Answers · Running a small rental
How do I automate messages to my holiday-rental guests?
Short answer
Decide what a guest needs at each stage, write it once, and let the booking trigger it. In Airflow that is three things working together: a booking confirmation carrying the guest's personal trip link, a guest portal that holds the answers and releases your documents only once the booking is paid, and guest email automations timed around the stay: pre-arrival, check-in day, post-checkout, a review request and a balance reminder. The emails go from your own connected Gmail or Outlook address. Guest email automations are available on every plan, and each automated email uses one automated task.
See the pre-arrival timeline: what to send a guest, and when →
Most guest-message problems are timing problems
Every host knows what a guest needs: dates, a way in, directions, the house rules, what is still owed. What goes wrong is when it is sent and to whom. Directions sent at booking are buried by the time anyone packs the car. The house manual goes to a guest who never paid. The access details arrive the night before, after the guest has asked twice.
So guests ask the same questions again: what time can we check in, how do we find you, what is the WiFi password, can we bring the dog, how much do we still owe. The answers were sent once, split between an email, a platform thread and a PDF. Sending them by hand for every booking scales badly: three properties can mean several hundred emails a year.
How to do it with Airflow
- 1
Write the answers once
Set your check-in and check-out times, directions, house rules and pet policy in your listing settings. They appear in the property information of every guest's portal, and the Payments tab shows the guest what has been paid and what is still due.
- 2
Put access details in a document
Upload your house manual, door code and WiFi password as a document and set its guest access to a number of days before check-in. The guest is emailed when it unlocks, and no document reaches a guest whose booking is not yet paid. Airflow has no settings field for a door code or WiFi password, deliberately.
- 3
Switch on the automations
Automations start switched off. On the Automations page, Enable recommended turns on Pre-Arrival, Check-In Day, Post-Checkout and Review Request in one click. Pre-Arrival goes three days before check-in unless you change it, in hours or days. Add your own words in the custom message; tags such as the guest's first name and check-in date fill themselves in.
- 4
Connect your mailbox
With Gmail or Outlook connected, the emails are sent from your own address. Without a connected mailbox Airflow sends on your behalf and replies come to your email. Every send is logged against the booking.
One booking, start to finish
A stay checking in on 20 June, with the default timings and a house manual set to seven days before check-in. Illustrative dates.
| At booking | Confirmation with the personal trip link |
|---|---|
| When the guest pays | Portal opens the documents and arrival sections |
| 13 June, seven days before | House manual released; guest emailed |
| 17 June, three days before | Pre-Arrival email with dates, reference and your extras |
| 20 June, 9am | Check-In Day email with your custom message |
| After checkout | Post-Checkout email, then a Review Request |
Four automations fire for this booking (pre-arrival, check-in day, post-checkout and review request), each using one automated task.
Guests who booked on Airbnb or Booking.com
A channel booking follows the same timeline and gets the same portal link, as long as the booking carries an email address for the guest. Some channels do not pass one on, and then no automated email can be sent. Airflow does not read or reply inside the channels' own message inboxes, so for those guests you write in the channel's thread yourself.
Replies, and the thread beside the booking
Each booking has its own timeline: the original booking email, the automated emails Airflow sent, and the messages you send from the booking page. With Gmail connected, emails to and from the guest's address are added to it. Airflow does not answer guests for you; it reduces how often they need to ask.
Other ways to do this
Airflow is one option. These are the others, and when each is the better choice.
- The channel's own messaging
- Airbnb and Booking.com each let you message a guest in their inbox, and that is the only route to a guest whose email address you do not have. It covers that channel's bookings only, so direct guests need something else.
- Templates in your own email
- Saved replies and a calendar reminder for each arrival cost nothing. You still have to remember to send each one, to the right guest, with the right dates.
- A co-host or assistant
- Someone else can send the messages and answer the replies. It suits hosts who want a person on call, at the cost of their time or fee.
What Airflow does not do
- Airflow's guest automations are emails. It does not message guests on WhatsApp; WhatsApp in Airflow is an assistant for you, the host.
- Airflow does not read or reply inside the Airbnb or Booking.com message inboxes.
- Airflow does not answer guest messages for you. Replies come to you.
- The default check-in day email does not contain your access details. Add them in the custom message or point to your house manual document.
Common questions
What should I send a guest before arrival, and when?
A confirmation with one link at booking, the house manual and directions about a week out, a reminder three days out, and final instructions on the morning of arrival. Send access details only to guests who have paid. What to send a guest before arrival, and when →
Will guests who booked on Airbnb get these emails?
Yes, where the booking carries an email address for the guest. Where it does not, no email is sent and you message them through the channel yourself. The guest portal experience →
Do the emails come from my own address?
Yes, once Gmail or Outlook is connected. Guests see your name and address, and replies come back to you. What to send a guest before arrival, and when →
What does it cost?
Guest email automations are available on every plan, and each automated email uses one automated task. If you have no tasks left, the email is skipped and not sent. A card is needed at sign-up; current prices and allowances are on the pricing page. Pricing →
Where do I put the door code and WiFi password?
In a house manual document with a timed release, not in your listing settings. The property information is visible to anyone with the trip link, even before they pay; documents are held back until the booking is paid. Your guests keep asking the same five questions →
Try it on your own bookings
Forward a few booking emails and look at what Airflow builds from them. A card is needed at sign-up.
Start with Airflow See plans and pricing