How to Set Up Automated Messages on Booking.com (Step by Step)

To set up automated messages on Booking.com, go to Inbox, choose Reservation messages, and click Edit message templates. Write a template, give it a name, then use the Template scheduler to send it at the right time, like 1 day before arrival. Booking.com then sends it to every guest on its own. It takes about three minutes.

• On Booking.com, automated messages are message templates that you put on a schedule. You find them in Inbox, under Reservation messages.
• You make it in two parts: first write and save the template, then schedule it in the Template scheduler.
• Blue building blocks, like the guest's first name, fill themselves in for each guest.
• Booking.com only sends these to guests who booked on Booking.com. To send the same messages to guests from Airbnb, Vrbo and your own website, you can use Host Port (Steps 5 to 7).

Prefer to watch? Here's the whole guide as a video.

1. In the Booking.com extranet, click Inbox in the top menu.

   

2. Choose Reservation messages.

   

3. Over on the right, click Edit message templates.

   

4. This is where your message templates live. Click Create new template.

   

1. Type your message into the big box at the top.

2. The blue building blocks under it fill themselves in for each guest. For example, Guest's first name turns into the guest's real name. Click one to add it to your message.

3. The Message Preview on the right shows what the guest will read.

   

4. Under the form, on the right, click Continue.

   

1. Give the template a name, like Check-in details. Pick a topic, like Arrival. Then click Save template.

   

2. Your template is saved, but it won't send yet. To put it on a schedule, open the Template scheduler tab at the top.

   

1. Click Schedule a template.

   

2. Choose when it sends: when a guest books, before check-in, or before checkout. Next to Before a guest checks in, click Select.

   

3. Choose the send out day, like 1 day before arrival. Then click Continue.

   

4. Pick your template from the dropdown. Check the Review schedule box on the right, then click Schedule. Your template is now live.

   

Booking.com's message templates only reach guests who booked on Booking.com. If you also take bookings on Airbnb, Vrbo or your own website, those guests get nothing. You'd have to set up the same messages again on every site.

With Host Port, you set your messages up once. They go to every guest, wherever they booked. Here's how.

1. In Host Port, go to Listings and click your listing.

   

2. On the left, scroll down to Messaging and click Messages & reviews.

   

1. Host Port sends each message through the site the guest booked on. Direct bookings get an email. Under Send on these channels, choose which sites should send messages. Vrbo and Agoda need a one-off messaging address set up on their side first.

   

2. If you keep your Booking.com templates, switch Booking.com off here. That way guests don't get the same message twice.

   

1. Scroll down. The Show these in the message thread switch shows you what each guest is about to get, right in their chat. Only you see this. Guests never do.

2. Under Add a message, choose a ready made message or Custom message. Here we'll pick Check-in details.

   

3. Set When (for example, before check-in). Use - and + to set the number of days, and pick the time on the right.

4. Change the wording to suit you. Click a tag under the message, like guest_name, to add a booking detail.

5. The switch next to the message name turns that message on or off. Host Port saves as you go, so there's no save button to press.

   

That's it. Every guest now gets your check-in details at the right time, whether they booked on Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo or your own website.