Is your listing up to date to take advantage of the new guest Arrival Guide?

[Airbnb]

Have you ever had nervous guests at check-in? Do you find yourself answering the same questions over and over? 

Airbnb’s new guest Arrival Guide can help your guests have a more confident and seamless start to their stay, and help save you time.

Starting this month, guests will find a new check-in guide at the top of their Trips tab 48 hours before check-in, giving them important details like directions to your space, check-in instructions, and wifi info. 

In order for this to work, you’ll need to check that you’ve filled out all the fields under the Info for guests section of your Listings tab. 

Check out the RC article for more details, and to see how your guests will experience the Arrival guide.  

The Arrival Guide will be available to guests on all three platforms (IOS, Android, and mobile web) by the end of May 24, 2021. Guests won't receive an Arrival Guide if their Host doesn't have check-in information filled out on the listing, so we recommend double checking just to be safe.

What do you think of the new arrival guide? What are your tips for making the best use of the Arrival guide for your hosting routine?

[Steven532]

I do all of this through an automated message, which I feel is more likely to be seen/read by the guest.

[Pier2701]

I can see that the Arrival Guide is going to save me a lot of time! Thank you for this addition to our set of tools 🙂

[Kristin108]

This new arrival guide is all very fine and well...

However, for those of us hosts who have rural, unique properties and do not depend on our cellphones, or sit at a desk, this is a meaningless addition.

I have a 67 acer farm with 3 seperate listing, all unique, all require a meet and greet. I do NOT recommend that guests view or book my properties on a phone app.

I realize that as of 2020, 90% of guests now use app almost exclusively. This has created some real problems, as guests rarely read the descriptions.

I am lucky and happy to say that my listings have gone viral, and are fully booked through September. But with 100% bookings comes many more issues...

I wish airbnb would come up with a solution to have some kind of option to alert guests that there are still listing in remote locations that don't have cell reception, where hosts don't text and they can't just put the address into a GPS and find the property. 

[Sarah977]

@Kristin108  I can totally relate.

Back in late 2016 when I first listed, I called Airbnb to find out how to attach a hand-drawn map to my place to an Airbnb message. The CS rep, who was probably sitting in SF, (that was back before they outsourced CS to the Phillipines), insisted that there was no reeason my guests would need my map-all they needed was the GPS co-ordinates and the address..

No amount of trying to explain to him that wouldn't work could get through his head. I explained that half my guests don't even have their phone set up to use in Mexico for the week or two they are here, that some don't use smart phones, that they wouldn't get a signal. 

He just couldn't conceive of the fact that everyone isn't connected to the digital world all the time.

And while I pick most of my guests up at the bus station, which is only a 5 minute drive for me, a few have opted to walk the 20 minutes from town and confirmed that my map was really clear but that they definitely would have gotten lost without it.

I live down a little dirt road off another dirt road- none of the house numbers go in any discernible order, and my road doesn't even have a name.

[Kristin108]

@Sarah977

Can remember when I first listed with airbnb, I had to call and get the town of Silverton, Oregon added, as there were no listing... nor did anyone know it existed!

That was 10 years ago.

I actually spoke with Brian on the phone in person... Immagine Brian!

(And he did manually add the town) 

What a difference 10 years makes indeed!

[Sheron10]

I am not sure if this is updated.  However, why are we giving the guests directions to our place.  There's GPS that almost everyone uses these days.  Can that be removed or adjusted? What the host can do is suggest an alternate route if they know that, maybe, there's construction in a certain area or maybe also a common glitch the GPS makes in your area.  Other than that I see no use in giving directions as a "thing to do. Hope this helps.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Sheron10 

We are in California. With only a GPS all our first time guests would be hopelessly lost. Due to the terrain there is a sporadic cell signal in the entire region - many people who live here are completely without internet. GPS is highly inaccurate here. It sends people to roads that exist only on decades old plans, they were never built. Others only go a short distance to a dead end, or a locked gate rusted shut. Another road which has no signal at all anywhere at the bottom of a canyon leads to a fork where the road has been closed for years due to a landslide, the other fork to a dead end. The GPS servers all say that these are ways to get to our road. By following our explicit directions, guests can easily drive to our access road, but GPS will lead them to a neighbor's chicken coop a mile past our driveway. Folks who do not follow our directions tend to go down roads that do not lead here. We get texts from all over the area from lost local delivery folks, which is why we go out of our way to emphasize that our directions are so easy, which they are. UPS finds its way to our front door, so once you know where we are, it is so easy. 

Yes, directions are a necessity in so many places, and not everyone uses or can use GPS.  

I am familiar with Sayulita, where @Sarah977 lives, and I am an experienced wilderness hiker, excellent at reading a map and compass, so I'm less likely than most to get lost; however, my partner can get lost in any city, so  a good set of directions with land marks is such a blessing. 

@Sarah977 

[Kristin108]

@Sheron10  I will always require that guests call me in person (no texting) so I can give them the 'fine tuning' on the directions and confirm their arrival time.

This works in two ways; one it requires the guest makes a human connection with me. And secondly, It allows me to remind the guest the nature of the property... 

As I am now booked at 100% through September, three months in advance, I find that more and more people make assumptions about a place... Some might not be familiar with country properties... e.g. opening and closing gates, lots of trees, no view of the property from the street, etc... And that my property is a farm and I actually live on the property as well!

Having a conversation, giving directions the old fashioned way and requiring some accountability from my guests, inevitability makes for a better experience all around. 

[Lynne397]

Wondering why my listing doesn't show up.

[Fox1]

I have this guidebook feature on one of my listings (I'm testing out the "value" to both myself as a host and to the guest.

Many of my guests have not received the guidebook, how is this guidebook delivered to them? Do they check on their Airbnb app...

How do guests know that this feature exists for their upcoming stay? 

[Nicky168]

@Fox1  Just checking if you are asking about the arrival guide or the guide book as there are both. I have attached the blub from Airbnb. Hope this helps.

Starting this month, guests will find a new check-in guide at the top of their Trips tab 48 hours before check-in, giving them important details like directions to your space, check-in instructions, and wifi info. 

In order for this to work, you’ll need to check that you’ve filled out all the fields under the Info for guests section of your Listings tab. 

Check out the RC article for more details, and to see how your guests will experience the Arrival guide.  

[Sam4447]

Hi 

I host a property and one of our main problems is guests showing up early. We have seen people show up a whole day early. 
giving people the check in codes 48 hours before check in is irresponsible. There is no security for anyone if that happens. 
we will not be letting Airbnb give out our codes as I’m sure our insurance company will be querying that practice. 
We send the information once the house is vacated and cleaned. I have recently stayed at a caravan park and they emailed the gate code on day of check in and that was just a powered site. 
please rethink automatically send personal and price information out early for the safety of all guests using Airbnb. 
Kind regards sam 

[Vay31]

Great idea, but can it not be made available to guests sooner than 48 hours, say 96 at least. Reason being, guests want to know this info earlier. I send this about a week before they arrive.

[Surinda-And-Dave0]

Is there a way to copy and send the check in instructions if a guest claims they cant find them...seems to be happening often. They didn't see the email and they dont have the app.

[Karen3374]

The facility for providing detailed instruction for access is helpful for my guests because my place is tricky to find and GPS/satnav don't know where I am. I found it very confusing that I could not access these details to update them from the listing details on my laptop, access is only through the app.