Beds24 handles all communication around a booking. Hosts get an email notification for every new online booking, modification and cancellation. Guests who book on your booking page get a confirmation automatically, which you can fully customise. For all other guest communication, including confirmations for channel and manually added bookings, set up Auto Actions with templates for manual or automatic sending. Beds24 also has direct messaging integrations with Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and the Vrbo group, so you can read, reply to and start messages in Beds24.
Tip: The messaging wizard guides you through the options.
Table of Contents
- Notifications to the host
- Emails to guests
- SMS
- Guest login, WhatsApp and OTA messages
- Languages
- Sender email address
- Troubleshooting
Notifications to the host
Host notifications are sent automatically when a booking is made, modified or cancelled.
- By default they're sent by email, with all important information, to the administrator email address. Change the address in Settings > Account > Account Access.
- Set where notifications are sent, add information, or set up a second notification (by email or SMS) in Settings > Account > Host Notifications.
- For push notifications to Google Chrome or Apple devices, use Make (formerly Integromat) in Settings > Marketplace > Make.
Note: Email is free of charge. SMS costs an additional fee per message.
Emails to guests
| Message | When it's sent | Set up in |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation messages | Shown and sent automatically after a guest books on your own booking page, with different messages per booking type if you want. Not sent for manually added bookings or for channel bookings (almost all channels send their own confirmation; some, for example TripConnect and VRBO/Homeaway XML, don't need one from Beds24). | Settings > Guest Management > Confirmation Messages, see How to setup Confirmation Messages |
| Cancellation messages | Only if you let guests cancel bookings themselves, and for bookings from channels that don't send confirmations directly to the guest. These system messages can't be customised; set up an Auto Action email that triggers when a guest cancels if you need one. | System messages |
| Auto Actions | Prepared emails sent automatically at a set trigger time, or manually. They can use Template Variables for booking-specific information. | Settings > Guest Management > Auto Actions, see Auto Actions |
SMS
Set up manual and automatic Auto Actions that send SMS to guests in Settings > Guest Management > Auto Actions.
- For a fee, Beds24 can set a short alphanumeric sender name (up to 11 characters), for example your trading name, that guests see as the sender. It's set for the master account (the account that pays for SMS) and applies to all sub-accounts.
- SMS can only be used for information about a current booking. For legal reasons, you can't use SMS for marketing, including discounts or vouchers.
Guest login, WhatsApp and OTA messages
- Guest login: if you allow the guest login in Settings > Guest Management > Guest Login, guests can send you messages from there. You receive each new message as an email notification and can reply from your email. See Guest login.
- WhatsApp: click the green icon next to the phone number on the Summary tab of the booking. You need a WhatsApp account and WhatsApp installed on the device you're logged in on.
- OTA messages: communicate with Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Vrbo guests directly from Beds24. See OTA Messages.
Languages
Emails are sent in the language set on the Mail & Actions tab of the booking. For online bookings, this is the language the guest booked in. If no language code is set, the default language of the booking page is used.
- If you've activated several languages in Settings > Booking Engine > Internationalization, you can set up templates in each language.
- Not all OTAs send language information. With Deduce language from country set to Yes in Settings > Channel Manager, Beds24 tries to deduce the language from the guest's country when no language is available.
- The confirmation table and invoice table always use the guest's language, as a service to the guest, even if the language isn't supported.
Sender email address
By default, emails to guests are sent from the Beds24 system email address. To send from your own address, go to Settings > Account > Outgoing Email. To use different outgoing email addresses for several properties in one account, use sub-accounts.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Your email program doesn't open when you send a confirmation or Auto Action email manually | Some browsers block pop-up email. Change your browser settings. |
| A manually sent email is cut off or doesn't open | Some email programs limit the number of characters. Shorten the message. |