Airbnb guest message templates for before arrival, check-in, the stay, and checkout

Send four kinds of note in the Airbnb message thread: a thank-you after the booking is confirmed, a check-in reminder before arrival, a during-stay reply when you choose to send one, and a checkout note. Write them as quick replies, schedule the ones that should go out on their own, and edit the words for your home.

Each block below is an example to adapt. It is not a message Airbnb requires, and it is not a promise that a guest will book, arrive on time, or reply. Save the door instructions, the house rules, and the Wi-Fi details on the listing first. The message points at that saved copy.

The pages below were checked on 27 October 2026. This guide is not legal advice. How to write Airbnb check-in and checkout instructions is the door, the 48-hour instructions, and the checkout tasks. This page stays on the thread.

Where the message is sent

Managing guest messages says hosts use Messages to connect with guests before, during, and after a home stay. Once a reservation is confirmed, the host is added to a group thread with the booker, co-hosts, and additional guests. Write each template as something those people can read. This guide is about a home stay. It does not cover experience messages.

Create and send quick replies: a quick reply is a template you write ahead of time. You and a co-host can each keep your own set. The page says Airbnb may suggest one of your existing quick replies for a common question, and that this suggestion feature uses AI. The suggestion is one of the templates you already saved. This site does not write the message.

Details are placeholders. The page’s examples of what they pull in are the guest’s name, the check-in date, and the house rules and requests. If the matching listing field is empty, including some optional fields, the detail shows as unavailable in the message. Setting the template’s language only affects how those details are translated. Airbnb then auto-translates the message into the guest’s language when they read it.

Airbnb messages, including quick replies, have a limit of 4,000 characters. Split a longer note into more than one quick reply. A welcome book does not belong in the thread as one pasted page. The welcome book generator prints that book in the browser from sections you type. The property name is the only required line. A section you turn off, or leave blank, is left out. The page does not update Airbnb, and it does not store what you type. What to put in an Airbnb welcome book separates that book from the house manual and from the public guidebook.

On desktop, the quick-reply page says to create a template this way:

1. Click Messages, then click Settings.
2. Click Manage quick replies.
3. Click Create.
4. If you have multiple listings, select the hosting type for the template.
5. Name the template.
6. Write the message and insert details.
7. Review it, choose the listings, and choose whether to schedule it.
8. Click Save.

To send one by hand: open Messages, open the thread, click the quick reply icon beside the compose box, choose the reply, edit it for this guest, and click Send.

Scheduled quick replies send from a trigger such as a new reservation, check-in, or checkout. You can schedule a message before or after the event you select. Quick replies are not scheduled by default. When you do schedule one, it applies to current and upcoming reservations, and it sends in the listing’s time zone. You can skip a message, change that one send, or send it early, without changing the saved template. The thread’s timeline lists what was sent, what was skipped, and what is still coming. On desktop, open the thread, click Add+, and click View scheduled quick replies. Then choose Edit, Skip, or Send now.

Deleting a template removes future unsent scheduled messages for every listing that template applies to.

For a last-minute booking or a short stay, some scheduled messages are skipped unless you turn on Send for last minute bookings and short stays before you save. The page’s examples:

• A message scheduled for 2 days before check-in, when the guest books on the day of check-in, is skipped while the toggle is off. With the toggle on, it sends at booking.
• A message scheduled for 2 days before checkout, when the stay is 1 night, is skipped while the toggle is off. With the toggle on, it sends at the listing’s check-in time.

With the toggle on, a before-check-in message whose usual time has already passed sends at booking. Other messages that would have been skipped send at the listing’s check-in time. Airbnb says you get a notification and an email when a message is skipped or sent at a time other than the one you scheduled. If the door instructions exist only inside a message that gets skipped, the guest does not receive them. Save the instructions on the listing. How to write Airbnb check-in and checkout instructions is that page.

On desktop, the scheduled page says:

1. Click Messages, then click Settings.
2. Click Manage quick replies, then click Create.
3. If you have multiple listings, select the hosting type.
4. Name the template and write the message.
5. Click Choose listings and select where it applies.
6. Click Scheduled for and select when to send it.
7. Click Save.

If you host with a team, members with guest-management permission share one set of scheduled quick replies, and the messages send from the team owner. Those members can skip or edit an upcoming send and can add templates for the team. If you host with a co-host, the co-host can see the timeline, skip or edit an upcoming send, and keep their own templates on your listing. Quick replies are not shared between a host and a co-host, so the co-host does not see or edit yours. The Scheduled by tag on the timeline shows who created a message.

Calling guests after a reservation is confirmed says Airbnb messaging should be the primary way you communicate, including with a confirmed guest before and during the stay. Before the reservation is confirmed, asking the guest to move the conversation off Airbnb is against Airbnb’s policy. A guest’s phone number is available only after confirmation, from the reservation on the Today tab, and it disappears if the reservation is canceled. Some guests get a temporary number that expires 2 days after checkout. The examples on this page do not include a phone number. They say to reply in the thread.

How messages are reviewed says Airbnb may block a message, or ask you to remove text, when its systems detect contact information, a reference to another site, an external link, or content that breaks the non-discrimination policy or the off-platform and fee-transparency policy. The off-platform policy says communications before booking stay on Airbnb, and that listing pages and messages may not include links that take someone off Airbnb or point them at another way to book. Payments for the stay and for mandatory fees stay on Airbnb. The examples below have no link and no request to pay somewhere else.

Before arrival

Send this after the booking is confirmed, while the guest still has time to read the listing. Airbnb’s scheduled-message page describes a thank-you shortly after booking that uses the guest’s first name, the check-in date, the check-in time, and the house rules and requests. Use those details. Type the house rules into the listing’s House rules and requests section before you rely on the detail. How to set house rules is where that section is saved. How to write Airbnb house rules is the longer page on quiet hours, guests, pets, smoking, and parties.

What rules are allowed applies to reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026. Hosts may not introduce a new rule or request after booking, including by message or by a sign in the home. A template can repeat the rules and requests the guest already saw. It cannot add a quiet hour, a visitor limit, or a checkout chore that was not in that section when they booked.

The house rules generator prints a one-page sheet from words you type. It does not send the sheet to Airbnb or change the listing. Print the rules that are already saved. A line that exists only on the paper is a new rule for a guest who booked on or after that date.

The check-in time in the message has to be the time saved in the arrival guide. The check-in guide cites the help page for that clock: guests must be able to check in by 4pm, and checkout is a specific time of 10am or later. This page does not restate the whole clock. Put the same times in the message and on the listing.

At check-in

Airbnb’s scheduled-message page describes a check-in reminder a couple of days before the trip. The details in that description are the address, the directions, the wifi name, the wifi password, and the city. Those are the detail names on that page. If you insert wifi name or wifi password and the listing does not have them, the message shows the detail as unavailable.

Add check-in instructions says guests see the check-in method earlier, and they do not see the detailed check-in instructions until 48 hours before check-in. A reminder you schedule a couple of days out can overlap that window. It does not replace the instructions on the listing. A same-day booking can skip a message scheduled for 2 days before check-in, as the last-minute section above describes. The listing copy is the one that still has to be there.

Leave the door code out of a template you reuse. How smart lock codes are shared says that when you connect a smart lock to Airbnb, each guest gets a unique 4-digit code, and scheduled messages or quick replies can use the entry code detail so the message fills in that guest’s code. A keypad you program yourself is not that feature. Change a code you set yourself between stays, and put the current code in the check-in instructions for that stay. The check-in guide covers both paths, including the 48-hour instructions and the connected-lock schedule.

If you offer Wi-Fi, the name and password in the message and on the card are the same network. The Wi-Fi card generator prints that card in the browser. The welcome line on the card holds at most 80 characters. Check-in steps do not fit on it. What to put on your Airbnb Wi-Fi sign and guest welcome info is the checklist for the card. If you do not offer Wi-Fi, delete the wifi sentences from the template and leave Wi-Fi off the amenity list. Ground rules for homes say an amenity on the listing should be available from check-in to checkout.

Airbnb’s check-in example also uses a city detail for local advice. The example on this page leaves that sentence out. Places you want a guest to know about go in the welcome book, in words you write. This site does not suggest a business or a neighborhood.

During the stay

The scheduled-message page names triggers such as a new reservation, check-in, and checkout, and it says you can schedule a message before or after the event you select. The help article does not print the full Scheduled for menu. Open that control and read the choices. If the timing you want is not listed, send the during-stay note yourself from the thread.

Use it for something that is already true on the listing: an item that is not working, a question the guest asked, or a reminder of a rule they already saw. A noise complaint during the stay is a time-sensitive message. How to set quiet hours and a noise policy for your Airbnb is that policy. The hours in any reply are the hours saved in house rules.

Ground rules for homes describe reply expectations when a guest’s question matters to the stay. If check-in is more than five days away, hosts are expected to respond within three days. Close to check-in, or when a time-sensitive issue comes up during the stay, hosts are expected to respond within 1 hour to messages received during local daytime hours. Other inquiries during the stay, or within five days of arrival, are expected within 12 hours for messages received during local daytime hours. The examples do not promise a faster reply than those windows.

A message is not the emergency plan. If someone is hurt, the guest uses the local emergency number you confirmed for the address. What emergency information to give Airbnb guests is that page. The emergency card generator prints a card from the number and the address you type. It does not look up a number, and this guide does not supply one.

Checkout and after

Airbnb’s scheduled-message page describes a checkout reminder on the morning before the trip ends, using the checkout date, the checkout time, and the confirmation code. Where guests find checkout information says the reservation details include the checkout time, a house rule that requires the guest to lock up when you saved that rule, and any checkout requests on the listing. You may remind guests in messages. The reminder has to match those reservation details. A late checkout is a request the guest can send. The page says you accommodate it if you can. It does not say you must. The example below asks the guest to reply in the thread. It does not say yes in advance.

For a reservation booked on or after November 20, 2026, the house-rules policy generally does not allow checkout tasks a cleaner would usually do. The examples on that page are stripping the bed, taking trash offsite, and washing and putting away dishes. Guest ground rules say hosts may not charge a guest fee for failing to do a specific cleaning or checkout task. The checkout template on this page repeats the saved rules and requests. It does not assign those chores, and it does not add a fee.

The help article’s checkout example is the morning before the guest leaves. An after-checkout thank-you is separate. Schedule it after checkout only when Scheduled for offers that timing. Otherwise send it from the thread after the guest leaves. The help pages checked for this guide do not provide a review request to copy. The example thanks the guest and asks them to describe anything they left behind. It does not ask for a review, and it does not offer a discount or anything else in exchange for one.

Examples to adapt

These five blocks are examples written for this guide. Replace each named detail with the matching detail in the quick reply, or delete the sentence. Airbnb’s own help page has a different set of sample lines. These are not those lines, and they are not required wording. Read the finished message before you schedule it. Confirm it is under 4,000 characters.

After the booking is confirmed:

Hello guest first name. Thank you for confirming the reservation. Check-in is on check-in date, at or after check-in time. The house rules and requests for this stay are the ones on the listing: house rules and requests. Directions and how to get in are in the check-in instructions for this reservation. Reply in this thread if a question comes up before you arrive.

A couple of days before check-in, or at the 48-hour mark when you send it yourself:

Hello guest first name. Check-in is on check-in date, at or after check-in time. The listing is at address. Directions: directions. The Wi-Fi network is wifi name and the password is wifi password. The same name and password are printed on the card in the home. Reply in this thread if you cannot get in.

Delete the Wi-Fi sentences when the listing does not offer Wi-Fi. Add the entry code detail, instead of typed digits, only when a connected smart lock supplies that guest’s code.

During the stay, sent by you unless Scheduled for offers the timing:

Hello guest first name. Checking that the home matches what the listing described. If something is not working, reply in this thread and name the item.

The morning before checkout:

Hello guest first name. Checkout is on checkout date, at or before checkout time. Please follow the house rules and the checkout requests already saved on the reservation. Your confirmation code is confirmation code. Reply in this thread if you want a later checkout.

After checkout:

Hello guest first name. Thank you for staying. Checkout was at checkout time on checkout date. If you left something in the home, reply in this thread and describe it.

Help center pages checked on 27 October 2026

• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2898 for quick replies, the 4,000-character limit, details, the desktop steps, and suggested replies.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2897 for scheduled triggers, the listing time zone, last-minute skips, and co-host templates.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2899 for messages before, during, and after a stay, and for the group thread after confirmation.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/4155 for keeping the conversation on Airbnb, and for the phone number after confirmation.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1121 for messages that contain contact information, other sites, or external links.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2799 for off-platform links in messages and for payments that stay on Airbnb.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/4168 for rules introduced by message on reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/472 for saving house rules and requests before the guest books.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1926 for detailed check-in instructions 48 hours before check-in.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3483 for the entry code detail in a scheduled message or a quick reply.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2895 for reply times and for amenities that have to be available.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3501 for the checkout time on the reservation and for a late-checkout request.
• https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2894 for a fee charged because a guest skipped a checkout task.