Hi again Eileen, when dealing with check-in, check-out procedures keep in mind we are not dealing with a niche targeted market here, we are dealing with people across the whole spectrum from tech savvy to neanderthal, from 18 year old to 80 year olds.........keep it simple!
Although Airbnb sends check-in instructions 48 hours before the stay, on the morning of the stay I send this message in the message stream and also to guests mobile device......
Hi xxxxxxxxx, we are looking forward to your stay here with us in Mt Barker this evening. The cottage has been prepared for you, all I would ask if you could give me your approximate arrival time so I can plan my days activities and make sure the cottage heating is running when you get here and I can be on hand to give you the keys and show you what does what in the cottage.
Lastly, when you come into Stephenson St, look for the Airbnb Welcome sign at the front gate, Ade and I will look forward to welcoming you both later today.
Now sending that almost always gets a prompt response, they give me an arrival time so I know where I stand and it gets the hosting off to a good friendly start.
Living on the property I get to welcome each guest and I do like to walk them through the cottage on arrival, explain the key-box to them........
I stay away from any fancy electronic entry devices that require sms codes or device connectivity. From the experience of others all they do is create confusion for any guests who don't travel regularly, or are possibly not up with the latest technology. Everyone knows how to open a lock-box and put the key in a lock. Believe me, it is the safest option Eileen.
I show them how the electric bed works, explain all the touch lighting so they don't have to fumble with switches in the night, how the device charging station works.......
This device has saved me a lot of heartache dealing with charging cords that have been left behind, and travelling guests love it because they can charge up to 7 devices simultaneously in the same location......win/win all round!!
I show them the operation of the motorised shower screen....
That was sort of a desperation measure, I had two glass shower doors broken in the space of 6 weeks. They would drop the shower head, it would hit the glass and crack it. At $300 a pop to repair I couldn't keep on wearing it so I had to adopt some other mechanism. I have used this motorised blind for the last 2 years and had no issues with it. Guest just gets in, presses the down side of the touchpad, it stops automatically when it gets to the bottom and when they want to get out they just hit the upside of the wall touchpad. It's novel and it solves a problem, nothing ever goes wrong with it! Just have to remember to re-charge the battery every 2 months.
I find explaining to guests the idiosyncrasies of the property stops a lot of problems from happening, it's much better than writing it in house rules, or expecting guests to read Post-it notes scattered around the listing!
On the morning of check-out I send the guest a message thanking them for their stay and I just ask 2 things of them.
1/......Don't clean up, don't strip beds of wash dishes! I don't want to have to second guess what guests might have used or done, I have a preparation regime and I like to keep to that. I don't even want them to put their rubbish in a council bin, they don't separate out the recycles and if they put it in a bin it hides any breakages they might have had. I just ask them to leave their rubbish in the supplied plastic bag outside the door and I will deal with it from there.
2/......Leave the cottage keys in the door!
By asking them to do that it does jog their memory in case they leave with the keys in one of their coat pockets.
And that's it, most times I get to wish then well and farewell them with a handshake, and Eileen, it works pretty well!
Cheers........Rob
We are heavily booked Eileen, for the 6 months from 1st Nov last year to 30th April this year we had a total of 4 un-booked nights.......
And it shows no sign of tapering off, every month we average 18 new Airbnb bookings.
Guests look for a certain style of host. If a guest wants to be left to themselves, that's fine, they have their private entrance and the cottage is not attached to the house, and we allow them as much privacy as they want. But because of our reviews we do tend to attract guests who do want to be hosted and do like a bit of interaction......
Airbnb accounts for about 80% of my hosting, so I am kept on my toes.....each year we get a little bit busier. This Superhost assessment period that just ended saw us almost hit 160 Airbnb stays for the 12 months for the first time. Here is my stats for the current Superhost assessment period which ended yesterday 30th Sept.....
My feeling is, the secret to successful hosting is to give the guest something they are not expecting. If you can do that Eileen, the good reviews will do the rest and keep a steady stream of guests coming to your door.
Cheers........Rob
I would love to help if there is some way that I can.
I joined the Community Centre 3 months before I started to host, way back around Christmas 2014.
I never posted anything here for the first 3 months! Every day I read posts from those who had started out before me.....
Dave Salmon of @Dave-and-Deb0 from Edmonton, @Clare0 from Tempelton CA, Andrea Wagner of @Andrea9 from Amsterdam. @Helga and her wonderful talking parrot from Paris.
Eileen these guys made me a competent host with the great advice they gave me, they were gold to me and saved me from many a newbie blunder. I can't possibly repay these lovely guys for their wonderful help......all I can do is pay it forward.
I have produced a 'how to host' book which is going great guns in my local hosting community here......
I am presently producing it in E book form and according to those who have read it, it might make me a dollar or two!
So if there is anything you would like some help with I would be honoured to assist Eileen!
Cheers.........Rob
