Keeping all communication within the AirBnb app messaging feature, or not?

[Linda3345]

I successfully hosted my first guests, and my second guests are here now. 

I gave my first guest my phone number, and we texted back and forth, once she was here. 

But then I realized that I had 2 different places to look for messages: the AirBnb messaging feature, and my personal texts. 

I wondered: is it simpler/advisable to only use the AirBnb messenger?   And do most guests have the Air Bnb app, which makes it as easy as texting? 

What do others do?

I do have an overall goal of keeping my life simple. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Linda3345 The app is preferred as it means Airbnb will have a record of what has been said if it comes to a dispute.

[Natalie1270]

Will WhatsApp records no suffice? Thanks 

[Elaine701]

For most post-booking friendly communications, we use WhatsApp. It's far faster, superior and more reliable than the Airbnb messaging system, and you can see if it's been received by the recipient, which is quite valuable at times. 

For anything important, naturally we use the Airbnb messaging system, so it's at least on record.