There are multiple ways to send your guidebook links to guests through a booking site inbox and make sure you are following the rules of the OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) like Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and more.
Table of contents:
Airbnb
1. Airbnb email templates
You can send a unique, trackable guide link for each reservation directly into Airbnb's inbox using our free Airbnb integration and Airbnb message templates.
If you are not using the Airbnb integration you can simply paste your guidebook link into Airbnb messages manually once a bookings has been confirmed.
Other OTAs & booking sites
Once a booking is confirmed, there are 2 ways to share your guide link through the OTA or booking site inbox.
1. PMS Integrations
Touch Stay has multiple PMS integrations (Property Management Software). If your PMS has a messaging solution, you can use this to get your guidebook link into the OTA or booking site inbox.
Most of the available PMS integrations generate a custom field that contains a unique, trackable guide link for each reservation in your PMS. Simply add this custom field to your PMS message templates to ensure guests can access your guides.
For PMS integrations that do not generate a guide link custom field, you can manually drop the quick share link into PMS inbox messages for each reservation.
2. Direct to the OTA or booking site inbox
Each Touch Stay guide has a generic link called the quick share link. You can manually paste this link into messages sent from the OTA or booking site inbox or add it to message templates that may be available.
Sent directly to guests
Airbnb, other OTAs and booking sites do not always pass the guest email address to hosts, making direct communication difficult. Most of these platforms, do however, pass on the guest phone number so you can use Touch Stay's SMS text messaging feature to automate sending text messages to guests.
Go to Memo > Add SMS Template. You can configure the messages the same way you configure the Airbnb message templates, but now you can edit existing template content or create your own templates so there is more flexibility.
Learn more about Memo here
Tips for when to send your guidebook link to guests
Memo contains a number of SMS templates and email templates. They contain your guidebook link and they tell guests exactly why they should be opening your guidebook. All you need to do is make sure they match your tone of voice, and you’re all set.
Whilst the content of the SMS and email templates overlaps (so that you can choose if you want to share info via email and/or text) we would recommend sharing your guidebook multiple times between booking and departure. This might look like:
Post-booking email
Email highlighting events and tickets for guests to book
Email explaining the grocery delivery options in your guidebook
Text pointing them to the full address and directions
Text directing them to access info and WiFi codes
Post-arrival text, to check how they’re settling in
Pre-departure text, to remind them of check-out procedures
Post-departure email, to request a review
For more info about when and how to share your guidebook with Memo, check out this article.