New VRBO response time rules

[Michael Baum]

So I got me an email from VRBO talking about their new response time rules around "critical information"

https://help.vrbo.com/articles/About-the-Vrbo-Host-Communica...

Essentially it make sure you respond in what they think is a timely manner. 3 days before arrival with all check in info etc. We do that 2 days so it will be an easy adjustment.

We used to send it much earlier, but we had guests showing up a day before thinking they could get an extra night. I could see some abuse by those guests that are looking for free stays.

Also, most of the "critical info" like service animals and accessibility should be in your listing. Does that mean if they don't read it are you on the hook?

Example -

Answering critical questions
You must answer critical questions from guests in accordance with the timeline below:

• 5+ days pre-stay: answer within 24 hours
• 2 - 4 days pre-stay: answer within 12 hours
• On the guest’s check-in day and during their stay: answer within 1 hour (for messages received between 8 am and 9 pm in the property’s time zone).

Examples of critical questions include; access instructions, arrival
concerns, missing or broken key amenities, health and safety concerns,
property location, outages, weapons, accessibility, and service animals.

• Note: You must provide a resolution to the specific issue or
  inform the guest when it will be resolved. Using an ‘automatic reply’ is
  not sufficient.

[Lisa Graesser]

Quote from @JD Martin:

I keep in reasonable regular contact with guests before their stay but I will not provide access or location information earlier than an hour or two before their stay, as I have had people show up before guests have left and before cleaners have finished. Without the address and access code I don't have to worry about that. 

If you have a remote lock like schlage encode,  you can enter the time the code will start and end , but give the guest the information of how to enter in advance, I think If I was going on vacation and did not have any info on how to get in prior to one hour  before check in that would make me a litte anxious and start my vacation with not so great vibes.