Guest messaging on Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia: scheduled messages, quick replies, response time and what counts (2026)

Updated: 10 November 2026

Replying quickly to guests is not just good manners: Airbnb says your response rate can affect where your listing appears, and Booking.com shows every property its Reply Score. This guide sums up what the official help pages of Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia say (checked on 10 November 2026) about scheduled messages, templates, how responses are measured, what you cannot send and translation. Anything we could not confirm in an official source is marked «unconfirmed».

The short answer

The essentials:

Booking.com: templates you can schedule at 6 points of the booking, automatic replies to common questions and a Reply Score updated daily with the share of messages answered within 24 hours.
Airbnb: quick replies (templates) you can schedule around booking, check-in or checkout; response rate = new enquiries and requests answered within 24 hours over the last 30 days.
Superhost requires responding to 90% of new messages (quarterly assessment over 12 months).
Keep the conversation on the platform: Airbnb bans external links in messages and asking for contact details before booking.
Expedia: we could only confirm messaging via API (2024). Templates, scheduling and a response metric in Partner Central: unconfirmed.

Booking.com: templates, scheduled messages and automatic replies

According to the Booking.com Partner Hub:

Only extranet accounts with admin rights can create or edit templates.
Available moments: at booking, 1 week, 3 days and 1 day before arrival, arrival day and 1 day before departure. Schedule them in «Template scheduler», with a preview.
Templates support placeholders (guest name, check-in time, property name) and image attachments.
Automatic replies for common questions (parking, check-in and check-out, bed types): guests get them by email and in the Booking Assistant chat. If the reply is within your policy, the request is accepted automatically.
Booking.com says (undated) that over 30% of partner responses are automatic and over 25% of partner-initiated messages use scheduled templates.

Booking.com: deadlines, Reply Score and limits

What the «Contacting guests» guide says:

You can write from booking until 7 days after checkout or cancellation; if the guest writes, you have 14 days to reply; after 1 year messages can no longer be read.
Reply Score: the faster you reply, the higher it is. According to «Messaging Tools» it is updated daily and reflects the share of messages answered within 24 hours. Find it in Inbox > Reservation messages and Home > Data.
Whether it affects Booking.com search ranking: unconfirmed.
Attachments: images only; PDFs and QR codes are not accepted.
Messages cannot be deleted and Booking.com may access them (fraud, access requests, spam).

Airbnb: quick replies and scheduled messages

According to the Airbnb Help Center:

Quick replies are created in Messages > Settings > Manage quick replies, with «details» that fill in guest name, check-in date, house rules, wifi and more.
They can be scheduled before or after a new reservation, check-in or checkout. They are not scheduled by default and send in the listing's time zone.
Last-minute bookings and short stays skip some messages unless you turn on the matching option.
You can skip, send early or edit a single upcoming message. Deleting the template removes all future unsent messages.
Limit: 4,000 characters per message. Airbnb also uses AI to suggest which of your quick replies to use.

Airbnb: response rate and response time (what counts)

According to articles 430, 2414 and 829:

Response rate: share of new enquiries and booking requests answered within 24 hours over the last 30 days.
Accepting, pre-approving, declining, sending a message or a special offer all count. Letting a request expire counts against you.
Response time: average time to reply to all new messages over the last 30 days. Follow-up messages in the same thread do not count: you do not need the last word.
Replying after 24 hours counts as late. Airbnb says your response rate may affect your listing's position in search.
Superhost: respond to 90% of new messages, using your first reply to each new thread over the last 12 months; reviewed every 3 months (1 January, April, July and October).

Expedia

What we could confirm:

Expedia Group launched messaging via API in spring 2024: properties can read and answer guest messages from their connectivity software, and Expedia links it to faster response times.
Templates, scheduled messages, translation, response-time metric and content restrictions in Partner Central: unconfirmed (its help pages did not open).
Check the Partner Central help in your account before automating messages.

What you cannot send

Official rules:

Airbnb: links to sites outside Airbnb, asking for or taking payments off-platform, discounts for booking elsewhere and asking for contact details before booking. After booking, the guest may ask for another way to communicate.
Airbnb, reservations from 20 November 2026: hosts may not ask for personal data (phone, address, email, ID…) at any point, except under applicable law, a documented community rule or an allowed contract, disclosed in the listing before booking.
Booking.com: private emails and personal data are not shared (guests have an anonymous alias); links are disabled if suspicious activity is detected; it asks you to communicate only via the extranet and the Pulse app.
Asking these guests to book direct next time has its own rules: see the guide linked below.

Languages and translation

How each platform handles it:

Airbnb auto-translates messages into the guest's language when they view them; the template language only affects how details are translated.
Booking.com: templates in up to 43 languages, grouped under the same name; if there is no version in the guest's language, the default is used (Booking.com recommends English unless most guests speak another language).
Booking.com lets you view a message translation («Show translation»); the help page lists English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Arabic and Portuguese. Italian and Greek: unconfirmed.
Expedia: translation unconfirmed.

What to do this week

Practical steps:

Write three templates in your main languages: confirmation, arrival instructions (2-3 days before) and a goodbye the day before departure.
Schedule them on Booking.com («Template scheduler») and Airbnb (scheduled quick replies), and enable sending for last-minute bookings if useful.
Set up Booking.com automatic replies for parking, times and beds, consistent with your policy.
Check there are no external links or contact-detail requests, and on Booking.com replace PDFs or QR codes with images.
Check your Reply Score on Booking.com and your response rate and time on Airbnb, and turn on mobile notifications so you never go past 24 hours.

How iQuota helps

iQuota connects your property with AI assistants for direct booking, no commission and payment at the property:

Your real details and terms (times, parking, rules) are written down in your profile so AI can give them correctly.
We do not promise bookings or that a given AI will show you: that depends on each assistant.

Frequently asked questions

What counts towards Airbnb's response rate?

New enquiries and requests answered within 24 hours over the last 30 days. Declining counts as a response; letting a request expire does not.

What response rate does Superhost require?

Responding to 90% of new messages, according to Airbnb article 829, reviewed every 3 months over the last 12.

How does Booking.com measure my replies?

With the Reply Score, which Booking.com says is updated daily and reflects the share of messages answered within 24 hours.

Can I send a link to my website in a message?

Not on Airbnb: it bans links to sites outside the platform. On Booking.com links are disabled if suspicious activity is detected, and the platform asks you to communicate only via the extranet and Pulse.

Until when can I message a Booking.com guest?

From booking until 7 days after checkout or cancellation.

Sources

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