Managing your time better during peak season

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

Whether you are just finishing a busy season of bookings or you are going into your peak time, it is always good to have a plan to manage and keep on top of your bookings.

There are lots things that can make a huge amount of difference, ranging from the communication with your guest to making sure you have a set cleaning routine.

What are you tips for making sure your time goes further?

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Brenda262]

Hi Lizzie! 

I have assigned a 15-20 minutes a day to take care of my booking and follow ups. If for some reason demands increase we try to adapt to it. Those 15-20 minutes are including communication with my cleaning crew, make sure we have all what place needs, cleaning supplies, little extra touches. Check list printed so we all are communication and keeping track of needs. This seems helping so we don’t have to take a full day off from our daily commitments. 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Brenda262,

This is sounds like a great way to prioritise your time. Do you also have template message or set things you know to include to save even more time and keep to this timeframe?

[Brenda262]

 Definetly! That is very convenitent, specialy if you are recieving those request during your day. I have been adding the ones can be use more frequently. Also if is a common question I just added to listing so you void all that confusion prior booking.

[Lizzie]

It is nice to hear how your communication has evolved over your time as a host, @Brenda262. Do you tend to keep these useful information points/questions on your Airbnb account or do you have a masterfile on you computer where you organise everything?

[Brenda262]

Thank you! I just started hosting late April and we have been having great experience in overall. Yes I have them in my AirBnB account, so easy to send it from your phone. 

[Huma0]

Quick question, I have saved messages on the system to save time, but I have found no way of going back into them and editing/updating them. I have to update them manually each time I message a guest.

Anyone know how to do this?

[Elizabeth773]

I agree, and have the same question about being able to hit reply, then choose a response from my saved messages. 

Now, I have to:

-leave that message,

-click on a booked reservation, 

-chose a saved message

- cut and paste it over to the inquiry 

There has to be a better way. 🤞

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

Hope you are able to see this @Huma0 and @Elizabeth0

In any conversation with any guest, click on "Use a saved message" a pop-up window will show with all your saved messages.

At the bottom of that box, you can choose between "Save a new message" or "Edit saved messages"

If you click on "Edit saved messages" it shows all your saved messages with "Edit" or "Delete" boxes for each message.

Click on edit for the message you want to edit, make the changes and click save. Or you can delete the message and just create a new saved message.

Hope this helps~!

[Huma0]

Thank you @Jessica-and-Henry0! Not sure why I didn't try that before. I guess it's because I thought if you edited the saved message from inside a communication thread with a guest, it would only edit it for that thread. Obviously not. Doh!

[@ mention updated :)]

[Lizzie]

This is really handy @Jessica-and-Henry0. Thanks for sharing this here. 

Do you use this function quite a lot?

[Natalie344]

Thank you so much for posting this, I am new to Airbnb and have been amending old messages as I’ve gone along. I hope to put this use of saved messages into practice soon 😊👌🏻

[Jeremy222]

Go into messages as if you are about to send a guest a new message.  Click the icon "Use a Saved Message".  In the bottom left hand corner of the pop up is "Edit a Saved Message"

[Huma0]

Hi Lizzie, thanks for starting this topic. July-September is definitely the busiest time for me and, like last Summer, I will be hosting guests in three rooms, rather than the usual two. I was run a bit ragged last time, so I'm really looking forward to hearing tips from other hosts as I'm sure I could manage my time better.

What I have learnt so far is to make sure I have an adequate supply of bedlinens and towels so as not to be caught short. The used ones go straight in the washing machine anyway, so that there's never a backlog. I try to keep the linen cupboard organised with bedding for different rooms on different shelves, guest towels in another pile etc. so that I don't have to rummage around. Guest toiletries get stored in clear cosmetic bags so I can see what's what.

I store one of each of the products needed to clean the bedrooms in a separate fabric shopper so that I can just grab this each time rather than rummaging under the sink for everything I need. I always have a good stock of cleaning products so I never have to run out for something in the middle of a turnover. I try to buy them in bulk or when they're on offer, which can save quite a bit of cash in the long run.

I'm a bit old school when it comes to calendars though. Obviously there is the calendar on the website, but I also write everything down in a paper desk diary with a week-to-view format. I make sure to write down the details (guest names, nationality, arrival time and which room they're staying in) the moment the booking is made. On top of that, I have a chalk board weekly planner on the wall so I can see at a glance the guests for the coming week, alongside my other appointments. I used to have such an impressive memory but, sadly, with middle age these tools have become a must for me!

[Lizzie]

I really like your thinking here @Huma0. Linen must be one of the most demanding parts of hosting back-to-back or really regularly. It's often not just getting everything washed, but getting it dry too. 🙂 

Are there parts of your daily routeen that you find in particular take a lot of time or use to?