The guest's own chat: what it is, how they get to it and what they can do there
By GuestChat Team ·
Besides the Airbnb or Booking.com chat, every guest has their own chat with your property, open 24 hours a day. The same AI answers it, using the same property profile, and everything said there shows up in Conversations, on the Public chat tab.
How the guest gets there
The chat opens from the personal link the guest receives by text message or by email. It is not a page anyone can open: if someone arrives without their link, they are told to look for it in the messages their property sent them, or to write to you where they booked.
The easiest way to give it to them is the 24h chat tag in your automated messages. Almost every template includes it: the booking confirmation, the welcome message, the check-out notice.
What they can do there
- Write and get an answer right away, in their own language.
- Attach photos, by taking one or picking from the gallery, several at once. Very handy to show a breakdown ("is this normal?") or a question about an appliance.
- Share their location, when they ask how to get there or they are lost. The browser asks for permission; if they say no, they are shown how to turn it on.
- Open the chat from their virtual key, without switching screens.
What you see
Everything appears on the Public chat tab of their conversation, with the photos they sent. On All, it is mixed by time with whatever they wrote on the booking site. To write to them yourself, from Arrivals you can send by public chat and email: the message shows up in their chat and they also get an email alert, in case they don't have it open.
Own chat or booking site chat?
The AI answers both. Some practical differences:
- On the booking site, the guest writes where they booked and the conversation stays on that platform.
- In the own chat, they can easily send photos and their location, and it is right there in the same link they use to get in.
You don't have to choose: the guest will use whichever is easier for them, and you see it all together.
Try it yourself
From the header of AI Training in each property you can open the guest chat and ask it the usual questions yourself. It is the best way to check your property profile. If you want to leave it clean afterwards, you can clear the public chat from the conversation header. Use it with care: it deletes the history of that chat.
Tips
- Include the chat link in the booking confirmation: that way the guest has it from the very start.
- Mention that they can send photos. Many people don't think of it and describe in words what a photo explains in a second.
- Make sure the guest leaves their email in the online check-in: without an email, some alerts never reach them.
- If a guest prefers the booking site, don't push: the AI looks after them just the same on both sides.