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?

[Andrew216]

THIS ^^^^^^^^ THIS^^^^^^
Stop treating guests like Babies. Many of the guests are already overloaded with TOO much information. they do not need more stuff to (not) read. Whilst working as a trainer manager for Whitbread for 9 1/2 years the best thing we did was remove all the "do not do this" signs from all round the Brewers Fayre restaurants and fun factories.
Many of my guests just walk straight on in....house is never locked, they can use my bikes, the car and I will talk to them every time ....even if i am repeating myself 500 times. Which i have...check my reviews. 25 years in hospitality management, and I have to see you making the same mistakes so called CEO's made 30 years ago.
Let people be people. (rant over)

[David-and-Becky1]

Is there a way to opt out of using the Arrival Guide?  We already provide this information in the auto- messages that go out 4 days prior to check in.  Having this available 48 hrs prior is not helpful (guests typically like to plan ahead more than 2 days before their arrival) and this just seems to be "information overload" for our guests.  We appreciate what Airbnb is trying to do, however "if it's not broke, don't fix it".   The new auto messages have been a time saver and work great! 

[Helen427]

There doesn't really appear to be any changes in provisions to what it already was to our private Room listing.

Or have we missed something???

Is this  change / update directed at "Self check in Options", because of COVID related "Guidance?

@Airbnb @David-and-Becky1 @Donald-And-Tania0 @Barbara90 

[Andrew216]

AGREED. Read my profile and listing that I've had for over 5 years. Mostly nonsense and guests generally love it. ~god knows where they find their "talent" for airbnb initiatives... jeez

[Nicky168]

As mentioned by several hosts, we work extremely hard for our good reviews and a vital part of this, is the personal communication we have with our guests. I am simply not interested in dedicating this valuable role to a bot. Sure, it takes time but that's a vital part of personalizing the service we offer. It's the exceptional customer service we provide that sets us apart from other accommodation venues. As suggested by other hosts, it would be a more productive use of your time to make system enhancements such as providing a surcharge option for 1 night stays or an additional field to enable specific charges for pets. I, also, have noticed a considerable reduction in the standard of support offered by Airbnb employees to hosts. Apparently the difference in time zones between northern and southern hemispheres is to blame. It was never a problem previously.  Airbnb management regularly advises, that as hosts, we need to be proactive in the management of our listing. This recent addition is contrary to this philosophy.

[Andrew216]

Stop treating guests like Babies. Many of the guests are already overloaded with TOO much information. they do not need more stuff to (not) read. Whilst working as a trainer manager for Whitbread for 9 1/2 years the best thing we did was remove all the "do not do this" signs from all round the Brewers Fayre restaurants and fun factories.
Many of my guests just walk straight on in....house is never locked, they can use my bikes, the car and I will talk to them evry time ....even if i am repeating myself 500 times. Which i have...check my reviews. 25 years in hospitality management, a nd I have to see you making the same mistakes so called CEO's made 30 years ago.
Let people be people. (rant over)

[Donald-And-Tania0]

You are absolutely right, @Nicky168, the site is extremely complex as it is, and this is an extra layer of info for people to just not bother to read.

We have been hosting for 8 years and work hard give a personalised service. And yes, Airbnb needs to address the support for hosts, even as Superhosts we struggle sometimes to get a common sense answer. 

A surcharge option for one nighters would be great, and a revamp of the "Custom Settings" to make them simpler to set would also be good. 

And if you are listening Airbnb, the overwhelming response from hosts on this topic is: Can I turn it OFF?

[Nicky168]

@Donald-And-Tania0 Does anyone from Airbnb actually monitor this site and take on board any of our comments and suggestions? Or is it's function simply to provide hosts with a site to vent their frustrations? I would have thought, given the considerable amount of feedback generated by this issue, some response should have been forthcoming.  The minimal support provided by Airbnb to hosts, makes a mockery of their recent 'touchy feely' advertising campaign which implies that the organisation is nothing, without their hosts. Airbnb seems to have lost sight of who their customer really is.

[Jessie223]

Can we provide a guide in 2 seperate languages? I live in Quebec and about 50% of my reservations are locals who speak French, but I also get many guests that speak English. 

[Andrew216]

use internet translate services....

[Andrew216]

Stop treating guests like Babies. Many of the guests are already overloaded with TOO much information. they do not need more stuff to (not) read. Whilst working as a trainer manager for Whitbread for 9 1/2 years the best thing we did was remove all the "do not do this" signs from all round the Brewers Fayre restaurants and fun factories.
Many  of my guests just walk straight on in....house is never locked, they can use my bikes, the car and I will talk to them evry time ....even if i am repeating myself 500 times. Which i have...check my reviews. 25 years in hospitality management, a nd I have to see you making the same mistakes so called CEO's made 30 years ago.
Let people be people. (rant over) 😉
.

[Bruce172]

Good idea. But… I’ve been sending each guest a letter with the information for checking in, WiFi, contact info, check out time, trash, compost, loading dishwasher and where the microwave is. With this new 48 hour info will I still need to send a welcome info email? Probably. 

[Matt-and-Tatiana0]

Wow, that guidebook is just horrible.  We use https://hub.touchstay.com/ for our guest guidebook, and it is great for keeping guests information for future references. You can personalize it to fit your needs, not like Airbnb's version. Our guests absolutely love our guidebook.

@Andrew216Wow that's pretty amazing, to have trust like that. We operate completely the opposite, we have rules galore, due to past experiences that cost us $$$. We find most people respect your home, it's those assholes in between that ruin it for everyone else.

[Sarah977]

@Matt-and-Tatiana0  Take a look at Andrew's listing. It's a private room home-share. So is mine and I have much the same experience and type of interaction with guests that he does. I have never had a bad guest. Never anything damaged, almost every guest leaves their space clean. I have virtually no rules aside from no pets, no children.

You have entire home Plus listings. It's a completely different type of hosting.

I love home-share hosting, love the guests that come my way, and you couldn't pay me to run an Entire Home listing unless it was on the property where I also lived. 

[Lovepreet1]

My recommendation is 'Arrival Guide' should be visible to guests only certain days prior to their visit, as this may have security information like lock code information etc and all that guests really don't need until they are close to check in.