Checkout reminder
Send this the evening before checkout. Repeat the listed time and the tasks they already agreed to.
{Guest name}, checkout at {Property name} is {Checkout time} tomorrow.
Please do these before you go, which are the same requests as on the listing: {Checkout tasks}.
Then {Lockup step}. If you need a different time, ask in this thread tonight. I may not be able to move {Checkout time}.
When to send
Send the reminder on the evening before checkout, after you know the next morning still has {checkout_time} on the reservation. {checkout_tasks} is a short list copied from the listing: trash to the bin, dishes in the dishwasher, towels on the floor, keys back in the box. If the listing’s checkout section is empty, do not invent a list here. A task that appears for the first time the night before is a new request. Point at what was published, or leave {checkout_tasks} as “nothing beyond the checkout time and locking the door” if that is the truth.
{lockup_step} matches the way they got in. A keypad guest locks from the outside. A lockbox guest returns the key and scrambles the dial. A smart lock guest confirms the bolt moved. Write the step for the hardware on {property_name}, not a generic “please lock up.”
{guest_name} is the booker, and the message is in the thread so the people leaving in a separate car still see it. Do not attach a review ask to this note. Checkout morning is a rush. A review, if you request one at all, is a later message.
Timing tip
Early evening in the property’s time zone beats 6am on checkout day. They can take the trash out at night and set an alarm for {checkout_time}. A reminder that arrives while they are carrying bags to the car is a list they will not finish.
If their stay is one night, send it the evening they arrive, after they are in, not before they have seen the home. If they booked a late checkout you already approved, do not send the original {checkout_time} as if the approval did not happen. Edit the time to the one you agreed, and say it is the updated time.
Hosts who automate this should read one real send. A blank {checkout_tasks} that prints as “unavailable” should be turned off until the listing field is filled.
Common mistakes
A longer chore list than the listing is the main mistake. Starting laundry, stripping every bed, and hauling recycling to a depot across town are jobs you hire a cleaner for, unless the listing already required them and the price reflects that. {checkout_tasks} should be readable in one breath.
The second is the wrong time. Daylight saving, a listing you edited after they booked, and a reservation that shows 10:00 while your memory says 11:00 will all show up as a conflict on the curb with the next guest. Read {checkout_time} off the reservation while you send.
The third is a threat. “Fees apply if you are late” belongs only if that fee was in the listing they booked. Do not add a number here. The template says you may not be able to move the time, which is an honest limit, and it points them at the late-checkout messages if you need a yes or a no.
The next morning
If the home is not free at {checkout_time}, use the late-checkout no only if you are refusing a request. If they are simply still there, a short reply that the next arrival is waiting, with the time repeated, is enough. Do not paste this whole reminder again. The tasks are no longer the point. The door is.
The checkout sign in the home should match {checkout_tasks} and {checkout_time}. If the sign and the message disagree, fix the sign before the next stay. Guests follow the paper in the kitchen more than the message from last night.