Holiday let pre-arrival message checklist: eleven checks before the arrival message goes out

The most common arrival message mistake is a detail that was right for the last booking: last season's WiFi password, a lockbox code changed after a guest left, or the previous guest's name at the top. The holiday let pre-arrival message checklist is eleven checks, run on the morning the message goes out, catch the details that most often go stale. Below you'll find the checklist to copy or print, what each check protects you from and how to run it when your messages are automated.

What you get from the holiday let pre-arrival message checklist

• Fewer arrival-day emergencies, because wrong codes, passwords and dates are caught before the guest sees them.
• Fewer "where do I park?" and "how do I turn the heating on?" messages in the first evening.
• A message that arrives right the first time, which sets the tone for the stay and for your review.

The holiday let pre-arrival message checklist

What each check protects you from

Most of the checks guard against a detail that changes without you noticing. The name check stops a message that opens with a platform username. The date and time checks stop a guest planning around a check-in time from a previous booking. Property and address matter most when you run more than one place, because a message copied from the wrong template sends a guest to the wrong door.

The access and WiFi checks matter most. A wrong code or password is the problem a guest finds at the worst moment, at the door with luggage or at nine in the evening with no internet, and it is the message you then have to send in a hurry. The parking, heating and recommendation checks are smaller, but they are the ones that cause the "where do I park?" and "how do I turn the heating on?" messages that fill the first evening.

How to run it when your messages are automated

Automated messages do not remove the need for the check, they move it. The details sit in a template, so check them when something changes at the property and at the start of each season, rather than for every guest. Keep a short list of the variables your messages use, such as the lockbox code, the router password and the parking instructions, and tick them off whenever you change the thing they describe. Automating holiday let guest messages without losing the personal touch explains which messages are safe to automate and which still need a look before they send.

If you have changed a code recently, test it at the door. A code can be right in your notes and wrong in the lock. The free holiday let guest information checker is a quick way to see what your guests currently get before they arrive, and choosing a smart lock or key safe covers how to give each guest or helper their own code.

What to do when a detail changes between booking and arrival

Details change after the guest has already received your first message: a code, a parking restriction, a closed road, a broken boiler. When that happens, send a short correction as soon as you know, naming what changed and what to do instead, and do not wait for the main arrival message. A guest who reads "the keypad code has changed, the new one is below" a day early is much better placed than one who finds out at the door. For the full run of messages from booking to checkout, see the check-in message sequence that prevents most access problems.

Where to keep the checklist

Keep it where you write the message. If you send messages from your phone, a pinned note works. If you use a booking platform's quick replies or your own message templates, put the checklist in the same document, above the message. The aim is to make the check the first step of sending, not a separate task you have to remember. Whichever you choose, save a blank copy so you start from the same eleven lines every time.

Mistakes that make the checklist useless

The first is ticking from memory. A check only counts if you looked at the booking, the property or the router. The second is letting the list grow until it takes ten minutes, at which point it stops being used. Keep it to the details that have gone wrong for you before, and add a line only when something has caught you out. The third is skipping it for repeat guests, who often get the most outdated information because you assume nothing has changed.

Run the checklist on your next arrival message

Copy the list into the place you write your messages and run it before the next one goes out. Add any detail that has caught you out in the past, and delete lines that never apply to your property. Once it feels automatic, writing holiday let guest message templates that sound like you is the next step, so the message you send after the check reads like you wrote it.