An automatic message sends to every guest as soon as their booking is confirmed. Set it once, and it does the work of the first message you would otherwise write by hand every time.
Setting one up
Open the listing in your host dashboard and add your automatic message in the messaging settings. It applies to bookings on that listing from then on.
If you run several listings, write a separate message for each. Directions and arrival instructions differ, and a generic message loses most of the value.
What to put in it
- A short welcome and confirmation of what they have booked
- Check-in time and the address, with a landmark
- Directions from Sayak Airport or Dapa port, with a rough travel time
- Anything they need to bring or arrange
- How to reach you, and a reminder to message through Koobo
- The one thing guests always ask you
Keep it short
It is read on a phone, often mid-journey. Short paragraphs, a few bullets, no wall of text. Anything longer than a minute's reading gets skimmed.
Review it occasionally
If the same question keeps arriving despite the message, the message is not answering it clearly enough. Update it. Every question you answer in advance is one you do not answer individually.
It does not replace the rest
The automatic message is the first touchpoint, not the only one. Still send a personal note two or three days before arrival with directions, and check in once during the stay.
What not to include
- Contact details intended to move the conversation off Koobo
- Long lists of rules, which read as a warning
- Anything that will go out of date quickly, unless you will remember to update it
For activities and rentals
Meeting point, start time, what to bring, and what happens in poor weather. For rentals, licence requirements and whether you deliver.