Skipped Scheduled Messages

[Natalie1170]

Recently, I have noticed that when I have guests staying for only one night, the check out message that is supposed to be sent out at 6PM is automatically skipped due to “timing”. I have seen that the skip can be undone, but it is inconvenient to check each individual reservation to make sure it’s scheduled. Unfortunately, I don’t always catch it, and I’ve had to send the message last minute in the morning. Is there a way I can override this feature? I don’t understand how the system is in control of that when I clearly have set it to be sent at 6PM no matter what. 

Is anyone else dealing with this problem?

[Breanna]

Hi @Natalie1170 

I see it's been awhile since you posted this but wondered if you were able to find out what is causing the messages to be skipped? 

If not, perhaps some of our Community's experienced hosts could weigh in on why this might be happening @Joan2709 or @Helen3  have you ever come across this before?

[Natalie1170]

Hi @Breanna!

No I haven’t found a solution to this problem yet. I just do my best to catch it before it becomes a problem for guests. Any advice would be appreciated!

Natalie

[Joan2709]

Hi @Natalie1170 

Here is what is happening (most likely). One of our properties allows one night stays as you do. Our check-in time is the same as yours (after 3pm). However, if you allow same-day bookings on your listing, and the guest books AFTER 6pm, but before your same day booking cutoff time (we set ours to 7pm same day), the message is "skipped" as the system did not "see" a guest booked before your 6pm time for messages to be sent. 

Suggest you look at what you have set for your availability times for same-day bookings. We send our check-out message the day of departure at 9am. This is so any one night guests who arrive late (say 9pm), and is checking out in the morning doesn't get a checkout message before they even arrive! It also catches those same day bookings (we allow same day until 7pm), where the message would be "skipped" as there was no booking in the system at 6pm the day before.

This should work fine for smaller properties that allow 1-night stays and same day bookings. Our larger property does NOT allow same day bookings and it has a 3night min stay so this is not sn issue for that property. You can always send a message manually for 2nite stays or longer, but your default should be day of departure (instead of night before) so you don't have to manually monitor it.

[Natalie1170]

Thanks for the response  @Joan2709! 

I went ahead and looked at our settings and saw that we no longer do same day bookings. We require at least 24 hour notice. I’m going to mess around with that and see if it solves that issue. 

Also, I’ve noticed that when the checkout message is sent at 9am for a 10am checkout, people seem to miss it. Have you had the same problem? You’d think that guests see that the listing and house rules mention when checkout is but we’ve had stragglers. With cleaners coming about 30-60 minutes after a checkout, they’ve at times run into guests. I figured that sending the message the evening before would help with that. 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Natalie1170 

If you don't have same day bookings, then your message the night before scheduled for 6pm should work. You would still have the issue with the guests who check-in late getting the check-out message before they even arrive. If that is not an issue for you, then sending it the night before departure is better (I agree 😊).

Try 11am Checkout (instead of 10am) 

Our check out time is 11am. We used to have 10am like you, but found many guests checked out late; especially if they arrived late the night before. This is why we changed to 11am instead of 10am...it has worked out better and we rarely have problems with guest checking out late anymore.

Post Check-Out Time inside Listing

Inside the listing we post our checkout times along with our checkout instructions (we only have a few checkout items). It is a nice sign in a frame in a prominent location. That way, if they don't read the check-out message, at least they have the check-out time and instructions inside the listing. 

Add New Check-Out Instructions

I would try adding the new check-out instructions that Airbnb added to the Summer 2023 release (If you're not already doing that). The guest will get a push notification automatically from Airbnb about check-out (if they have notifications turned on). We still send our own customized check out message though. Add check-out instructions under "Info for Guests." 

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/a-clear-and-simple-checkout-584

"We’ll send guests an automatic reminder with your checkout time and instructions. This is sent as a push notification to your guest’s mobile device the day before checkout at 5:00 PM in the time zone where they’re staying. Guests need to have the Airbnb app downloaded and push notifications enabled to receive this reminder. Once they check out, guests can let you know they’ve left with a single tap or click."

We have found guests are sending the "I've checked out" message and if they are checking out early, that helps our  cleaners get a head start. So far, so good.

[Natalie1170]

This sounds great! I think going back to an 11am checkout time would be best as well now that cleaning is no longer on us. We had 11am originally, but we had taken on cleanings and would try and get them done before work. 

Thanks for all your advice! I’ll look into implementing all your tips!