Key points
- The guest wants to walk from the taxi to the sofa without having to ask anyone anything.
- Write these down once per apartment. If more than one person answers guests, everyone should read from the same sheet.
- Send the full version one to three days before arrival, once the booking is confirmed and you know the arrival time.
On this page
Almost every late-night call a host gets can be traced back to the check-in message. The guest did not know which tower, or which lift needed the key card, or that the code had a hash at the end. They stood in a lobby at 1 AM with a dead phone battery and a driver who had already left. This page is about writing the one message that prevents that: what goes in, when it goes out, and the small gaps that cause most of the trouble.
What the guest actually wants
The guest wants to walk from the taxi to the sofa without having to ask anyone anything. They want, in order: the exact address in a form their driver understands, how to get into the building, how to get into the apartment, and what to do if something does not work. Everything else (wifi, house rules, the aircon remote) belongs below the line, not above it.
In Bangkok and most Southeast Asian cities there is one extra need: the address in the local language. A Thai taxi driver cannot use "Sukhumvit Soi 24, tower B". A screenshot of the address in Thai, or a maps pin, solves it.
Questions to answer for yourself first
Write these down once per apartment. If more than one person answers guests, everyone should read from the same sheet.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What does the driver need? | Address in the local language, a maps pin, the nearest landmark, which gate. |
| How does the guest enter the building? | Security desk, key card, intercom code, a guard who needs the guest's name. State the exact steps. |
| How does the guest enter the apartment? | Lockbox location and code, smart lock code, key at reception. Say when the code is valid. |
| What is the earliest they can enter? | Check-in time, and what happens if they arrive before it. See early check-in requests. |
| What breaks most often on arrival? | Lift that needs the card, hot water switch, breaker in the hallway. Put the top two in the message. |
| Who do they contact if stuck? | A number that is answered at night, or a clear "message me here, I reply within minutes". |
One rule above all: the message should work for a guest who is tired, has no local SIM yet, and is reading on a cracked screen in a taxi. Short lines. Numbers, not paragraphs.
Three messages you can paste
Send the full version one to three days before arrival, once the booking is confirmed and you know the arrival time. Send the short version on the day, a few hours before. Keep the same facts in both; the day-of message is a reminder, not new information.
Here is everything for your arrival on Friday.
Address: [address in English]. For the driver, in Thai: [address in Thai]. Maps pin: [link]. Tell the driver "Tower B, next to the 7-Eleven".
Building: show the guard your booking name. Take lift 2 to floor 14. The lift needs the key card, which is in the lockbox by the mailboxes (code 4821, press the hash after).
Apartment 14B: the same key card opens the door. Hot water switch is in the bathroom above the sink. Wifi: TowerB_14B, password sunnyday2026.
Check-in is from 3 PM. If you arrive earlier, the reception can hold your bags. If anything does not work, message me here, I reply within minutes.
A quick reminder for today: lockbox by the mailboxes, code 4821 then hash. Lift 2 needs the key card. Check-in from 3 PM. Message me here if anything is unclear on the way.
Could you tell me roughly when you expect to arrive? Check-in is from 3 PM. I will send the full access details the morning of your arrival, and if you are landing late at night I will add a couple of extra notes so you do not have to ask anyone.
The codes above are made up. Never put a real code in a message that stays in a shared inbox longer than it needs to. Many hosts change the lockbox code between guests and only send it the day before.
Mistakes hosts make
Sending it too early with no reminder. A message sent at booking time, three months before, is buried under forty others by arrival day. Send it again close to the date.
Putting the house rules first. The guest scrolls past the rules looking for the code, misses the lift note, and calls. Access first, rules after.
Assuming the guest knows the building. "Take the lift" is not enough in a building with three towers and a car-park lift that only goes to floor 5. Name the lift and the floor.
One address only. No local-language address means a driver who stops at the wrong soi. Add the Thai, Vietnamese or Bahasa version and a pin.
No night contact. If the message ends with "contact the host", the host must actually be reachable at 1 AM, or someone must be. If that is not you, say who it is.
Different versions in different places. A code in the listing, a different code in the message, a third in a laminated sheet. Keep one source and copy from it.
How Tokay handles it
Tokay is an AI front desk. The check-in message is one of the things you set up on the first call: address, driver note, building access, apartment access, check-in time and the two things that most often confuse guests. Those facts live in Tokay's knowledge base at three levels, general, building and apartment, so the lift note for the Sukhumvit 24 tower is written once and applies to every unit you have there.
Pam, the front desk agent, answers the follow-up questions a check-in message always produces ("which tower", "the code is not working", "can I come at noon") around the clock and in the guest's own language, from the facts you gave. If a guest asks something that is not on file, Pam asks you rather than guessing. A guest who writes at 1 AM because the lift will not move gets the lift note again within a minute, in Chinese or Russian if that is what they wrote in.
A locked-out guest or anything that sounds like distress always comes to you first. Smart locks are coming soon; for now Pam works with whatever access method you describe. Guests keep writing on Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo, where they booked.
Questions hosts ask
When should I send check-in instructions?
Full details one to three days before arrival, once you know the arrival time, then a short reminder on the day. Sending the full message at booking time is fine as a bonus, but do not rely on it; by arrival day it is buried.
Should I put the door code in the Airbnb listing?
No. The listing is visible to many people and stays visible after the stay. Send the code in a message close to the date, and change it between guests if your lock allows it. Keep the listing to the general steps: "lockbox at reception, code sent the day before".
What if the guest never reads the message?
Some will not. That is why the day-of reminder is short and leads with the code and the lift. If they still call, answer kindly and resend the short version rather than retyping.