of arrival -  And that I want to greet them - If that conflicts with my life - it is OK - I ask for a 30 min window before their arrival and everyone has been great with this. I do not bend my house rules, I am very thoughtful and generous but, if we are all too flexible and go against our house rules -  there are folks that take that to give them wide open access to do as THEY please and what I keep reading is folks will be disrespectful - they might not even realize it, and its Awful but that's what seems to be happening from what I'm reading on The Community. There is this saying: What You permit You promote - just for what its worth.

We wanna be happy host and waiting around for folks is NOT a good thing. There are NO two host that work exactly the same and so we have to show them and make it all clear. When I give my tour I tell them all the stuff in the house manual and stuff that is important to me as host. Like dirty dishes - or not stripping the bed - towels on the floor in bathroom please- I message them they have paid for this service - it seems to work - plus, Im looking for stains, tears, and things that if there is a problem we NEED to report to Airbnb quickly, before our next guest. Good luck folks, happy hosting, Clara

[Ann257]

Hi, Mark and Mandy,  When someone books, I send a quick note telling them that we are glad to host them and that I will send a note about a week ahead giving some details about their arrival.  I also mention that they can contact me at anytime before then also.  

When I send the second note, I give them the arrival info but also ask for an approximate arrival time saying "so we are here to greet you but also so we can plan our day".  If they don't reply then I send another note a couple days before their arrival.  So far, everyone has given me an estimate within a one hour span of time.

It's been working well for us!

Ann

[Diane77]

I manage to overcome delayed check-in by contacting my guest using Whatsapp a few days before arrival. I ask them to give me an expected time & if there's likely to be any delay to keep in touch. 

[Diane77]

I manage to overcome delayed check-in by contacting my guest using Whatsapp a few days before arrival. I ask them to give me an expected time & if there's likely to be any delay to keep in touch. I live on the premises & it works very well.

[Clara116]

@Diane77 It is really important that you keep ALL communication through Airbnb and I believe Whats App is not - there might just be

a time when you and the guest discuss something or they promise not to do something or agree to do something AND if it is NOT on record with Airbnb YOU will suffer the consequences. Just my take on it. Good luck, and happy hosting, Clara

[Debbie_Jim0]

First, thanks to Airbnb & Lizzie for reaching out to all of us.

  We have hosted for 3 years and have found that once our guests book with us, we offer them a choice of "talking" via Airbnb which is normal up until the day of arrival when many people find texting short notes while traveling or even calling is the most immediate and good way to keep up with questions, when it's also important for knowing when guests are an hour out from their check-in time.  We send messages/notes or our mutual cell phones.  It's simple and has always worked well. 

  There has never been a negative incident or mistrust as we have obviously been blessed with really great people! 

  One thing that we have always done is keeping the communication from our guests open as we want to make their stay wonderful and respond to their needs quickly if there is anything amiss.  We welcome them in person as a rule but if that isn't possible they are guided by us with directions for self-check-in and we offer them privacy and also personally meeting the following day.  Leaving our rule book out in plain view helps answer details about our home, wifi, phone numbers again, and a repeat of safety and details they may not have read when first booking with us. 

  Our Airbnb is a private, keyed, and gated entrance in our own beach home.  We have hosted many new Airbnb members, and usually if we are prepared and communicate well they are guided through so that they may feel at ease and go on to having what several have told us in notes they leave behind , an experience here and our town on the shore that was more than just a great trip but they made memories together with their family or friends together. 

  If we keep in mind why we are hosting and always remember that this time in our space is about them first, and not ourselves making money , it will be reflected in our own experience and in their feedback, ratings, etc, which is there as the learning that we all can see and use to improve our Airbnb, without being defensive .  

  Best of luck to everyone! 

[Deb-and-Doug0]

We have a lock box like realtors use so no one needs to be home when a guest arrives. I give a confirmed guest a 4 digit code so they can retrieve a house key from the box & enter even if they arrive after we have gone to bed. So far it's worked well.  We  plan to change the code often! 

[Rick49]

We too learned that "waiting" for guests can be annoying, but solved the problem quite easily.  Communication is really very key.  After our initial contact with our guests when they first book, we make a habit of contacting them again a week before their arrival to assure everything is as planned, to give accurate directions and a telephone/text number to contact us if need be, and we just generally wish them safe travels.  Then the day prior to their arrival we message them again asking for an approximate arrival time, explaining we don't want to be away from the suite when they arrive. (We offer a suite in our home and always greet our guests personally - not always the same for other hosts).  So far 100% of the time our guests respond with a good approximate arrival time, giving us some guidelines to work within.  As well, we do state that while our check in and check out times are shown in our listing, we are able to be flexible if they give us suitable notice, and as long as it does not interfere with other guests arrival or departure times.

Communication is so very important to us when someone is staying in our home.  After a year of Airbnb we are tweaking all sorts of things, but good communication might eliminate this problem for the most part.

[Laura1134]

We have installed a keyless entry that has a programmable code system. The codes can (and should be!) changed with checkouts. Very handy when a guest is flying in on the redeye. Don't know if you would consider this, but so far no issues. Plus, some keyless systems are electronic, so you can activate and deactivate from your laptop and keep an access log.  A few people who do Airbnb in our building are using these types of lock entries. Happy Hosting!

[Jean286]

Laura

What type if keyless entry do you use? I'm thinking about switching my lock and I'm interested in an electronic system as well.

[Gregory81]

I agree. I found on the Airbnb app on my phone that there is an entire step-by-step check-in process that you can do, with pictures and drawings and notes. Brilliant! It also has(or had) a feature where I was informed of when the Guest made it inside. But 95% of my Guests either can't find it or don't bother to go through the instructions and acknowledge that they checked in.

[Sheila146]

I get flight number and track delays.  Still there have been people who have stopped for lunch, or gone to visit a friend before checking in without telling me they are diverting from the original agreed-upon plan (and then penalized me in the check in rating).  This includes experinced aribnb-ers.  Yes the exception but a bit frustrating when it happens.  Am waiting right now for guests an hour behind schedule whose plane I know arrived early, with no communication.

[BethAnn1]

I have had a similar problem. My listing says the home is furnished with antique and vintage furniture. I have had a few guests who apparently hate anything old. They don't say much while they're there and then write negative reviews for this reason. I am at a loss over how to tell them that antique furniture is not new. I feel like an idiot writing that in the listing. One wrote that the house seems like a warehouse full of old garbage! And one complained privately that her room was furnished with "old junk," which referred to antiques worth over $1000. Guests who know antiques were amazed that they were allowed to use them.

[Sheila146]

I have had similar experiences.  Most people love the vintage furniture but once in a blue moon there will be a punitive review, when it is obvious from the photos that there is vintage furniture.