# Draft a guest reply without inventing the house rules

This practice uses a fictional property. You can try it in an AI chat tool you already use; no new paid plan is required by the exercise. The instructions are a starting point. Read the result before using it.

## The question behind the exercise

Can AI help with a repetitive task while leaving you in control of the details? Guest replies offer a small, familiar way to explore that question. A fluent answer can still contain an invented rule.

## 1. Use this fictional house manual

**Juniper Cottage: practice data**

- Check-in begins at 4 p.m. Check-out is by 10 a.m.
- There is one assigned parking space, numbered 12.
- Quiet hours are 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.
- The property does not allow pets.
- Wi-Fi details are printed on a card beside the router.
- The blue bin is for recycling; the gray bin is for general waste.
- The host has supplied no early check-in policy, extra-parking arrangement, or luggage-storage policy.

These facts describe only the exercise. Do not use this manual as a policy for a real property.

## 2. Copy this instruction into your AI tool

```text
Draft a short, friendly reply to the guest question below.

Use only facts in the supplied house manual. Do not invent permissions,
exceptions, policies, contact details, access codes, or amenities.
When a requested fact is missing, say the host needs to confirm it.
Do not make a promise on the host's behalf.

Return:
1. A draft reply under 80 words.
2. The manual facts used.
3. Anything the host still needs to confirm.

HOUSE MANUAL:
[Paste the Juniper Cottage practice manual above.]

GUEST QUESTION:
Can we arrive at 1 p.m., and where should we park?
```

## 3. Check the result before trusting it

An acceptable illustrative reply would be:

> Check-in begins at 4 p.m. Your assigned parking space is number 12. The host will need to confirm whether a 1 p.m. arrival is possible.

This is an authored example of a supported answer, not a claim that a particular AI tool produced or reliably reproduces it.

| Detail | Supported by the manual? | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Check-in begins at 4 p.m. | Yes | It can be included. |
| Assigned parking is space 12 | Yes | It can be included. |
| A 1 p.m. arrival is permitted | No | Ask for confirmation; do not promise it. |

The essential check is whether the reply invents an early-arrival permission. A friendly tone does not make that permission true.

## 4. Try two more questions

**“Can we bring our dog?”** The stated rule is no pets. The draft should not invent an exception. For a real request, the host must consider the facts and applicable requirements; this exercise does not decide accommodation questions.

**“Where can our second car park?”** Only one assigned space is documented. The draft should flag the missing information rather than suggest unverified street parking or promise a second space.

## 5. Make the method yours

Choose one low-stakes question from your work and use a short, fictionalized source document. Remove identifying guest details, addresses, access codes, and other private information. Keep your first attempt as a draft that you review yourself.

Record what was useful, what you corrected, and what you would ask differently next time in the [experiment notebook](https://symonhe.com/resources/experiment-notebook/).

## A useful stopping point

You are done when you have one checked draft and know which facts still need a person. You do not need to build an automated guest-messaging system to learn something from this exercise.