You may need a guest's phone number to send an SMS before arrival, share a door code, or call about a late check-in. Airbnb sometimes provides a temporary, "masked" phone number, but this feature is not always active. This can affect your messaging, door codes, and automations in Guesty.
For more details, see Airbnb's articles Contacting your guests by phone and How temporary phone numbers work.
How Airbnb shares guest phone numbers
As of November 3, 2026, new Airbnb reservations arrive with no phone number. Existing reservations with temporary numbers keep them until they expire.
Only existing reservations, where the listing and guest are both in the US or Canada, may include a temporary phone number.
When a reservation has a temporary number:
- Numbers expire about 2 days after checkout. Airbnb may reassign the number to another user later.
- You can communicate with the guest through SMS and calls (WhatsApp and MMS aren't supported).
You can see the guest's real phone number in the Airbnb app once the reservation is confirmed.
How Guesty handles guest phone numbers
Guesty never saves a temporary number to the guest's contact profile. If the guest's contact already has a phone number, Guesty prioritizes and uses the saved number.
Messaging
You can always message guests through the Guesty Inbox, which sends messages via the Airbnb platform.
When sending an SMS, Guesty's behavior changes based on the available phone number:
If a phone number is saved to the guest's contact profile: This number is always prioritized over a temporary number, and Guesty sends all SMS messages to this number.
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If the reservation has a temporary number (and no saved number):
If number is registered for the reservation: Automated messages are sent as a real SMS to the temporary number and don't display in the Airbnb message thread.
If number is not registered for the reservation: The automated message is sent to the Airbnb thread instead of an SMS.
Your first manual SMS to the number may take a moment to send while Airbnb verifies it.
If the reservation has no phone number: Automated SMS messages fail to send. The system doesn't route them to the Airbnb thread.
Important:
An automated message flow with both a "Send Message" (platform) action and a "Send SMS" action will send both messages. To avoid sending duplicate messages to Airbnb guests, add a Channel condition to your "Send SMS" action that excludes Airbnb.
Keep the following in mind regarding SMS messaging:
- Guest replies to text messages arrive at your Guesty phone number and display in the Guesty Inbox, not in the Airbnb message thread.
- A "Sent" status means the message left Guesty successfully, not that the guest received it. Airbnb doesn't provide a delivery notification.
- Scheduled SMS automations don't automatically cancel when an inquiry is confirmed or when a guest replies on the platform.
- Airbnb blocks links and phone numbers in messages about two days after checkout. Plain text goes through.
Door codes
For reservations without a real guest phone number (including those with a temporary number), Guesty cannot generate a door code from the guest's phone number. If your lock integration is set to use the guest's phone number, Guesty will generate a random code instead.
Important:
If you have automated messages telling guests their door code is the last four digits of their phone number, update them immediately. This will no longer be accurate for new Airbnb reservations while the pause is in place.
What to check in your account
Some of your listing content, automations, and integrations may need changes.
Remove phone numbers from listing descriptions
Airbnb rejects listing updates that include a phone number. Check these fields and remove any phone numbers you find:
- Listing title and description (including the "Summary", "The space", "Guest access", "The neighborhood", "Getting around", "Other things to note", and "Interaction with guests" fields).
- House rules
- Check-in and departure instructions
Review automations and integrations
Since most new Airbnb reservations won't have a guest phone number, check the following for anything that depends on one:
- SMS and WhatsApp automated messages
- Third-party tools that get guest phone numbers from Guesty, such as smart lock or guest communication apps