Guest Preparation Checklist: Before Every Arrival

A great arrival is built during the week before it, in small moves nobody sees. This is the before-every-arrival checklist I work from, written so you can print it or paste it into your notes app and bend it to fit your own house. It runs on four clocks: seven days out, three days out, the day before, and arrival day.

Why a checklist, when you already know your house

Because knowing is different from remembering on a Thursday with two turnovers and a plumber on the way. Airbnb's Resource Center puts it simply: "Cleaning checklists help ensure nothing is missed between guests." The same goes for everything around the cleaning.

A checklist also frees your attention. When the routine lives on paper, your head is free for the part that makes a stay personal. In the Mood Method, that is Omotenashi working hand in hand with Details and delight.

One note: this list covers preparation, and the clean itself has its own room-by-room list. With back-to-back bookings, the early lists happen while other guests are in the house. That is fine. Almost all of it is done from your phone.

7 days before arrival: learn the trip

Re-read the whole message thread. Note the occasion, the ages of any children, pets, allergies and anything they asked about before booking.
Send a warm hello with one question: what is bringing you here, and is there anything we can set up for you? Our Southborough listing says it outright: "share any special requests in advance and we'll do everything we can to bring them to life."
Confirm the guest count against the beds, and whether the crib, high chair or extra bedding needs to come out.
Book the clean and confirm the time in writing. If the calendar is tight, confirm the backup cleaner too.
Check the maintenance calendar. Anything due this week (furnace filter, hot tub service, chimney, gutters) gets finished before arrival day.
Order consumables that are running low: coffee, toilet paper, soap, dishwasher tabs, firewood, s'mores supplies.

3 days before arrival: set the stage

Send arrival details: the address, parking, how to get in, wifi, and your phone number. Airbnb's guidance on check-in suggests adding photos or a video of the way in. For someone arriving in the dark, a picture of the right door is a kindness.
Check the weather for their dates. Snow or ice coming? Line up ploughing, shovelling and de-icer for the steps. Heat wave? Make sure fans or air conditioning are ready. Rain all weekend? Put the board games and the movie setup front and centre.
Follow through on special requests: the birthday banner, the early grocery delivery, the extra folding table.
Choose the welcome touch for this group. Children, colleagues and a dog each call for something different. Small and well aimed beats big and generic.
Re-check your listing and house manual against the house. If the kayak is out for repair, say so now, before they pack for it.
Make sure no vendor (landscaper, snow service) will show up mid-stay unannounced.

Welcome board with local charcuterie, a baguette, wine glasses and a Villa Foresta sign

1 day before arrival: prove that everything works

This is the list that designs out the "it didn't work" review. Touch every item. A glance from across the room does not count.

Set the door code or confirm the lockbox, then test it yourself from outside. Check the lock's battery level.
Have a backup way in (a lockbox key, a neighbour or co-host) that you can explain in one message.
Run the hot water at the farthest tap. Flush every toilet. Look under the sinks.
Schedule the heating or cooling so the house is comfortable before they arrive, not two hours after.
Test the wifi on your phone in the living room and in the farthest bedroom.
Turn on every TV and streaming device. Confirm the previous guests' logins are gone. (At Southborough, the projector runs in Roku guest mode, which wipes them automatically at checkout.)
Check that smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are powered and showing normal status. The US Fire Administration's advice is short: "Test the alarm monthly." Airbnb encourages alarms in every listing and asks hosts to test them regularly.
Confirm the fire extinguisher and first aid kit are where the manual says they are.
Walk the outside after dark. Replace dead bulbs on the path, the steps and the porch.
Test the fun: jacuzzi jets, fire pit, grill fuel, bike tyres. Whatever your house is known for has to work on night one.

Arrival day: the guest's-eye walk

Do this after the cleaner leaves. Enter the way the guest will, and walk the house in the order they will discover it.

From the car: is the house number visible? Is the path clear, lit and free of bins, hoses and delivery boxes?
At the door: does the code work on the first try?
First breath: the house should smell of nothing, or of something faint and clean. Open windows for ten minutes if the weather allows.
First look: lamps on, blinds open, cushions straight, nothing left behind by the last guest or the cleaner.
Every bed: check under it and run a hand over the pillowcases. One stray hair undoes an hour of good cleaning.
Every bathroom: towels counted against the guest count, toilet paper plus spares, soap, a clean drain, a dry floor.
Kitchen: empty dishwasher, empty fridge (apart from gifts), coffee and tea stocked, fresh bin liner.
House manual in its place, wifi details easy to find.
Set out the welcome touch and a short handwritten note with their names.
Thermostat at the right temperature. Porch and entry lights on if they arrive after dark.
Take quick photos of each room as you leave: your record of how the house looked.
Send the arrival-day message: the house is ready, and here is how to reach me. Airbnb advises responding as quickly as possible, "particularly in the 24 hours leading up to their arrival." Answering within the hour matters more today than any other day.

After they are in

Send a short message that evening or the next morning to ask whether they found everything. Then leave them to enjoy it.
Log anything you noticed during the walk that needs fixing later.

That last line is where the loop closes. When a guest mentions something that would have made their stay better, it becomes a new line on this list. I explain how in kaizen for hosts. For what belongs in the manual on the counter, see the house manual guests actually read.

Your list will end up different from mine, and it should. A lake house needs a line for life jackets. A city flat needs one for the parking permit. Start with this one, run it for ten stays, and edit without mercy.