As a host on short-term rental websites like Airbnb, you will receive messages from your guests, and with a good messaging strategy, you can get a better host score, improving your booking rate. You want your guests to enjoy their stay at your Airbnb, so you need to be available to respond to them. The problem many Airbnb hosts have, especially with multiple properties, is that responding to messages can take a good chunk of time from you.

‍

Thankfully, there is a solution: automated guest messaging using templates. This will ensure messages are responded to quickly, and you do not need to spend as much time responding to common questions and messages from your guests. Here, we will look at messaging strategies and templates to use on Airbnb.

‍

How Do I Chat on Airbnb?

Airbnb has a messaging system that you can use to chat with your guests. While you can communicate outside of the Airbnb platform, Airbnb prefers that you talk to your guests there to help prevent phishing scams and fraud. Plus, talking through Airbnb will ensure you are protected under the Host Protection and Guarantee as well as Airbnb's terms of service.

All you need to do to chat with your Airbnb guests is open the Airbnb hosting platform and click on the message section. From there, you can create new messages to your guests, read new messages, and respond to messages.

‍

How Do I Check My Airbnb Messages?

To check your Airbnb messages, you just need to open the Airbnb hosting platform and click on the messages button, which you can find under the profile section.

‍

What are Airbnb Saved Messages?

Airbnb save messages are pre-written messages you can use to respond to something quickly. These are your templates for responding to your guests, allowing you to spend less time responding to messages.

‍

What are Airbnb Automated Messages?

The automated messages on Airbnb are sent out to guests automatically without you having to send them out. This will save you a lot of time and give you a fast response time, which is good for your host rating.

‍

8 Essential Airbnb Message Templates

In order to use automatic messaging, you need to have some message templates set up to send. These are the eight essential Airbnb message templates you will need to cover every step in the rental process.

‍

Booking Confirmation Message

When a guest has booked a stay at your Airbnb, you should have a template message set up to send. This is your first message with your guests, so you want to start out on the right foot with them. Thank them for booking their stay with you and let them know you look forward to their stay. Let them know that you will send them instructions to check in before they arrive and that they can contact you if they have any questions. If you have a welcome book, you can also send that to them and note that it can help them plan their trip.

‍

Pre-Check-In Message

You should send your pre-check-in message about three days before they will be checking in. This message is brief; you are simply letting them know you look forward to their stay and give them any important details. This is a good place to include driving directions to your property and reminding them of check-in time. You can also remind them that you will be sending another message the day before their stay with instructions on how to check-in. End the message reminding them to contact you if they have any questions.

‍

Check-In Message

The check-in message is one of the most important messages and should include anything they need to know when they begin their stay in your Airbnb. This message should include:

• Check-in times
• Check out times
• The address and directions to the property
• Key instructions or a check-in code to open the door
• Parking information
• Wi-Fi name and password
• The house rules
• A digital copy of your welcome book

Again, close by reminding them you are here to answer any questions they may have.

‍

Check-Up Message

The check-up message should come the morning after the guests have checked in and spent the night on the property. This message is simply to ask your guests how they are doing and if they have any questions. While this message is not necessary, it is a nice touch showing your guests that you care about their stay.

‍

Check-Out Message

Send your guests the check-out message the night before they are supposed to check out. Let them know what the check-out time is, remind them to drop the key in the lockbox — if you use one — and remind them of any check-out rules, like taking out the trash, stripping the sheets, and washing their dishes.

You should also ask them to send you a message after they check out, so you can get your cleaners over to prepare it for your next guest. Thank them for staying with you and encourage them to come back again.

‍

After Check-Out Message

Once your guest has let you know that they checked out, send them the post check-out message. Thank your guests for their stay, and encourage them to leave you a review. If you wait until your cleaning team has been through it, you can also include a note that you found the place in great condition and leave them a review. Doing so can help encourage them to leave you a review too.

‍

Review Reminder Message

Guests only have 14 days to leave a review, so if they do not do it right away, sending them a reminder email asking them to leave you a review is a good idea. You can include that you left them a good review, too, since they cannot see yours until they leave one for you. Give them five days to do the review, and then you can try again a day or two before the 14-day mark. Tell the guest that the reviews are important to you, and you would really appreciate them sending you one.

‍

Length of Stay Pricing Message

Sometimes guests will ask you if you offer discounts for longer stays. With the Airbnb Length of Stay Pricing option, you can give your guests discounts for weekly or longer stays. This is a great way to help you book longer stays. If you use the Length of Stay Pricing option, write up a template to reply automatically to respond to guests asking about that. This message can be brief, explaining your discounts based on the duration of stay.

‍

How Can I Polish My Airbnb Messages?

When writing your Airbnb message templates, there are a few things you can do to polish your writing to make your messages stand out and look great.

‍

Be Professional

Guests can sometimes get frustrated and be rude in their messages to you, but you need to stay civil and professional in your responses to them. If you are upset by a message from a guest, you can take a few minutes to calm down before responding; you always want to keep a cool head and professional demeanor. Writing an angry response to a guest can potentially cause them to complain, which can hurt your business.

‍

Spell Check Your Messages

Typos happen, but when in a setting like this, you want to do your best to avoid errors as much as possible. If your listing or messages have obvious typos, your guests might think you do not really care about them or their stay. It looks unprofessional, and you definitely want to look professional in this setting. There are many online tools you can use to check your spelling and grammar in your messages, so it is easy to avoid obvious errors in your Airbnb message templates.

‍

Be Friendly

When writing templates, you want to make sure that your guest knows that you are a real person, not a faceless chatbot. Make sure when you are writing your messages that you use a tone that is both friendly and sincere to show that you are a host who cares about their stay. Also, try to avoid using language that makes you sound like an ad, like calling the property a "great deal." Let some of your personality into your messages; it can help improve your communication with your guests.

By sounding like a real person who cares about their stay, your guests will be more likely to treat the property better since it is owned by a human, not a hotel.

‍

Write in Active Voice

Using the active voice when writing addresses the guest and makes them feel involved. Active voice will help a guest picture themself enjoying an amenity on your property, but the passive voice just gives a minor description of what the amenity has to offer.

‍

Use Positive Language

You are going to have rules for your guests when they stay at your property, but make sure that they are written in a positive tone. By using a positive tone, you sound much friendlier than using negative language. For example, "please close the windows when you leave the property" sounds much friendlier than "don't leave the windows open when you leave the property." Little things like this can make a big difference.