Airbnb Check-In Instructions Template With Examples

Check-in instructions are written once and tested by every guest you'll ever host — usually at the moment of maximum stress: kerbside, tired, luggage in hand, phone at 12%. A template matters here more than anywhere else in hosting, because the failure cost is a phone call at best and a first impression ruined at worst, while the fix is entirely structural: the right blocks, in the right order, written for the worst-case arriver.

This is that template: the five-block structure, three fully worked examples (lockbox, smart lock, apartment building), the photo checklist that removes ambiguity, and the delivery guidance that puts it in guests' hands at the right moments.

The five-block structure

Every reliable check-in instruction set has the same anatomy:

Block 1 — Finding us: [full address] + [the satnav correction] + [the confirming landmark] Block 2 — Parking: [exactly where] + [the trap to avoid] + [unloading option if parking is remote] Block 3 — Getting in: numbered steps, one action each, code in bold on its own line, the knack named Block 4 — First ten minutes: lights, heating, Wi-Fi pointer, water glasses Block 5 — Plan B: [the common fix] + "call me at [number], any hour — genuinely"

Write to the worst-case arriver (night, rain, low battery) and every easier arrival is covered free. Blocks 4 and 5 are the ones most templates skip — and the ones that prevent the 11pm call.

Worked example 1: the lockbox cottage

Finding us: Rose Cottage, 4 Chapel Lane, St Merton TR8 4QT. Your satnav will try to send you down Mill Lane — ignore it and stay on the high street until the church. We're the blue door directly opposite the lychgate.

Parking: the gravel space marked "RC" beside the cottage is yours all stay. Don't be tempted by the pub car park — they clamp with enthusiasm.

Getting in:

1. Walk past the blue gate to the front door (photo below).
2. The key safe is on the right wall, behind the lavender.
3. Code: 2846 — then pull the black lever down.
4. Front door sticks in wet weather: push in as you turn. It's a cottage thing.

First ten minutes: hall light switch is left of the door; heating boost button beside it; Wi-Fi is one tap away on this guide's home screen; water glasses above the sink.

If anything fights you: the safe's lever needs a firm pull — try once more with conviction. Still stuck? Call Sarah on 07XXX XXXXXX, any hour. We'd rather the midnight call than you on the doorstep.

Worked example 2: the smart lock flat

Finding us: Flat 4, 12 Merchant Street, Leeds LS1 4HT — stay on Merchant Street (satnavs deliver you to the service road behind); we're the green door beside the lit pharmacy sign.

Parking: the NCP on Weaver Lane is the honest option (3-min walk, ~£12/night). The bays outside are permit-only and ticketed. Pull in briefly by the green door to unload first — that's allowed.

Getting in:

1. Green street door — keypad on the right. Code: 4482#.
2. If the keypad's dark, tap once to wake it, then enter slowly.
3. Stairs to floor two; Flat 4 is straight ahead.
4. Flat door keypad: 2917# — the handle turns while the light is green.

First ten minutes: hall switch immediately left; heating is scheduled but the +1 button adds an hour any time; Wi-Fi copies in one tap from the guide.

If anything fights you: both keypads sleep to save battery — one tap wakes them. Two failed tries? Call Marcus: 07XXX XXXXXX, genuinely any hour.

Worked example 3: the apartment building with fobs

Finding us: Apartment 902, The Weavery, 8 Canal Wharf, Manchester M1 2AD. Entrance is on the canal side, not the street side — walk through the archway with the iron gates.

Parking: your space is B2-14 in the underground car park — entry via Dale Street ramp, code 7733. Head to the lift lobby marked "Core B".

Getting in:

1. At the canal-side entrance, buzz 902 — we'll release the door remotely between 3–7pm. After 7pm, use code 5521 on the silver panel.
2. Lift to floor 9 (fob not needed going up).
3. Apartment 902 is left out of the lift, end of the corridor.
4. Lockbox beside the door frame: code 8194 — inside are two keys and two building fobs (you'll need the fob for the lift after 10pm and the gym).

First ten minutes: the wall panel by the door runs the heating (photo in the guide); blinds are electric — switches by each window; Wi-Fi one tap away.

If anything fights you: the concierge desk (staffed 8am–8pm) can let you up if all else fails — mention Apartment 902. Otherwise call Dana: 07XXX XXXXXX, any hour.

The photo checklist

Each worked example assumes its photo set — the template's other half. Shoot once, in this order: the approach as a driver/walker first sees it, the parking spot with context, the entrance door, the lockbox or keypad in situ (wide enough to find, close enough to use), each interim door or lift for multi-stage entries, and the first-ten-minutes targets (light switch, heating control). Two upgrades: re-shoot at dusk if guests ever arrive after dark, and re-shoot any step the day reality changes — a photo that contradicts the property is worse than no photo. For genuinely tricky sequences, a 30-second walkthrough video embedded in a digital guide beats everything.

Delivery: the template's second life

Instructions earn nothing sitting in a book nobody opens, so the delivery pattern matters as much as the content. The full instructions live in your welcome book's arrival section, linked from the booking confirmation onward. The check-in day message then delivers the essentials — time, code on its own line, and the link — on arrival morning, automated via scheduled messages. Rotating codes? The message carries the code; the book carries every photographed step around it. Static codes live in both — at the kerb, redundancy is kindness.

Adapting the template

The three examples cover the main arrival species; adaptation is substitution. In-person greetings keep blocks 1–2 plus a meeting line ("I'll meet you at the door at your ETA — message if it shifts"), with blocks 3–5 as backup for the day your train is late. Rural properties expand block 1 (what3words references help where addresses fail) and add the "last petrol/shop before us" note. Boats, cabins and unusual access turn block 3 into more steps with more photos — exotic entries are just longer sequences, and the one-action-per-step rule scales indefinitely. Whatever the property, the worst-case-arriver test validates the result: could a tired stranger follow this at midnight in rain?

The bottom line

Five blocks, numbered steps, bold codes, photos throughout, a plan B with your number — copy the worked example nearest your setup and replace the details. Done once and tested at dusk, it retires the arrival call for good. Build it into a free WelcomeFlo guide and let every future guest walk in like they've been before.