Stop answering the same guest questions

The questions guests ask every stay

If you have hosted for a few months, you could probably write this list from memory. These are the ones I get on almost every booking:

• What's the Wi-Fi? Usually within ten minutes of arrival.
• Where do I park? Usually on the way, while driving.
• How do I get in? The day before, or at the door.
• How does the heating, or the air conditioning, work? The first evening.
• What time is checkout, and what do I need to do? The last night.
• Where do the bins go? Usually on the last morning, with a full bag in hand.

None of these are bad questions. Guests ask them because the answer wasn't where they looked. The fix is not to answer faster. It is to put the answer where they look, at the moment they look.

Where each answer should live

Every answer has a best home. Some belong before booking, because they affect whether the guest books at all. Some belong after booking, because they are private. Some belong in the home, because that's where the guest is standing when they ask.

The pattern is simple. Say it once in the listing or Airbnb's arrival tools, then repeat the one line a guest needs at the spot where they need it.

Use Airbnb's own tools first

Before you print anything, fill in what Airbnb already gives you. Guests know where to look in the app, and the information sits in one place with the booking.

Check-in and checkout instructions

Airbnb's listing editor has an arrival guide with a check-in method and check-in instructions (help 1926). Guests see the method, such as a keypad or lockbox, but the page says they "won't see the detailed check-in instructions until 48 hours before check-in". The same page says checkout instructions are available to guests before booking.

So write the check-in instructions as if the guest is reading them on their phone outside the door. Short steps, one action each, with a photo of the door and the lockbox if you can add one.

The house manual

The house manual is the place for how things work: the heating, the hot water, the washing machine, the bins. Airbnb's page gives examples like "how to turn on the hot water heater" and says "Only guests with a confirmed reservation can access your manual" (help 1255).

Keep each entry to a few lines. A guest standing at the boiler doesn't want an essay.

House rules

Airbnb shows your house rules in several places. The page says they appear in "your listing description, in booking terms while booking", in automated guest emails and in the arrival guide (help 472). So checkout time, quiet hours and the guest limit belong there, not in a message sent later.

Scheduled quick replies

This is the tool that saves the most typing. Quick replies are message templates you write once. Airbnb says they can include placeholders that pull in details from your listing and the guest's reservation, such as their name and check-in date (help 2898). The same page says Airbnb messages, including quick replies, have a limit of 4,000 characters.

Scheduled quick replies send those templates automatically around events like a new reservation, check-in or checkout (help 2897). Three things from that page are worth knowing:

• they "aren't scheduled to be sent by default", so you have to set them up;
• they are sent in the listing's time zone;
• you can skip, customise or send a message early for a particular booking.

A simple message sequence

Here is a sequence that answers most questions before they're asked. Times are suggestions. Set each one as a scheduled quick reply.

1. On booking. Thanks, and one line on what happens next.
2. A few days before check-in. Parking, how to get there, and a reminder that check-in details arrive in the app.
3. The morning of arrival. Check-in time, a pointer to the check-in instructions, and Wi-Fi.
4. The day after check-in. "Is there anything we can fix or bring?" A genuine offer, never a request for a rating.
5. The evening before checkout. Checkout time and the two or three tasks you ask for.

Each message should answer the questions that come up at that moment, and nothing else. A long message sent too early gets skimmed and forgotten.

Wi-Fi: answer it before it's asked

Wi-Fi is the most common question and the easiest to get rid of.

Airbnb's advice on internet access is to create an encrypted guest network, such as WPA2, and share that password only "after they've confirmed their reservation" (help 827). So the network name and password go in your arrival details and on a sign inside the home, not in the public listing.

A good Wi-Fi sign has three things: the network name, the password in a clear font, and a QR code that joins the network when scanned. Put it where guests put their bags down, or by the router. The free Wi-Fi sign maker takes your network name and password and gives you a printable sign with a QR code.

If you change the password, change the sign the same day. A wrong sign is worse than no sign.

The one-page arrival sheet

Some guests never open the app once they arrive. A single printed page on the kitchen counter catches them.

Keep it to one side of paper:

• Wi-Fi name and password, or the QR code;
• where to park;
• how the heating or air conditioning works, in two lines;
• where the bins go and which day they're collected;
• checkout time and tasks;
• how to reach you.

One page is the rule. If it doesn't fit, the extra detail belongs in the house manual.

Signs that guests actually read

Signs work when they are small, short and in the right place. A guest reads a sign at the moment they need it, not before.

• Put it at the point of use. The heating sign goes by the thermostat. The bin sign goes on or above the bin.
• One message per sign. "Recycling: Tuesday. General waste: Friday." Not a paragraph about the council.
• Use the words guests use. "Heating", not the brand name of the boiler.
• Make it look cared for. A neat printed sign in a frame reads as helpful. A taped note in capitals reads as a telling-off.

Keep a question log

New questions will still come up. When one does, answer it, then write it down with the date. At the end of each month, look at the list. Any question asked twice gets a permanent home: a line in the house manual, a quick reply, or a sign.

Over a few months, the list gets shorter, and so do your conversations.