While AirBnB has recently added a feature that allows hosts to store a set of "Saved Messages" to use when communicating with guests or potential guests, I don't use that feature because I've already set up a collection of boilerplate messages "in the cloud". (How I did that is sort of beside the point because there are many ways to do it, but if you want to know, I used the Notes feature on my iPhone/iPad/laptop, all of which sync via Apple's cloud.)
Whether you choose to use AirBnB's "Saved Messages" feature or some cloud-based method, or even just a set of hard files saved on your computer, here are some suggestions for the kinds of situations that boilerplate messages are good for:
* Pre-Acceptance/House Rules -- We send this when someone has requested a booking, *before* we accept the booking. Basically, we thank them for their request and ask them to read our House Rules and Cancellation Policy, and then let us know if they're okay with them. (If we don't hear back from them within 6-8 hours, we decline the request in order to remove the block that their booking request placed in our calendar.)
* Pre-Approval Request -- Almost the same text as above, adjusted for the fact that the guest asked for pre-approval instead of a booking. Sent before approving a pre-approval request. Since pre-approval requests expire in 24 hours and don't place a block in our calendar, we just send this and don't worry if they don't respond. (However, because I have a dislike for non-communicative window-shoppers, I'll often decline them after 8-12 hours anyway; maybe longer if they're from a radically different time-zone.)
* Acceptance Message -- Welcomes/thanks them and lets them know that we'll send other information (such as the new code for our keyless lock) a few days before their arrival. (Most of our bookings are 1-3 months in advance.)
* Pre-Arrival Message -- This one tells them the new code for the keyless lock, reminds them of the check-in time, describes how to find our house, where to park, and how to navigate the gate/stairs/door to the private apartment. Typically sent 5 days before arrival, although it might be sent sooner if we know the people will be traveling a lot and might not be able to access their AirbnB messages easily.)
* Trash and Recycle Message -- Some longer-stay guests ask us about what to do with trash or recycling, even though we have a large full-color bi-fold card on a shelf explaining all that. Thus, this canned message.
* Bicycle Message -- We often get questions, usually before booking or before arrival, about loaner bikes. We don't have any (too many legal issues), but we do provide information about rentals from nearby bike shops and the city's automated rental kiosks. We also provide this info on a card in the 3-ring binder that has a printed copy of our AirBnB-generated Guidebook.
* Pre-Checkout Message -- If there's a chance that the guests might be checking out early (to catch a flight, etc) , we gently ask them if that might be the case. If it is, that lets us clean and prep early, under less pressure, before the next guests' arrival.
* Price Too High? -- Many of our dates, for all sorts of reasons, are priced higher than the base week-day rate that AirBnB displays for our listing. If lookers ask about that, we explain. Gently. Ever so gently.
We have a few other boilerplate messages, but they're too corner-case or specific to our listing or area of town to include here.
Anyway. as a basically lazy person, I highly recommend assembling at least a small set of canned messages. They can save you a lot of redundant work.
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