How to automate airbnb messages

Short-term rental hosts can set their listing up with automatic messages that are sent out when specific criteria are met. These automated messages can be extremely helpful and time-saving for hosts, as they allow you to respond quickly to inquiries and provide important information without having to manually reply every single time. 

o save time as a host and ensure guests always know how to check in and out and use your amenities, you can schedule messages to automatically send based on triggers like a new reservation, check-in, or check-out.

The templates can be personalized with shortcodes, which are placeholders you can choose that automatically fill in guest, reservation, and listing details. You can access shortcodes through a drop-down menu when you compose a message. You’ll also have to add the corresponding information for each shortcode to your listing’s details, or else the shortcode will display as unavailable in the message.

Scheduled messages

Common use cases for scheduled messaging and shortcodes (indicated in bold) include:

Sending a thank you message shortly after booking

• Dear guest first name, thank you for confirming your reservation
• I am excited to welcome you on check-in date on or after our check-in time, which is check-in time
• As a reminder, here are our house rules: house rules

Sending a check-in reminder a couple days before the trip starts

• The listing is at address and here are the directions: directions
• The wifi network is called wifi name and the password is wifi password
• Let me know if you need any advice about city

Sending a checkout reminder the morning before the trip ends

• Quick reminder that checkout is tomorrow (checkout date) any time before checkout time
• As a reminder, your confirmation code is confirmation code

Shortcodes

The full list of shortcodes includes:

• Guest’s first name
• Guest’s last name
• Guest’s phone number
• Check-in date
• Check-in time
• Checkout date
• Checkout time
• Total trip price
• Average nightly price
• Cleaning fee
• Listing name
• Listing address
• Listing city
• Wi-fi name
• Wi-fi password
• Confirmation code
• Directions
• Check-in Instructions
• House Rules
• House Manual
• Guidebook
• Getting around
• Guest Access
• Guest Interaction
• Guest city
• Guest country
• Neighborhood
• Number of guests
• Number of nights
• Number of bathrooms
• Number of bedrooms
• Number of beds
• Primary host first name
• Primary host last name

You can always choose to skip, customize, or send messages early, and you’ll be able to review a full timeline of every message sent for each reservation.

To create a scheduled message

1. Go to your hosting Inbox.
2. Open the left folder menu.
3. Select Scheduled Messages.
4. Click or tap + New Message.
5. Enter a name to identify this template (this won’t be shown to guests).
6. Type your message and insert any shortcodes (ex: Guest’s first name) to customize the message.
7. Click or tap the language of your message. Setting the language affects how your shortcodes are translated.
8. Select the listings this message should apply to. Both upcoming and current reservations for these listings will get this message.
9. Select the action that will automatically trigger this message: Booking confirmed, Check-in, or Checkout.
10. Select the time before or after the trigger to send the message. Messages will be sent in the listing’s time zone.
11. Select Save.