Building SMS: Seeking Feedback

Hi, I’m so glad you’re taking a poll. We use two way SMS communications with every single Check-in. We  have it with always two people on my side and one to two people on the guest side so however, you implement this it needs to look like it’s coming from me and my other cohost and going straight to the guest. We almost use exclusively, SMS and very rarely WhatsApp. A full integration for two way communications is critical for us to use the feature.

I would find it a great benefit as many guests arrive from international locations and alot of the time they dont have access to emails or booking platforms as many plan to get a new prepaid sim plan in the destination country. Guests arrive but have no internet to access check-in instructions. I always try to sms the guests with these details so they are readily available for when they arrive but my phone plan doesnt allow me to message every country around the world so i have to resort to calling or messaging via whatsapp when possible but it doesnt feel professional. If hospitable had this feature it would make everything work smoother for hosts and guests alike. 

It wouldn’t matter to me too much about having 2 way sms as i would hope that the sms feature would have all the details for the guests to check in and would also have my contact details (phone number and email address) if they needed to contact me.

Alternatively i wonder if the sms feature could somehow be connected to the hospitable chat and messages via text or the chat could feed both the sms and the chat?

As I have more direct bookings, the need for two way sms increases. When guests need assistance troubleshooting theelevator or appliances, they do not wish to email as that method feels slower and clunky- even if I reply immediately. 
 

I’d love two way SMS so I can use all of my canned responses and AI rather than typing them out. 
 

I also text VRBO guests quite a bit as many can’t figure out how to copy and paste the house manual link on a phone and VRBO doesn’t send it as a hyperlink. Once we begin texting, they usually continue contacting me that way until their reservation ends, so I’d hate to miss any of their messages. Some VRBO guests request texting instead of emails because they don’t have or want the app on their phone. 

​@Zion Escapes - great callout that SMS would need to be integrated into the messaging thread somehow (not fragmented)! ​@David Thorpe  - That’s super helpful to note.

If you haven’t seen the recommendation ​@megank  (and current project) about how direct guests can communicate, please check this community thread - 

We think SMS (as a redundant option) can be helpful for sure, but driving guests to the Guest Portal (for real-time messaging - an app-like experience) will be THE BEST of both worlds. 

Houfy has has this for a while and we really like their implementation. We’ve used this as a recommendation for Hospitable’s rollout. If you don’t know Houfy - here’s the screenshot of the messaging thread in their version of a Guest Portal/pseudo app. 

We need the ability to send scheduled SMS messages to guests after they checkout thanking hem again for their visit and reminding them to leave a 5 star review.

I think Hospitable should send text messages as well to the guest. Most of the time Booking.com or VrBo bookings through Expedia don't have any app and they don't see emails. So direct texting would be really beneficial.

I’m all in on two way SMS, just had a situation with a VRBO reservation and ended up off platform texting the guest. In the US text is the main means of communication and easy for guests.

This is mostly needed for direct bookings. People don’t respond to emails as quickly.  I have been wanting this feature for a long time and would use for all direct bookings for guest communication after booking.  Keep it simple and easy to use.

​@Stacia - how would you feel if instead of two way there was a link at the bottom that would drive them to the Guest portal? ​@David Thorpe 

Yay! I’m so happy to see this feature making progress!!! I’d like to add a functionality request… it would be super awesome if we could connect it to our official business numbers, like hostbuddy does with Quo. One of the things that is important to us is our guests feeling that they have personalized attention, while workflows being efficient for my admin team; and our guests seem to really like being able to call and text our business number and knowing that they can reach out to that number anytime. If we could connect hospitable messaging to our main business line it would look a lot more official than some random number texting guests.

​@anthonyrallo ​@megank 

Unified inbox for whatsapp, meta, SMS, email and guest messages would be helpful...

Yes, SMS would be extremely valuable for our operation. Two primary use cases:
1. Critical Guest Communication
    ∙    Time-sensitive updates (power outages, weather alerts, access issues)
    ∙    Day-of arrival instructions and check-in details
    ∙    Higher open rates than email for urgent matters
2. Abandoned Cart Recovery
    ∙    Automated SMS reminders for incomplete bookings
    ∙    Simple nudge: “Complete your booking at XYZ your dates are still available!”
    ∙    Include direct booking link for easy conversion
Given our remote management model and the fact that guests often miss emails, SMS would significantly improve our response capability during critical situations and help recover lost revenue from abandoned bookings.

This is fantastic news. I originally requested this feature 2 years ago. 

There are plenty of features to add to sms, many folks on this board have great ideas. 

The most important, at least for us, is for guests to receive instructions through SMS when we have a direct booking. Simply put, they do NOT read their email while vacationing but they all get SMS notifications. 

All other features are nice to have. But step 1, direct booking guests and VRBO guests should get SMS notifications of our communications with them including checkin, checkout, during stay, etc. one way communication is fine to start. If two way take a year to to launch and one way months, I rather have one way first. Btw. We mentioned VRBO mostly because it's communication integration with hospitable is sometimes buggy. 

Looking forward to this feature.

There should be two way sms comms. NOT one way. We should be able to automate parts of the customer journey - like “messaging rules” in the pms as well as try to upsell late check out, early in, extra days, and focus on a way to communicate with OTA guests directly to secure their next stay via the direct booking website. For maintenance it would be great to be able to use some sort of connection to whatsapp, anyway to connect with the customer directly where they can share videos or do a video call of what they’re experiencing helps accurately report and resolve maintainence or heating, television common issues after check in with guests. 

Priority is two way SMS, and Whatsapp. Many other PMS have this, and there are other apps that do this for vacation rentals and boutique hotels- like Akia. It’s easier for our online teams if texting is done through one software like hospitable instead of Google Voice, Whatsapp etc. 

Will this SMS messaging integrate with the AI Inbox and support responding to guest SMS messages as well, assuming bidirectional SMS messaging is developed?

Great question ​@ChillHolidayZ - I feel silly not even asking about this (as it was certainly expected - and needed). Without it it wouldn’t be much use TBH - Can you confirm ​@David Thorpe ?

SMS would be a great help especially for Direct Booking. However, it’s IMPERATIVE that Hospitable can pull the phone number from the Vacation Rental Agreement into the Reservation phone number field and send the SMS to that number (instead of the number that’s on the AirBnb booking).

​@David Thorpe 

1. Direct booking guests prefer to text and emails don’t come from me and my guest never sees them or opens them...so again I’m stuck texting because they don’t reply to the email thread. That means all of my automated messages are not automated because I have to copy paste and text them manually. 

2. Since you’re not integrated with OpenPhone (now Quo) we lose all automation and benefit from AI auto reply. Host Buddy AI does this already. 

3. Quo integration is essential over WhatsApp because many of us have virtual assistants and co-hosts. We MUST all be able to see the same threads and respond to the guest seamlessly as the same operator. 

4. I want to be in the Hospitable app for 99% of operations but I can’t because my direct booking guests respond better to texts so my communications with them are in Quo and I have to leave the app to communicate with them or to go look to see what they said about something. The historical record for the stay is now in multiple places. If you do this it has to be from one number. 

5. One way texting does not solve the issues outlined and will create increased issues for hosts and frustrate guests.

6. How can we integrate with Quo so all our emails, OTA messages, and texts are in one place in the Hospitable inbox? As long as the guest has a phone number and email on their profile can’t all communication with them just be merged into one thread? 

7. Can you overwrite the phone number airbnb provides with the one the guest puts on their rental agreement? If airbnb is providing temporary phone numbers we need to save the real one for future communication. 

Thanks for listening to my feedback I love Hospitable. 

​@David Thorpe 

Also, I currently pay a VA to monitor my locks and cameras for every turn to ensure the cleaner has arrived and the property is ready on time. You already have the lock integration, enabling a text to the cleaner and my team if she hasn’t used her door code by a specific time would be a game changer. 

I’d be curious to hear how you have this built out for compensation & specific reporting. This is something that I could see as valuable and appropriate for VA tasks. ​@Knotty Retreats Would you be open to sharing?

Sorry, I’m not sure what information you’re looking for. She’s my Virtual Assistant and my Co-host. I pay her for full-time work outside of just monitoring my camera unlocked. 

Is it possible to to have an automated text sent out If the cleaners door code has not been used by a certain timeframe before check-in?

The need for SMS, in my opinion, is primarily for Direct. When it comes to the OTAs like Airbnb, guests will either have the app with notifications or SMS set up. When it comes to Direct, the several messages that I send only going through email means that most of them likely won’t get viewed. And I don’t think any of my Direct guests have ever replied to me that way.

Regardless of whether or not AirBnb guests use SMS, we still REALLY need to be able to overwrite the reservation phone number with the guest’s phone number from the rental agreement. Then other softwares that integrate with Hospitable (like BetterSTR, for example) can use that phone number to send important texts to the AirBnb guests, before they arrive.

Two way text messages so we can push the check-in/out instructions and all other scheduled messages. Also gives the guest the chance to respond with questions.

Another feature to take into account - use the Hospitable app to send messages to past guests offering direct bookings! Strong advertising option