What to send in the 72 hours before a guest arrives

A guest who booked you in March barely thinks about you in April. Three days before the flight, that changes completely. The bag is half packed, the group chat is busy, and someone has just asked whether there's a cash machine in Hopkins and whether the road is any good.

That window — roughly the last 72 hours — is the most attentive your guest will ever be. It is also the most anxious. They are about to hand you money and several days of their holiday, in a country most of them have never visited, and they are quietly hoping they have not made a mistake.

Handled well, those three days settle the guest, cut down the questions that arrive at ten at night, and sell the things they were going to want anyway. Handled badly, they produce a tired couple standing outside the wrong gate in San Ignacio at dusk.

Why the timing works

Operators and industry studies that track pre-arrival offers report conversion rates ranging from a small share of guests up to a third or more, depending on the property and the offer. The same reports put the average added value at around US$95 per booking when the offer goes out before the stay rather than at the desk, and they find guests considerably more likely to accept an upgrade before arrival than when they are standing in reception with their bags.

That gap makes sense if you have ever worked a front desk. At check-in the guest is hot, tired and slightly suspicious of being sold to. Three days earlier they are in planning mode, sitting at a laptop, looking forward to the trip and perfectly happy to spend a little more on making it better.

The other thing worth knowing is how the message reaches them. WhatsApp messages are reported as opened more than nine times out of ten; email is opened roughly one time in five. Most of your guests are already on WhatsApp for the whole trip anyway. Email still has its place for anything they need to print or forward, but if you want something read before a flight, send it where they already look.

A four-message sequence

You do not need a clever funnel. Four short messages, spread across three days, cover almost everything a small Belize property needs.

Three days out — getting here and what to bring. The practical one. Which airport, roughly how long the drive or the water taxi takes, where to meet, what the last leg looks like. If you are up a hill outside San Ignacio, say so plainly and say what sort of vehicle copes. Add a short "bring" list: reef-safe sunscreen, a torch, long sleeves for evenings in Cayo, cash in small notes for tips and market stalls. Tell them whether there is mobile signal and whether there is a cash machine within reach. Nothing here sells anything. It just lowers the temperature.

Two days out — the transfer offer. Now the transfer. Price it clearly in BZ$, say how long it takes, and say what happens if the flight is late. Guests who have just read your honest note about the last ten miles of road are rather more interested in being collected than they were a week ago. Make it one question with a yes or no answer.

Two days out, or the morning after — what would you like to do. Not a brochure. A question. "Is there anything you'd like us to book before you arrive? The cave tours and the Tuesday boat fill up." Then three or four options with a line each. For a guesthouse near Placencia that might be a snorkel trip, a day on Laughing Bird Caye, a bike hire and an early check-in. For a lodge in Cayo, ATM cave, Xunantunich with a guide, a birding walk before breakfast.

Half the value of this message isn't the sale. It's finding out, before they arrive, what kind of holiday they think they've booked.

Day of arrival — the check-in note. Short. Who will meet them, what time, the phone number that will actually be answered, where to go if they get in early and the room isn't ready. If you offered an early check-in and they took it, confirm it here so nobody has to remember.

What runs by itself, and what still needs you

Direct Belize sends the pre-arrival sequence on WhatsApp or email, with your upsell offers attached, and the AI concierge handles the questions that come back — but only from facts you have approved, and it hands over to a person the moment it is out of its depth. You can see the whole flow in the guest journey tools.

Automate these:

• The timing and the sending, so nobody has to remember a Sunday arrival.
• The standing facts: directions, what to bring, times, the transfer price, the tour list.
• First-line answers to repeat questions at odd hours.
• Logging what was accepted, so housekeeping and the driver both know.

Keep these human:

• Anything to do with a flight change, a medical issue or a child's birthday.
• Pricing a group or a long stay.
• The guest who replies to the tour prompt with three paragraphs about their hopes for the week. That one deserves a person.

Payment stays where it always was. Direct bookings and extras are settled at the property, or as a deposit through your own Stripe account. Direct Belize never holds the money, and the website, domain and guest data stay yours.

Start with one message

Do not build all four at once. Write the three-days-out note first, the practical one, and send it to every arrival for a month. It is the message that saves you the most phone calls, and it costs nothing to try.

Add the transfer offer next, then the tour prompt. By the time you reach the day-of note you will have a fair idea of what your guests actually ask, which is better material than anything you could draft in advance.

If you want help setting the sequence up for your property, get in touch. Setup is usually done within a couple of weeks, and there is no long-term contract at the end of it.