Key points
- The guest booked a listing with a pool photo. They want to use the pool without feeling awkward.
- Collect these once per building. They change rarely, and when they do change, usually around a renovation or a new juristic rule, you change one answer, not twenty replies.
- The best version is a facilities paragraph inside the check-in message, so the guest has it before they ask.
On this page
"What time does the pool open?" is the question hosts in condo buildings answer most, usually a few hours after check-in, often at the same time as "do we need the key card for the gym?" and "can my friend use the pool?". None of these are hard. All of them cost a reply each unless you answer them together, once, before the guest asks. This page is about collecting the facility facts, writing one message that covers them, and avoiding the handful of rules that get guests turned away at the pool gate.
What the guest actually wants
The guest booked a listing with a pool photo. They want to use the pool without feeling awkward. The real questions behind "what time does it open" are: can I go now, do I need the card, is there a towel, are my kids allowed, will the guard stop me.
In Thailand there is a sixth: are we even allowed, as short-stay guests, to use the facilities. Some juristic offices restrict facilities to registered residents. A guest should never find that out from a guard.
Questions to answer for yourself first
Collect these once per building. They change rarely, and when they do change, usually around a renovation or a new juristic rule, you change one answer, not twenty replies.
| Facility | What to record |
|---|---|
| Pool | Hours, which floor, key card needed, towels provided or not, children's rules, swimwear rules (some buildings ask for proper swimwear, no shorts). |
| Gym | Hours, floor, key card, shoes required, any sign-in. |
| Sauna or steam | Hours, how to switch it on, whether a guard does it. |
| Co-working, lounge, rooftop | Hours, booking needed, any fee. |
| Laundry | Floor, coins or app, hours. |
| Parking | Covered on its own page: parking questions. |
| Guests of guests | Whether a visitor may use the pool, and whether they must register at the desk. |
| Short-stay restriction | Whether the building restricts facilities to residents. If you are unsure, ask the juristic office, and check with a local lawyer on how the building treats short stays. |
The hardest one is the last row. If your building does not allow short-stay guests at the pool, say so in the listing and say so before arrival. A pool in the photos that the guest cannot use is a one-star review waiting to happen.
Three replies you can paste
The best version is a facilities paragraph inside the check-in message, so the guest has it before they ask. The replies below cover the guest who asks anyway.
The pool is on floor 7 and is open from 7 AM to 9 PM, the gym next to it from 6 AM to 10 PM. Both need the key card to open the glass door. Towels are not provided at the pool, there are two in the wardrobe for you. Children are welcome in the pool when an adult is with them. The sauna is next to the gym, the guard on floor 7 switches it on if you ask. Enjoy it.
Friends are welcome to visit you in the apartment. The building asks that only registered guests use the pool and gym, so I cannot offer that for visitors, sorry. The lounge on the ground floor is open to everyone if you want to meet there.
Good question, let me confirm the current hours with the building office and come back to you within the hour. In the meantime the key card opens the pool door on floor 7.
Keep "let me check" replies honest. If the building office closes at 5 PM, say "tomorrow morning", not "within the hour".
Mistakes hosts make
Answering one facility at a time. "The pool opens at 7" earns "and the gym?" five minutes later. Answer the set.
Guessing the hours. Pool hours change for cleaning days and holidays, and a guest who walks down to a locked gate at 7 AM because you said 7 AM will tell you. Check with the building twice a year and whenever you hear a complaint.
Forgetting the key card. In most Bangkok condos the card opens the lift, the pool door and the gym door. A guest who left the card in the apartment is stuck outside the pool. Say it in the message.
Leaving the visitor rule unsaid. A guest invites four friends for a pool afternoon, the guard sends them away, and now you have a complaint and a building that has noticed your unit. Say the visitor rule before it is tested. See extra guest requests.
Showing a facility the building does not allow short-stay guests to use. If the rule exists, the listing must say so. Honest beats sorry here.
How Tokay handles it
Tokay is an AI front desk with a knowledge base in three levels: general, building and apartment. Pool hours, gym rules, towel policy and the visitor rule live at the building level, written once, so every unit you have in the same tower answers the same way and a rule change is one edit.
Pam, the front desk agent, answers these questions around the clock in the guest's own language, from the facts you gave it. If a guest asks about something you have not recorded, a sauna you forgot to mention, a rooftop rule, Pam does not guess. It asks you, you answer once with a tap, and the answer is on file for the next guest.
Facility questions are routine, so most hosts switch them to auto-send early, after the first two weeks of approving every reply. Anything unusual, a guest upset about being refused at the pool, a question about a rule you have not set, comes to you first.
Questions hosts ask
Should I put pool hours in the listing or in the check-in message?
Both, in different levels of detail. The listing says "pool and gym, key card access, pool 7 AM to 9 PM". The check-in message carries the full paragraph with floor, towels, children and the sauna switch. Guests read the message closer to arrival, so that is where the details matter.
What if the building changes the pool hours and I did not know?
It happens, usually for cleaning or a juristic meeting. Apologise to the guest, confirm the new hours with the office, update your one source and move on. If your facility facts live in one place the fix takes a minute; copied into thirty saved replies, it takes an afternoon.
My building does not allow short-stay guests to use the facilities. What do I tell guests?
Tell them in the listing, before booking, in plain words: "the building's pool and gym are for long-term residents only". Guests who book anyway have accepted it. Guests who were not told will not. If you are not certain what the building's position is, ask the juristic office and a local lawyer; see condo rules for short-term guests in Thailand.