My last PMS had an ability to send guests an automated message that included a link to an online form (provided by the PMS) where the guest filled in their expected arrival and departure times. Those times then auto-updated the booking's check in and check out times--and my cleaner could look and prioritize cleanings or come early if a guest was leaving early. Once it was set up it all happened automatically--no need to manually collect and update/track/enter this information.
Thanks for sharing how your previous PMS handled this! I can see the appeal of automating the collection of arrival and departure information.
I'm curious about your experience with this workflow—how reliably did guests' estimated times match their actual arrival and departure? The concern I have is that automatically updating the official check-in/check-out times based on guest estimates could create complications if their plans change. Since guests already agreed to specific times at booking, officially changing those times might cause confusion or issues if they don't stick to their estimates.
That said, I absolutely understand the value of knowing when guests expect to arrive and depart for cleaning coordination. Would a solution that collects and displays this information for you and your cleaner (without changing the official booking times) work for your needs? I can see that being something we'd consider. That way you'd have visibility into guest plans while keeping the original booking terms intact.
Yes! The solution that you're proposing would actually be better -- really all we need to do is see when guests say they will arrive and depart without having to gather and enter that info manually. And perhaps also include a notes field that hosts can turn on and off to allow guests to make any special requests like for early check in or late check out.
To answer your question, the other system was almost entirely reliable except that very occasionally a guest would invert their arrival and departure times, and because arrivals defaulted to p.m. and departures to a.m., it would end up looking like they were arriving at 11 pm and departing at 4 am (for example). That wouldn't have been an issue except it was tied to the electronic lock timing so we had a time where someone arrived at 4 pm and was locked out because the system had their arrival as 11 pm.
Other than that, we never had an issue. We just added an hour buffer, so if a guest said they were checking out at 8:00 am due to a 10:30 am flight, the cleaner might show up at 9:00 am. For check in, it allowed us to prioritize which condos to get ready first or to schedule maintenance in the afternoon or maybe have the cleaner do some extra deep cleaning.
Thanks so much!
