Triggers give you a powerful way to communicate automatically. You can respond to guests with personalized messages or notify third parties without lifting a finger! To read more about triggers, check out our Trigger overview and Triggers - Setup & Configuration support articles. We've also created a small library of trigger examples to help get you started.
In this example, we're dealing with a booking for the following scenario:
Scenario: Send Arrival Information to Channel Guest With Contact Information
Good guest communication is essential for a positive guest experience. Clear and timely communication can greatly influence guests' perceptions and impact their reviews.
This scenario assumes that the guest has already provided contact information and signed a renter agreement.
By setting up an email, channel, or SMS template and trigger, you can send a Guest Arrival Information message template to guests. OwnerRez can do that for you with message triggers.
Here are the steps for how to set up a template and trigger for this scenario:
- Create a Booking Message Template to Send Arrival Information to Channel Guest With Contact Information
- Create a Trigger That Applies to Bookings to Send Arrival Information to Channel Guest With Contact Information
- Variations
Create a Booking Message Template to Send Arrival Information to Channel Guest With Contact Information
Go to Settings > Templates to configure the "booking" template type message you want to send to your guest.
There are three choices for the type of template you can create - email, channel, and SMS. These are the delivery methods that will be used for your response. To send these types of templates, the booking must have contact information you can reply to. For instance, if you want to send an SMS message as your reply, the guest must have provided a phone number with their booking. Likewise, if you want to send a message on Vrbo, the booking must have come through Vrbo, to begin with, so that our system knows how to deliver your response back to the correct Vrbo thread.
Note: Why can't you use a platform email or proxy email address like "joe.blow.12345@messages.airbnb.com" or "joe.blow.12345@messages.booking.com?" These platform/proxy email addresses aren't real. If you send messages to them, your message will be collected by the channel, stripped, re-formatted and displayed on the channel's message platform in various ways that typically don't work well for email.
Send by Email
First, we'll create an email template, so go to Settings > Templates > Email tab > click the Create Email Template button > select the "Booking" option. This will open an email editor with some sample field codes filled in. For detailed information about how email templates work, check out the email templates overview article and field codes article.
Copy and paste the following values into your new email template.
Name:
Guest Arrival Information Email Template
From Name:
{MYCOFULL}
From Address:
{MYEMAIL}
To Name:
{CFULL}
To Address:
{CEMAIL}
Subject:
Important details about your upcoming {BARR} to {BDEP} stay at {PDISPNAME}
Body:
Hi {CFIRST},
Thank you for choosing {PDISPNAME} for your upcoming {BARR} to {BDEP} stay!
{PDISPNAME} is located at {PADDRUG}.
Check-in is anytime after {BCHECKINSTARTTIME}, {BARRDAY}, {BARR}, and your door lock code is {BDOORCODE}.
{MYFIRST}
If you're wondering what those field codes do, check out the field codes support article or use the "Preview" button on the booking to take a live look.
Here's a quick preview of what the above email message looks like:
Notice how clean and personalized the content is. The subject line is dynamic to the booking by including the arrival {BARR} and departure dates {BDEP} field codes as well as the property name {PDISPNAME} field code. In the email body, we included our property location {PADDRUG} field code and the {BCHECKINSTARTTIME} check-in start time, and the booking door lock code is {BDOORCODE} field code. The body addresses the guest by name, so it looks like the body was written by hand. In other words, it looks like a hand-written manual response, even though it wasn't.
After copying and pasting the above subject and body into your template, feel free to play with the words and styles to make it your own. However, remember that we are creating a message that is specific to "bookings." This message assumes that all bookings as it responds to are bookings with guest contact information, so make sure to customize accordingly.
You could easily include other pertinent field codes for even more automation, such as the Wifi Network Name {PWIFINAME} and Wifi Password {PWIFIPASS} field codes!
We are now armed with a Guest Arrival Information email template to send to the guest. But what about channel bookings?
Send by Channel
Even though we assume that the guest has already provided their contact information and signed a renter agreement in this scenario, some users and guests still prefer to keep all communications on the channel. OwnerRez directly integrates with the native messaging platforms at Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com, so this is easy to set up!
Note: Why can't you use a platform email or proxy email address like "joe.blow.12345@messages.airbnb.com" or "joe.blow.12345@messages.booking.com?" These platform/proxy email addresses aren't real. If you send messages to them, your message will be collected by the channel, stripped, re-formatted and displayed on the channel's message platform in various ways that typically don't work well for email.
For detailed information about how channel templates work, check out the Channel Templates and field codes support articles.
To create a channel template, go to Settings > Templates > Channel tab > click the Create Channel Template button > select the "Booking" option. This will open a message editor with some sample field codes filled in.
Copy and paste the following values into your new channel template.
Name:
Guest Arrival Information Channel Template
Body:
Hi {CFIRST},
Thank you for choosing {PDISPNAME} for your upcoming {BARR} to {BDEP} stay!
Copy and paste the URL below for the location of {PDISPNAME}.
{PADDRUG}
Check-in is anytime after {BCHECKINSTARTTIME}, {BARRDAY}, {BARR}, and your door lock code is {BDOORCODE}.
{MYFIRST}
Channel templates have a Preview button, so as you type, take a quick look at the preview window to get a sense of how the channel message will look.
Here is a quick look at how the above channel template looks in preview mode:
As you can see, this message is plain (no colors, images, or rich text), but that's good because it will be sent to the guest via the channel messaging platform, and the messaging platforms don't allow anything other than plain text.
Notice how we include instructions to "copy and paste" the plain text URL for the property location with the {PADDRUG} field code? The channel message template converts the {PADDRUG} field code link into plain text that can be copied and pasted by your channel booking guest to get directions to your property.
Again, the channel message is dynamic to the booking by including the arrival {BARR} and departure dates {BDEP} field codes as well as the property name {PDISPNAME} field code. We also included the {BCHECKINSTARTTIME} check-in start time, and the booking door lock code is {BDOORCODE} field code. You want a concise message for the guest to read, and this does the trick!
You could easily include other pertinent field codes for even more automation, such as the Wifi Network Name {PWIFINAME} and Wifi Password {PWIFIPASS} field codes.
Now we have your channel message template created! But maybe we want to send an SMS message?
Send by SMS
Some bookings that arrive in your account will already include the guest's phone number. This typically happens when a guest books on your book-direct website, using your Book Now widget, or on a listing channel that passes guest contact information at the time of booking, such as Vrbo.
Using our SMS premium feature, you can reply directly to their cell phone via SMS. For detailed information about how SMS templates work, check out the SMS Templates and field codes support articles.
To create an SMS template, go to Settings > Templates > SMS tab > click the Create SMS Template button > select the "Booking" option. This will open an SMS message editor with some sample field codes filled in.
Copy and paste the following values into your new SMS template.
Name:
Guest Arrival Information SMS Template
To Phone Number:
{CPHONE}
Body:
Hi {CFIRST}, {PDISPNAME} is located at {PADDRUG}. Check-in is anytime after {BCHECKINSTARTTIME}, {BARRDAY}, {BARR}, and your door lock code is {BDOORCODE}. Enjoy! 😁
Once again, smack that Preview button to see how this looks live! SMS templates are similar to channel templates in that they are plain text with no colors or formatting options, but you can still dress them up with personalized field codes and light-hearted emojis.
Here is a quick look at how the above SMS template looks in preview mode:
Not a fan of emojis? No worries, edit that part out!
You'll notice that this SMS template differs from the email and channel templates in that it is much shorter and doesn't include the arrival {BARR} and departure dates {BDEP} field codes. Instead, it's a quick sentence to ensure that the guest has directions to your property and the door lock code. If you'd rather say something else - that's totally fine. Or you could send a larger message body, including the arrival {BARR} and departure dates {BDEP} field codes like the channel template above does.
Now that we have some message templates created, it's time to configure the trigger that will send them.
Create a Trigger That Applies to Bookings to Send Arrival Information to Channel Guest With Contact Information
Since each trigger can only send one message template, you'll need to create a trigger for each type of reply you send. Above, we crafted replies for email, channel, and SMS, so we'll need to create three triggers to send each one.
First, we'll create a trigger to send the email message. Go to Settings > Triggers > and click Create to pull up the new trigger screen.
Here is a list of all the settings the trigger needs to have:
- Type: Scheduled Time
- Event: 5 days > Before> Booking has arrived > at 9:00 AM
- Add Condition > Email Address on File: Has Real Email Address
- Action: Email Templates > Guest Arrival Information Email Template
Now, let's talk about what the above settings mean!
The Type and Event fields will make the trigger send your email tempate at a scheduled time 5 days before the booking has arrived at 9:00 AM.
Since we are targeting "bookings" for guests for whom we already have contact information only, we want to add a "Condition" to the trigger that will stop it from sending out messages for other bookings. Adding the "Has real email address" condition status covers that.
Keep in mind that channels like Airbnb and Booking.com don't provide an email address (or even a phone number) for the guest. See the Ask Channel Booking Guest Without Contact Info, to Provide Contact Info and Sign Renter Agreement support article for more information on that topic.
You may want to add other conditions, but for now, this is enough to make our trigger send the Guest Arrival Information email message prior to their arrival.
Finally, the last thing we select is the "Action" for the email template we want to send. Since this trigger is supposed to send an email message, select the email template and be careful not to select a channel or SMS template.
At this point, your trigger should look like this:
Nice and simple!
Click Save, and now you have a trigger ready to go. These actions do exactly what they say. 5 days before your booking has arrived at 9:00 AM, the trigger runs and sends your Guest Arrival Information Email Template. That's it!
Variations
Effective guest communication is crucial for your vacation rental business. It impacts your guests' perception of their experience and the reviews they leave, which can make or break your business. Therefore, clear and timely communication with your guests is vital. There is no reason why you cannot employ a combination of 2, or even all 3, of these communication methods to send your Guest Arrival Information to incoming guests.
Consider your guest experience when you've provided a detailed Guest Arrival Information Email Template 5 days before the guest arrives, follow up with a Guest Arrival Information Channel Template a couple of days prior to arrival, and then send an SMS Guest Arrival Information SMS Template the day of arrival that includes the important property location for directions and the door lock code!
If your guest is a direct booking guest that booked on your personal website, you could configure the Guest Arrival Information Email Template to arrive 5 days before, and the SMS Guest Arrival Information SMS Template the day of arrival.
There should be no shame in your guest communication game. By using our messaging templates and triggers, that's a guest communication win-win!