Guests and reviews
Most guest questions are predictable, and so are most bad reviews. These guides cover the message sequence that answers them and how to earn reviews within Airbnb’s policy.
In short
What this topic covers
Guests ask much the same questions at much the same moments: right after booking, a few days before arrival, on the day itself, during the stay and after checkout. That predictability is what makes messaging manageable at scale. A sequence of scheduled messages, each sent at the moment a guest needs the information, answers most questions before they are asked, and leaves your attention free for the messages that really need a person, such as a late arrival, a fault in the unit or a complaint.
Reviews follow from the stay, but also from expectations. A guest who found exactly what the listing promised, got in without trouble and had a problem solved quickly has little reason to leave a poor rating. Airbnb’s review policy sets limits on what you can do to influence reviews: offering incentives, pressuring guests or threatening them over a review is not allowed, while asking politely for honest feedback is. Airbnb’s own badges, such as Guest favourite and Superhost, are built on ratings, reviews and reliability, and Superhost applies to the listing owner rather than to co-hosts.
The guides in this topic give message templates for the whole guest journey and explain how to earn 5-star reviews without breaking the review policy.
Guides
Start with the first guide
- GuideGuests
Airbnb house rules in 2026: what Airbnb allows, a template, and how a co-host enforces them
The seven standard rules, what Airbnb’s new reasonable-rules policy bans from 20 November 2026, why fines are out, how Booking.com handles house rules, and a template for a managed flat.
- Use the seven standard rules first and keep requests few; anything else written in messages, on signs or in person after booking does not count as a house rule.
- From 20 November 2026 hosts may not fine guests or ask them to strip beds, take rubbish off-site or wash dishes.
- Parties are banned by Airbnb’s own policy, whatever your rules say; your rules set the guest limit and quiet hours that back it up.
- GuideGuests
Guest message templates
Eight messages that cover a stay from booking to review, when to schedule each one on Airbnb and Booking.com, what to leave to AI replies, and what you are not allowed to send.
- GuideGuests
Get 5-star reviews
How Airbnb reviews work, what the review policy forbids, what moves each category rating, how to ask for a review the right way, and why a co-host should watch Guest favourite rather than Superhost.
- GuideGuests
Guest favourite vs Superhost
The exact criteria for each Airbnb badge, when each one is assessed, what they do in search, and how a manager protects both across a portfolio of listings they do not own.
Terms and tools
Terms you’ll meet in this topic
About HostPro Academy
The team behind this guide
These guides are written by the team behind HostPro Academy, a training programme for building a short-term rental management business. The guests and reviews part of that programme is covered in levels 10 and 12.