Directions and parking message

When to send

Send directions when the pin on the listing is not enough. Buildings with alley entrances, campuses, and rural roads with two driveways need {landmark} and {door_approach}. {landmark} should be something a person can see from the car without already knowing your street: a named school, a bridge, a painted silo, the last traffic light. {door_approach} is the turn-by-turn from that point to the door they will use, including which side of the building and what the door looks like if there are several.

{parking_spot} is the only place the car should end up. Write it the way a tow driver would understand it. “Park anywhere on the street” is how guests take a neighbor’s stall. If there is no off-street parking, say where the legal curb is and how long a car can stay, matching the listing.

{guest_name} gets this in the booking thread. Do not put a link to a map on another site. Some platforms hold messages that look like they are sending people away from the thread, and a link also goes stale. Landmarks survive a dead link.

Timing tip

The day before {property_name} is occupied by this guest is the right default. Earlier, and they lose the message above a week of other mail. Later than the morning of arrival, and they are already following a pin to the wrong side of the block.

Pair it with the three-day note only if {parking_spot} is short. A long {door_approach} deserves its own message so the parking rule is not buried under a story about the oak tree. If you meet them in person, you may still send this, because the person driving is sometimes not the person you are texting inside the thread.

Re-walk {door_approach} when construction closes a turn. A sentence that mentions a gate code belongs in the check-in message if the code rotates. A gate that is always open can be described here without a code.

Common mistakes

The pin that drops guests at the building behind yours is the expensive mistake. If you have heard “we are in a courtyard and we cannot see a door,” fix {landmark} and {door_approach} before the next stay, and also fix the listing pin. This message should agree with the map, not fight it.

The second is a hidden spot described as a riddle. “It’s near the flowers” is not {door_approach}. Count doors, name colors, and say left or right from the sidewalk. Read it to someone who has never visited. If they hesitate, add the missing noun.

The third is parking advice that contradicts the listing or the law you actually know. Do not tell them to ignore a posted tow sign because “nobody enforces it.” If {parking_spot} is a paid lot, say that the stay does not include the fee, if that is what the listing already said. Do not introduce a parking charge in this message that was not in the price.

When the spot is full

The template asks them to write before they improvise. Answer that message quickly on arrival day. Have one backup you can name, even if the backup is “use the signed lot one block north and keep the receipt.” If you have no backup, say so, and help them think, rather than leaving them in a lane. A car in the wrong driveway becomes your problem with the neighbor before it becomes their problem with you.