What do you include in a welcome message?

[Katie]

 

I know many of you send a welcome message to guests who book, and this is sometimes the first interaction you’ll have with them. 

Some of our members here in the Community have mentioned that they use this opportunity to underline the House Rules, whilst others prefer to use it as a chance to get to know a little more about a guest’s reasons for staying. Perhaps you direct them to the local attractions in your area, or let them know to bring their swimsuit if you have the facilities. 

What do you like to include in your welcome message? Do your guests respond right away?

[Bridget116]

I send the guest a series of 4 messages all automated but crafted in a way that it seems its directly from me. This really helps as we have loads of listings and I do not have time to respond to them all. Some of these messages on some listings also have photos attached of say difficult to find lock boxes.

Here they are and Im keen to hear what others think:

1.Confirmation message sent seconds after a confirmed booking.

Hello _____, and thanks for your reservation!

I wanted to confirm right away your reservation at "Name of listing" starting on Sunday, November 1 for 1 night with 2 people.

I will contact you a week before your arrival to make sure that everything is okay on your side, and give you some additional instructions for a smooth check-in.

If you have any questions please let me know.

See you soon!

Bridget

2. Arrival instructions message sent 7 days prior to guest arrival

Dear _____,

Not long till you arrive! Here are the details for your check in:

The address of the property is at _________ Queenstown, Otago.

The key is locked in a key lock box on the decking, it is on the back fence under the light of the house. The code is ____

The home will be warm and ready for your arrival. My number is ________- call me if you have any issues.

I hope that you will have an enjoyable stay at "Name of listing"

Best regards,

Bridget

3. Thank you message with departure instructions sent on the morning of departure

Hi _____,

Thanks so much for staying with us, we hope you have had a wonderful stay.

On your departure this morning; we would love it if you wouldn't mind checking the following:

- Please remove the rubbish from the house and leave in the bins provided outside
- Load and start the dishwasher for us
- Please leave all the furniture where you found it on arrival
- Please leave the keys inside and return the entry key to the lockbox.

Of course we love to hear your feedback to ensure we’re improving our guest experiences! All the best to you and your onward travel wherever that may be.

Aroha nui,

Bridget

4. Another thank you message sent a few hours after checkout. This one is the clincher that helps me to get great reviews 🙂

Hi _____,

I just wanted to thank you for staying with us and we hope you had a great stay at our place.

All the best for the year ahead and we hope to see you again on your next trip to Queenstown!

I'll be sending you a 5 star review shortly.

Best regards,

My overall 5 star review rate is 94.6 over 33 listings and 1500 guest stays!

And my over all rating is 4.95 out of 5 over the same amount of guests stays.

I hope the above is useful 🙂

[Candace9]

Guests rarely response at all to welcome messages.  We normally send out, an acknowledgement and a thank you for booking. Along with our contact numbers in case of issues and directions to the property.  The only time they normally the response is if they want an early check-in. 

A few days before they arrive we resend check-in details, check in time and directions.  

[Barbara2309]

Hi Katie,

Thanks for this community forum. Now that we are in the new Covid-19 world I have adapted my welcome message to include information regarding cleaning, as well as my usual info, that I will send another email with house details close to the date, and if they have asked any questions or offered information about why and who is coming, directly responding to that to personalise the message. Here is an example.

Dear NAME,

Thank you for your booking request it has been accepted and I have confirmed your reservation at 60s Beach House Dalmeny for 6 - 9 November. Great to hear you can find some time for a coastal getaway and some relaxing down time. Your toddler is very welcome and we have a child’s gate in our garage that can be put across the top of the internal stairwell. Also all dogs are allowed inside and we have a fully fenced backyard, just make sure the side gates are closed.

We will send you the directions to the property and the key instructions in a separate email [name the date], or you can find the information on the AirBnB app in your booking information. At that time we will need the names of all your party and contact details where applicable and someone’s address - this is part of our Covid safe actions.

As part of our preparations for the lifting of travel restrictions, we have enhanced our cleaning regime as per our cleaning guidelines below. In addition we have now extended the gap between guest bookings to help us prepare for your arrival. In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for booking and we hope you have a great stay.

Kind regards,
Barbara
60s Beach House Dalmeny

CLEANING SCHEDULE
Our cleaner will use disinfectant and/or hot water and detergent when undertaking the cleaning of all high touch surfaces including:
• Tables
• Hard-backed chairs
• Door handles
• Light switches
• Remote controls
• All wardrobe and cupboard handles
• Toilets, sinks, taps
• Bedside tables and lamp switches
• Kitchen and bathroom surfaces including cupboard handles
• Handrails

FLOOR SURFACES
• Vacuum and mop hard floors including under beds, using hot water and disinfectant detergent. Mop from one end of the premises to the other.
• Vacuum all rugs.

LINENS
• Towels, linens and other items washed and dried completely.

VENTILATION
The house is aired and ventilated during and after cleaning

[Nutth0]

after Thanks to a guest for booking. I will recheck number of guest especially when they book as 1 guest. 

[Katie]

Hey @Nutth0, great to hear from you, I hope you're well? Very good point on getting them to confirm the number of guests - always best to check and make sure 😊

[Daniaris0]

Hola @Katie . Mi mensaje de bienbenida la mayoría de las veces es:

Buenas. Muchas gracias por haber elegido nuestra casa. Esperamos se sientan como en la suya. Nos vemos pronto. Cualquier pregunta no duden en escribir. Más o menos así.

Y, por supuesto, siempre estamos al tanto de las reservas para contestar al momento.

Un saludo desde Cuba,

Daniaris.

-------Translation added-------

Hi @Katie. My welcome message most of the time is:

Good evening. Thank you so much for choosing our house. We hope you feel at home. See you soon, and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask. More or less so.

And, of course, we are always conscious of reservations in order to respond immediately.

Greetings from Cuba,

Daniaris.

[Katie]

Hola @Daniaris0, gracias por compartir tu mensaje - me parece muy amable 😊 

¿Los huéspedes normalmente le responden al mensaje con preguntas y tal? 

(Si no le importa, he traducido sus comentarios para permitir a todos los miembros aquí en la comunidad inglesa puedan leerlos)

-------Translation added-------

Hi @Daniaris0, thanks for sharing your message - it seems very friendly 😊 

Do the guests normally respond to the message with questions etc?

(If you don't mind, I've translated your comments to allow all the members here in the EN CC to read them)

[Anna9170]

@Francesco1366   Before this second wave of covid, my children and I had plans to fly to Venice in October, and I noted many lists in favorites list. None of the places had such cost of cleaning.)
About the payment for bed linen - I know about it, my friend rents an apartment on the coast in Italy, but it is a one-month rent, long-term, there are other rules.
Generally, if your daily price is 45 (and discounts)  + cleaning fee 190 work perfectly - you do not need my advice). 😎

[Francesco1366]

@Anna9170  

I would also like to point out that about the payment of bed linens, it is the same all over the world. If you offer them only once at the beginning of the lease, you will have that cost only once in Italy as in Australia. 

[Anna9170]

@Francesco1366  No, it is not the same all over the world. Bed linen is included in the room price or in the proportional cleaning fee.

[Francesco1366]

Hi @Anna9170,

thanks for your message. Yes, is the same. Also in Italy if yuo want to offer bed linen you have to include it in the room price or in the cleaning fee. 

Then there is another choice, change sheets and towels every day or within a certain period. Either never change them, or in any case do not include the cost of the change in the price: the guest will pay if he wants it.

Those in Italy who choose (or cannot) not change sheets and towels during the stay, have exactly the same cost as those in Australia who make the same decision.

[Francesco1366]

Hi @Anna9170,

yours and everyone's advices are welcome. I thought it was clear to you reading what I wrote here.

First of all, you continue to call them cleaning costs but they are not. Secondly, I didn't say that they work perfectly but only that if you don't have daily fixed costs, formulating the price with an initial cost is simply more correct. And so it is. In addition, this price guarantees lower prices for longer stays. And so it is.

I perfectly realize the weaknesses of this choice. In my case I think it's the best way for many reasons.

Your advice was a little vague, but of course I really appreciate it. If you want, let me know a price that meets my requests. I do not find it. In other sites I can do different prices based on the duration of the booking, here limitedly. If you have anything else to suggest by looking at my ads, please don't hesitate! Any advice is welcome, especially for free!

I don't care much about doing as everyone does but do what suits me. Thanks to you anyway I'll think about prices even better. It seems to me that you claim that it is a commercially very wrong idea and most will not understand it, finding it almost "offensive", as you actually said in your first message.  Received, thank you very much! 

Finally, I repeat that the error is from Airbnb which does not allow me to divide those costs, as I can do from a lot of competitors. I think it would benefit everyone to be able to do it.

Thanks again!

[Anna9170]

@Francesco1366  Sorry, but I have another question for you. In your apartment (1 bedroom, 3 guests) costs 45 euros per day, and additional discounts. And the cleaning fee is 190 EURO!!!!!. How is this possible? I really liked your apartment, it is discreet and stylish, but such a strange division of pricing for me as a guest is unacceptable. 🙄  Why is there such a contrast between the daily price and the cleaning fee? A chain of 3 intermediaries, and one of them owns a cleaning agency, I understand, right?)). 


Do you have "instant booking" enabled? If not, it is not a problem to explain the rules to the guest once again. With instant booking it's more difficult because sometimes they press the button and don't think.
I have written the rules of the house many times, and yes, there is also a tourist tax, which is charged by the City Hall of our city. It is written twice accurately, and in the rules and in additional rules, and in different languages. Oh, I have to pay the tourist tax? 😶 This is the most common question at check-in.😂
One thing I know for sure - guests look at the photos and read the signatures to them (thank God))). So it is possible, if there are so many additional conditions in Italy, to reflect it on one of the photos. And make a description to this photo CAPSLOCK .😄

[Francesco1366]

@Anna9170,

thanks for your message. 

I have included in the house rules what "cleaning fee" actually refers to. In particular and with amounts (abt.), I pay at the beginning of the lease Euro 60/70 for cleaning, Euro 30 for sheets and towels for 3 persons and Euro 40 for check-in. I get paid for it even if I do, rarely, because it is always a "waste" of time. To get this amount I have to add Airbnb commissions and taxes, so Euro 190. More for some apartments. By law I cannot offer services (sheets , cleanings, etc) during the lease, I only have these costs at the beginning. To reassure you if you want to come to my house, I can present you to a trusted company that offers these services 😊

In other sites it's really better,  I can divide these initial costs and not necessarily call them just "cleaning costs". We think that for our particular case (we want to attract especially stays for long periods but at the same time offering one night stays in low periods, also for the visibility obtained in the searches) is the best way to create the price. Personally I think it is an underestimated price formulation, if I do not offer services during the stay (and I don't have a big organization with fixed costs) it is definitely the best way in order to offer the best price for any length of stay. I realize that some don't like it, especially here, we hope guests take into consideration the final price which is the most important thing. 

I don't think I will change the price (for now, in any case I have been using it for a long time in other sites with success) but sure would be useful better underline the correct subdivision of this cost.

Thanks again!

[Anna9170]

@Helen427  I provide guests with beach towels (you mean it? 😊) always. So I see no point in writing about it separately, it is indicated in the photos.
My tone of description of the accommodation shows that I am waiting for independent guests, and I am not a nanny, and they should be able to google themselves). But I am always very happy with clear and specific questions, I love such guests. When people do not waste my time on chatter and know exactly what they want. 😎

[Anna9170]

@Katie  @Ann72  
Exactly! It is a marker that the host is connected and reacts quickly, and it is really calming).
After all, even when I buy something for three cents (conditionally speaking), I wait for a quick confirmation email "your order is accepted". But there is a huge deal and of course I try to answer immediately.
Later, of course, I will send instructions on arrival, and the guest can ask questions, and it certainly happens in a calm rhythm.

@J-Renato0 
I am writing to the guest - thank you for your excellent choice!  
Let the guest also be happy that he managed to book such a beautiful place. 😂😎

[Francesco1366]

@Ann72 , @Anna9170, @Ria16, @Helen427, @Katie (sorry if i forget someone),

Thank you very much for your comments and concrete examples!

It seems to me, that no one refers to the house rules. Do you mention them (or the most important or an advice to check in your page) in another message? Do you think you have normal rules that don't need to be underlined? Do you think that Airbnb already highlights them well enough and therefore need not be underlined? Or what else? If you have time and desire to reply. Thank you!

In my experience about three years ago (I have now received no reservations yet), the house rules were often / occasionally little known by guests. For example, in Italy it is compulsory in many properties (like mine) to sign a lease agreement and collect the identity documents of all guests: not respecting these rules could cause fines and even criminal charges due to anti-terrorism laws. So, I think at least I will blandly specify these rules at first contact with guests, immediately after the booking confirmation if I choose instant booking.

[Ria16]

@Francesco1366  I don’t include the house rules in my welcome message because I know from booking places myself you have to read the house rules before completing the booking.  Although I know this is mainly ignored . 

[Huma0]

@Francesco1366 

Yes, I always ask the guests to confirm that they have read the full listing and house rules either before they book, or straight after if they instant book. I started doing this after realising that a lot of people did not read them or, even if they did, would miss something important. I think this has saved me a lot of headaches.

I have three booking questions which guests are supposed to see when they book, which includes the above one, but I can tell you that in my experience, only around 5% of guests actually responded to these so, again, people are not reading stuff or it's not clear on the system.

Even though there is a 'guests must acknowledge' section, the way it has been placed up until now (perhaps this has changed under the new layout) this important information is probably the least seen part of the listing! So, I also reiterate a couple of things about the listing, e.g. that the room faces a busy road or that there are a lot of stairs.

[Ann72]

@Francesco1366  I think you would be right to re-state those rules in your welcome message.  I have read them on your listing and some guests will have seen them, but as you suspect, not too many.  I would put the most immediately necessary ones first - for instance, sign a lease, present an ID, and pay the tourist tax.

I put most of my house rules in the house manual - the rules that they don't really need to know before they book or before they get there.  I find they always read them because they have to read the house manual to find out where the coffeemaker is and how to use the TV.  As a result I have very few problems with people following the rules.