Airbnb Check-In: essential tips and advice

Airbnb has revolutionized tourism and more particularly vacation rentals. In addition to services and functionalities, a whole vocabulary has also emerged. Don't we say “I rented an Airbnb”, even if the reservation was made via another platform? The same goes for the arrival of travelers, which becomes an “Airbnb check-in” for many hosts and in particular professional managers or concierge services.

What is an Airbnb check-in?

For a traveller, a check-in is synonymous with arriving and taking possession of the accommodation they rented. In the hotel industry, check-in involves a few mandatory steps, which you have certainly already experienced:

• Presentation of an identity document
• Payment of the balance or the entire reservation if necessary
• Signature of a reservation confirmation
• Room key/card recovery
• Collection of various information such as breakfast times and WiFi code

In the context of an Airbnb rental, depending on the profile of the host (individual or professional), the arrival stages can vary greatly.

Some hosts will welcome their travelers themselves, others will entrust this mission to a dedicated person and still others will opt for an autonomous arrival solution (key box, connected lock).

As for the steps mentioned as examples above, what we see is that the more experienced or even professional the host is, the more these steps will be used, but above all automated.

Collecting the ID, signing a contract or conditions, handing over keys and sharing arrival instructions are now well-known steps for Airbnb conciergeries and are grouped together in what is called a pre-check-in.

What are the benefits of optimizing your Airbnb check-ins?

If you are looking for examples and best practices, to best carry out an Airbnb check-in as a host, you are in the right place. We've looked at the ways many Yaago users do it and show you the best practices below.

But just before sharing our advice with you, it seems important to us to explain to you why optimizing arrival management is crucial, especially if you are a professional in the sector. The hotel industry is a much older industry and they can be trusted if they have arrived at this methodology today.

Short-term rental professionals have also adapted and refined their work process, mainly by adapting to the behaviors and needs of travelers.

Collecting travellers' identity documents

There are many reasons to ask travelers before or upon arrival to provide their identity document:

• Ensure that the identity corresponds to that indicated on the payment method, to avoid fraudulent payments, stolen bank cards and chargeback risks.
• Showing travelers that the property they are about to occupy is managed rigorously can curb the desire of some to engage in bad behavior.
• Requesting to provide an ID before arrival will also potentially cause some occupants that you would not have liked to receive canceled: prostitution, party-goers, etc.

Signature of a contract, conditions or regulations

Even if the contract is concluded between the platform and the traveller, we are seeing more and more of our users setting up and requiring the signing of general conditions or a regulation, before the arrival of their travelers. Here's why:

• Like the identity document, having this type of document signed establishes a framework and will limit the behavior of some, who will feel obliged to respect the commitment made.
• In rare cases, if the use of the accommodation by travelers breaks laws (illegal downloading, prostitution, noise pollution) and the authorities intervene, this signed document would strengthen your file and protect you a little more.
• Like other arrangements you may take, each additional security step put in place will be an additional reassuring element to present to your owners.

With the benefits explored, let's see what steps are important and what to do when checking in.

Our advice for your Airbnb check in

Pre-Check-In

As we explained above, before they even arrive, you must have managed communication with travelers as best as possible. You can organize a pre-check-in manually, by sending them a message or email, in order to share useful information for their arrival and ask them to provide it in return.

But honestly, if it is a professional activity for you, you will have to automate this step. This advice is valid both for you (saving time) and for your travelers, who will be reassured by your professionalism.

In Yaago, we offer a Pre-Check-In feature, which will allow you to automatically collect valuable information:

• Travelers' arrival time
• Real email address
• Special needs for their arrival and stay

But which will also allow you to share useful information to make your travelers feel welcome:

• An ultra-complete digital welcome booklet
• Photos/videos to explain your autonomous arrival process
• Tips for easy parking near your home
• And much more useful information

Anticipating what travelers want is crucial to getting great reviews later on.

The arrival of travelers

There are no rules at this stage. Many Yaago users use autonomous arrival, probably also because we offer integration with Igloohome and Nuki, thus allowing the generation and sharing of access codes directly in the welcome booklet.

But others will prefer to organize a physical arrival for their accommodations, when the keys are handed over to travelers.

In general, here's what we're seeing:

• On small homes, autonomous arrival (when possible) is generally used, mainly for reasons of profitability. If you are a manager, you will easily understand that you must reduce your costs as much as possible (and therefore automate) to preserve your margin and be profitable, especially in small homes.
• In large accommodations (apartments or villas) and luxurious accommodations, many arrivals are still physical, with a dedicated person present to welcome travelers, show them around the accommodation and explain how certain facilities work.

TWO INTERESTING FEEDBACK ON ARRIVALS:

To think that autonomous arrival harms the experience of travelers and therefore impacts the rating is wrong. The Covid crisis has certainly accelerated this trend, which was already strong before. Even more so, if you use the Yaago welcome booklet to share important information before arrival, travelers will have little importance on whether or not they were physically welcomed.

Having an autonomous arrival device in a luxury villa is useless. Again, that's not true! You should always know how to do an Airbnb check-in while you're away. Imagine summer, the crossroads on Saturdays, if you are stuck in your accommodation or in traffic and other travelers are waiting for you to check in. Would you rather allow them access to housing, at the expense of the cold while waiting for your arrival or leave them outside, waiting in the sun, after hours of travel?

Gone are the hours of waiting for them.

You will have understood it, to the question “How do I do an Airbnb check-in? ” the answer is much more complex than it seems, you actually have to think in 2 steps: before arrival and during arrival.

That's why we designed Yaago and why we continue to evolve our functionalities, with the feedback and requests of our customers. As we did recently with the co-design of the Online Check-In with our client Keylodge.

But above all, we thought of Yaago with the passenger experience at the heart of our concerns, digitizing yes, but without dehumanizing!

Mistakes to avoid when checking in Airbnb

We have seen the best practices during an Airbnb check in, now let's quickly see the mistakes that should absolutely be avoided:

• Having no contact with the traveller from the booking confirmation to arrival: this is absolutely forbidden! The first risk to which you expose yourself is therefore to have a lot of (legitimate) requests from travelers who are clueless and do not have the necessary information to arrive peacefully in their accommodation
• Not clearly explaining to the guest how their arrival is going to happen: if you communicate with your guests before they arrive, that's fine. But are you giving them the right information? Providing photos or videos can be very practical to explain things simply.
• Don't think about what travelers want: put yourself in their shoes, imagine yourself staying in an unknown place and city. What information would you need?

Conclusion

An Airbnb check in seems simple and basic. Maybe you haven't asked yourself all of these questions yet. Perhaps you hadn't identified that some recurring problems with your travelers could come from this insufficiently worked step in your process.

We hope that you now have ideas for reflection and improvement, to alleviate your daily life and offer an exceptional experience to your travelers.

Posted on Sep 16, 2022

About Julie

Communication Officer — Everyday Inspiration Fairy