OwnerRez's templates and triggers automate communication in your vacation rental business, reducing errors and improving efficiency. Personalize guest messages or notify third parties effortlessly!
Understanding how to set up triggers can be challenging. To help you get started, we’ve created a library of template and trigger examples for common scenarios during each booking stage.
Each support article linked in this support article outlines instructions for creating email, channel (when applicable), and SMS templates, along with the associated trigger configuration. For further details, read our Using the Template and Trigger Library and Messaging Best Practices support articles.
To learn more about templates and triggers, check out the Template Overview, Trigger Overview, and Triggers - Setup & Configuration support articles.
Pre-booking
Inquiries are not all created equal! When an inquiry comes into your account, you may want to answer it in several different ways depending on whether the inquiry is quotable, has a rule violation, has missing information, or has unavailable dates.
How about quotes from your personal website? A potential guest begins the "Book Now" process on our personal website but fails to complete the reservation. It’s important to follow up with them to remind them to finalize their booking. You can even configure quote follow-ups seven and ten days later, and send a template letting the potential guest know that their travel dates are no longer available.
Pre-arrival
Getting a new booking always feels great! You see that new booking alert come in, and it makes you happy every time. However, that typically means there's new work to do! You may need to request and even eventually remind your guest to complete your renter agreement, and send yourself a reminder that the renter agreement remains unsigned.
After your guest completes your renter agreement, it's a great idea to thank them for booking or send your direct booking guest an invoice or receipt.
Consider offering your guests travel insurance and any available discounted gap nights while their travel plans are still fresh in their minds after creating the booking. With personalized message templates, you can set up last-minute deals for your guests by offering deeply discounted gap nights a couple of days before their arrival.
It's exciting to share your guests' anticipation of their arrival at your property, and it's important to send arrival information that includes pertinent details like door codes at just the right time!
Travel days can be hectic, and ensuring your guests receive check-in and location details is key to creating a memorable arrival experience.
Mid-stay
Contacting your guests during their stay is a delicate balance between too much and too little communication. Ensuring they receive the right information at just the right time is imperative in creating a memorable travel experience.
It's always a great idea to proactively check in with your guests the morning after arrival to ensure that their stay is going smoothly.
Other messaging options include possible recurring tasks, such as taking out the trash bins to the curb, or even an urgent situation requiring notification of all current guests.
Just as arrival travel days can be hectic, sending guests messages about departure preparations the day before and, certainly, the morning of departure can ease guests' anxiety by providing the right information at the right time, creating a smooth departure experience.
Post-departure
Just because guests have departed doesn't mean you can't continue communicating. Requesting a review a week after a guest's departure and then following up with a thank you to your Guest for the 5-star Review, keeps those lines of communication open for future reservations.
Additionally, you could even send a post-departure message offering a discount code to book a return visit.
Cancellations
It's disappointing to get a booking cancellation, but life moves on. Having an optional customized Guest Booking Cancellation Notification system message template ready to send to guests who cancel will streamline your messaging workflow.
Cleaner
Clear communication with your cleaning team ensures timely turnovers, maintains quality, keeps your properties guest-ready, and is crucial to the success of your short-term vacation rental business.
It’s important to establish consistent messaging for your cleaners regarding new bookings, cancellations, and any special preparations for upcoming bookings.
Your cleaners certainly need to be aware of any early check-ins, any possible recurring tasks (such as taking out the trash bins to the curb), upcoming cleaning dates, and reminders the morning of cleanings.
Additionally, consider sending guest review feedback to your cleaning team to help them systematically learn from it and continuously improve their cleaning standards.
Owner
Keeping your property owner informed fosters trust, aligns expectations, strengthens partnerships, maximizes returns, and ensures properties succeed through shared goals and transparency.
Owners appreciate being notified about new bookings, cancellations, and any special preparations for upcoming bookings.