Airbnb Guest Instructions Template

It’s 9:47 PM on a Friday and the same guest has now messaged you three times. First about the Wi-Fi password (it’s printed on the router and on the welcome card and in the listing). Then about how to work the thermostat (the Ecobee Premium was set to 68 and they want it warmer but the schedule keeps overriding them). Now they can’t figure out which trash can goes to the curb. You’re at a restaurant. Your phone keeps buzzing.

You realize you’ve answered these exact same questions, in slightly different words, for the last forty-seven guests in a row. That’s the moment most hosts go looking for an Airbnb guest instructions template — not because they want to sound robotic, but because they want to stop being a 24/7 helpdesk for things they already wrote down.

This template pack is what we’d hand a host running one to five properties remotely. It’s organized by message timing rather than by topic, because timing is what determines whether a guest actually reads it. If you’d rather start at the top of the funnel, our overview of how to automate the entire Airbnb guest message sequence is the right launching pad.

Who this template is for

If you manage a design-led short-term rental — a guesthouse, a converted barn, a city loft, a beach cottage — and you’re not always on-site, this is for you. The template assumes a few things: your door has a smart lock with rotating codes (Schlage Encode, Yale Assure, or August Wi-Fi Smart Lock), your thermostat is something a guest can read at a glance (Ecobee Premium, Nest Learning, or Honeywell T9), and you’ve automated at least Wi-Fi-on-arrival and lights-off-at-checkout via TP-Link Kasa or Lutron Caseta.

If you’re still using a manual lockbox and a paper binder, the template still works — you’ll just paste it into Airbnb’s scheduled messages instead of triggering it from a smart-home routine. Either way, pair it with a single page of smart home guest instructions for your specific gear so guests aren’t guessing which remote belongs to which TV.

What this template actually solves

Most house manuals fail for one reason: the guest gets all the information at once, three days before arrival, and then forgets it. By the time they’re standing in your driveway at 11 PM in the rain, that long PDF you sent feels useless.

The fix is splitting your instructions into seven scheduled messages timed to when guests actually need them. Booking confirmation, three days before arrival, day-of, post-check-in, mid-stay, day-before-checkout, and the final checkout reminder. Same total content, dramatically fewer messages from confused guests.

Used together with an automated Airbnb house manual that lives at one stable URL, this template can cut your inbound questions by roughly half within the first month. Hosts running two or three properties usually save three to five hours a week in messaging time alone.

The seven-message template, with timing

1. Booking confirmation (sent immediately on booking)

Hi {guest_first_name}, thanks for booking. The full address, lock code, Wi-Fi, and house manual will come 24 hours before your arrival on {check_in_date}. A few quick things now: check-in is anytime after 4 PM, checkout is 11 AM, and the property has keyless entry — no keys to pick up. If you’re planning to arrive after 9 PM, just let me know so I can leave a porch light on.

2. Three days before (your automated welcome message)

Hi {guest_first_name}, getting close. Quick logistics: the address is {full_address}, parking is in the gravel drive on the right (room for two cars), and the door uses a 4-digit code I’ll send tomorrow morning.

There’s coffee, salt, oil, and a few breakfast basics in the kitchen. Closest grocery is {store_name}, about 8 minutes away. If you have any dietary requests or want a restaurant recommendation, just message me back — I’m happy to help.

3. Day-of arrival (the check-in message you can copy and paste)

Welcome, {guest_first_name}. Here’s everything you need:

Address: {full_address}
Door code: {lock_code} — press the Schlage button first, then the code, then the checkmark.
Wi-Fi: network {ssid}, password {wifi_password}.
Trash: bins are in the side yard. Pickup is Tuesday morning.
Full house manual: {manual_link}

The Ecobee is set to a comfortable temp — you can adjust it freely. Have a great trip, and message me here if anything comes up.

4. Post-check-in (sent 90 minutes after arrival)

Hi {guest_first_name}, hope you got in okay. Two quick reminders that always trip people up: the dishwasher pods are under the sink (not on the counter), and the Nespresso pods are in the cabinet to the left of the machine. If anything in the place isn’t working — lights, hot water, anything — tell me now rather than at checkout, so I can actually fix it for you.

5. Mid-stay (sent on stays of 4+ nights, day 3)

Hi {guest_first_name}, just checking in — everything good so far? If you need fresh towels or want me to swap out any linens, let me know and I can arrange it. A couple of guest favorites nearby: {local_pick_1} for breakfast and {local_pick_2} for an easy dinner. Enjoy the rest of your stay.

6. Day before checkout (your checkout message template)

Hi {guest_first_name}, hope you’ve enjoyed your stay. Checkout is 11 AM tomorrow. To help our cleaner: please start the dishwasher, put used towels in the laundry basket, and toss any food you don’t want to take with you. No need to strip beds or take out trash — we handle that. Just close the door behind you when you leave; the Schlage Encode will engage automatically.

7. Checkout reminder (sent 8 AM on checkout day)

Good morning, {guest_first_name}. Reminder that checkout is at 11 AM today. If you need a late checkout, message me — sometimes I can offer one if there’s no same-day arrival. Otherwise, safe travels, and if you have a moment to leave a review, it genuinely helps a small host like us.

How to wire this into your smart home

Schedule messages 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 directly inside Airbnb’s scheduled messages tool. Use the variables Airbnb provides for guest name, check-in date, and address.
Generate a fresh lock code per booking using your smart lock’s app or a property-management tool. Schlage Encode and Yale Assure both support this; the rotating-code locks make code reuse a non-issue.
Host the Wi-Fi info on a small printed card next to the router AND in your digital house manual — redundancy here saves messages. Our Wi-Fi message template that actually fits in one line handles the wording.
For messages 4 and 5, use a tool like Hospitable, Hostaway, or a simple Zapier flow watching for the check-in event.
Test by booking your own listing under a friend’s account or by using Airbnb’s preview mode.

Privacy, tone, and what not to put in

A couple of editorial calls we make and recommend. Don’t reference indoor cameras or microphones — not only is it a guest-trust killer, it’s also against Airbnb policy in most living areas. If you have a Ring doorbell or outdoor cam, disclose it in the listing, not in the welcome message.

Don’t lecture in your messaging either; one polite paragraph beats a wall of don’ts. If house rules are doing real work in your operation, build them into automated house rules messaging that’s gentle but enforceable instead of a guilt-trip welcome note. And keep your tone consistent — if your listing voice is warm and design-y, your messages should be too. Robotic templates make guests trust you less, not more.

Common mistakes hosts make with templates

Sending the lock code in the booking confirmation, three weeks before check-in. Guests forget; some leak it; some never read that far back.
Cramming the entire house manual into one giant message. Guests scan, not read.
Forgetting to localize. If your property is in a snow state in February, your day-of message should mention the driveway, not just the door code.
Using nine exclamation points in every message. Warmth is fine; performance is exhausting.
Never updating the templates. Re-read them every six months — gear changes, neighbors change, recommendations go out of date.

Optional: adapt this with an AI prompt

If you have one of the Airbnb-connected AI tools or you’re just using ChatGPT to draft, paste in the seven messages above plus a paragraph describing your specific property — type of home, location, neighborhood quirks, hardware brands, your preferred tone — and ask it to rewrite the templates in your voice. The skeleton stays; the details get personal. That gets you 90% of the way to a custom message pack in about ten minutes.

FAQ

How long should the Wi-Fi line be?

One line is usually enough: network name, password, and a note if the network is dual-band or has a guest SSID. Anything more and guests skim past it. Print the same details on a card by the router so the message becomes redundancy, not the only source. If your Wi-Fi password has tricky characters, paste it as text rather than typing it — auto-capitalization on phones causes more support tickets than the password itself.

Can I just write one big template and send it once?

You can, but you’ll get more questions than if you split it. Information sent at the wrong time is information that didn’t get sent. The seven-message structure works because it delivers each piece roughly when guests need it — address and code on arrival day, checkout instructions the night before, not a week ahead. The total word count is similar; the comprehension is night and day.

Should I include house rules in the welcome message?

Keep formal house rules in the listing and in your house manual link — that’s where they’re enforceable and where guests already agreed to them. In the welcome message, only call out what’s genuinely operational: quiet hours, parking, pets if relevant, and any unusual neighbor-related restrictions. Long lists of rules in a welcome message read as adversarial and set the wrong tone for the stay.

What’s a good fallback if my automation breaks?

Always keep a manual version of every templated message saved in a notes app on your phone. If your scheduling tool fails — Hospitable outage, Zapier glitch, Airbnb scheduled-messages bug — you can paste the right one in 30 seconds. Also keep a backup lock code on your Schlage Encode that’s deactivated by default but ready to enable if the primary code-rotation fails. Two layers of fallback turns most automation incidents into non-events guests never notice.

Where to go from here

Once your seven scheduled messages are live, the next upgrade is the digital house manual the messages link to. After that, layer in lights and thermostat presets so guests don’t have to think about either. Start with our overview of Airbnb guest message automation, then zoom out to the full Airbnb automation pillar when you’re ready to systemize the rest of the operation.