Use the new Automated Messages for Airbnb, Booking.com and HomeAway

The latest release of our automatic messages give you great tools to automate communication on Airbnb, Booking.com, HomeAway and other channels. Using dynamic fields you can ensure you send the right message to the right person.

Common use cases

We studied how our users take advantage of our automated messages. These figures only represents users that had activated at least 1 automation.

44% collect contact details from guests

78% sends a 'thank you for booking' message

59% send check-in instructions

32% send check-out instructions

92% send a review reminder

Set up your first automation

You can make automated messages that are sent at a certain time related to the time of reservation, time of check-in and time of check-out. Messages for pending requests and inquiries from Airbnb are on the way.

We recommend you set up a welcome message that goes to all new guests that asks them to provide their email address and confirm the phone number. That way you can contact them later on and offer them direct bookings.

Adding check-in instructions 24 hour before arrival and review reminders is also great way to save time.

Confirming the number of guests can also be done using dynamic fields.

Dynamic Fields

If you have several properties that are similar, you can set up one automation for them all and use the dynamic fields provided to send customized messages. To give the check-in instructions to all guests at all properties, you can include the Address field. That way all guests receive the correct address, regardless of which property they booked.

Airbnb, Booking.com, HomeAway and other channels

You can set up notifications specifically for reservations that come through different channels, such as your own website. Here are a few hints on how to use the messages with the most common channels.

Airbnb uses the native communication tools of Airbnb, so your guests will receive the message as a text message, mobile app notification or email. Airbnb does not provide you with the guests email address, so you have to collect it yourself.

Booking.com gives each guest a temporary email. The automation will be sent to this address, but it will be deactivated after the guest leaves. Use the automation to gather the real email address. Keep all communication within Hostaway - that way you'll keep all information in one place.

HomeAway offers two connection methods. If you use iCal, you will manually enter the email address into Hostaway before automations can work. If you are using the API connection, we receive the email address directly.

Limitations and testing

In order to get a good sense of how automations work, try them out on one listing or create a website and make a direct booking to see the messages sent by Hostaway's automations.

Please note that the automations work exactly as you set them up. For example, if you provide check-in instructions 24 hours before arrival but receive a same-day reservation, the check-in instructions cannot be sent. If you set automations for a specific channel, or a specific property, they will not work for other properties.

Feedback

Thank you to all the users that provided us feedback regarding the automations. We will continue to improve the communication tools and you can always reach us at support@hostaway.com