Choose where Beds24 sends new booking and system notifications in Settings > Account > Host Notifications: by email to the administrator, to an additional address with your own text, and by SMS to up to two mobile phones.
Quick Guide
- Go to Settings > Account > Host Notifications.
- Choose who receives booking notification emails.
- Optional: set up an additional booking notification email and SMS alerts.
- Click Save.
Table of Contents
- Email notifications
- Additional booking notification email
- SMS notifications
- Notify several people per property
- Troubleshooting
Email notifications
By default, email notifications about new bookings and system notifications go to the Administrator Email address in Settings > Account > Account Access. System notifications are error messages, answers to support tickets and other messages not directly related to a booking.
If you have multiple properties, set Booking notification emails sent to = Administrator and Cc: Property to send a copy of the confirmation to the property. The copy goes to the email address in Settings > Properties > Description.
Tip: Use different email addresses to send and to receive. Some email programs, for example Gmail, hide incoming email that comes from the same address.
Additional booking notification email
Besides the automatic new booking notification, Beds24 can send a second, customisable notification to another email address when new bookings occur. You can use Template Variables in the subject and text to include information from the booking.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Additional Booking Notification Email | Disabled, sent only for bookings made online at the booking page, or sent for all bookings including those imported by the synchroniser. |
| Additional Email Address | The email address that receives the custom new booking notification. |
| Email CC Address | The additional notification is also sent as a CC copy to this address. |
| Email Subject | The subject of the additional notification. Template variables allowed. |
| Email Message | The text of the additional notification. Template variables allowed. |
SMS notifications
Send new booking alerts to two mobile (cell) phones, for all new bookings or only for bookings where the guest arrives very soon.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| SMS 1 / SMS 2 | Whether all new bookings, or only new bookings arriving very soon, are notified. |
| Send SMS 1 / Send SMS 2 | The time window for the SMS (Today, within 1 day, within 2 days and so on). |
| SMS 1 to Phone Number / SMS 2 to Phone Number | The phone number that receives the SMS. Start with the country code and enter the number as dialled internationally, but without leading zeros or other characters for the international access code (such as 00) and without spaces. |
| SMS Text | The text of the SMS. Template variables allowed. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters: longer texts are truncated or sent as several SMS, depending on the carrier. |
- SMS is a global service: notifications can go to almost any phone in any country.
- SMS messages are sent through a commercial messaging service and cost a charge per SMS. See your fees in Settings > Account > Billing.
- If your account balance falls below zero, SMS messaging is disabled until your account is back in credit.
- Bookings made at the online booking page and bookings imported by the synchroniser are notified if they arrive within the time window. Bookings you enter manually while signed in aren't notified by SMS.
Warning: Every SMS is charged, even if it isn't received because the number is wrong, or the booking is false or later cancelled. Make sure the numbers are correct and can receive SMS.
Notify several people per property
- The easiest way: use a filter rule in your own mail system to forward the emails to several people.
- Set up Auto Action emails in Settings > Guest Management > Auto Actions. See Auto Actions.
- Create a sub account for the property: click the User icon at the top right, then Account Management. See Sub Account.
Troubleshooting
| Issue / Error | Likely cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| No email notifications for new bookings | Your email provider treats them as spam or blocks them. | Check your spam folder. If they aren't there, add Beds24 to the whitelist of addresses your provider doesn't block. Your email provider's help explains how. |
| SMS can't be delivered to certain carriers | Some carriers require SMS from an Alphanumeric Sender ID instead of a phone number (the SMS shows a name instead of a number). | Contact Beds24 support with the name you want to use. A Sender ID can be up to 11 characters and can contain upper and lowercase letters, numbers and spaces. You can also ask for a Sender ID if you simply prefer one. |
| SMS not delivered | An issue with the SMS carrier. | Beds24 connects with several SMS carriers and can change the carrier for your account. Contact Beds24 support. |