3. Enter a Name for your Rule. (I have chosen ‘Ready for Check In’.)
4. Select ‘Administrative’ for the Category, and either ‘Email’ or ‘SMS’ for the message type. (I chose to send an SMS/Test Message.)
5. Since the Reservation Event we want to tie our message to is the ‘Check In Date’, select that option. Notice the ‘Housekeeping’ option to the right of ‘Check In Date’. Be sure to check the box next to ‘Housekeeping’. Checking this box means ‘when the property is changed to ‘clean’ in your system’.
6. Set the Timing. For this example, since we selected ‘Check In Date’ and ‘Housekeeping’, the time you select refers to how many hours before normal check-in time you want messages to start going out IF properties are clean telling guests they can check in. In the example below, I selected ‘2 Hours Before’.
- Selecting '2 Hours AFTER' would change the focus of your message. If you select "After", the system will look every 15 minutes for properties that have their status changed to 'is clean' between normal check-in time and up to 2 hours after normal check-in time. By using this selection for timing, you can send a message to your guests when their properties are ready late that says something similar to, "We are sorry we were late - but your home is now ready."
- Selecting '0 Hours AFTER' will also change the focus of your message. If you select "0" , the system will send a message one time to all guests in properties NOT YET READY for check-in AT approximately the check in time. "Sorry about this folks, but your rental isn't quite ready yet. Please go have an ice cream on us, and we will notify you as soon as your home is ready."
7. Reservation
Status. For our example, it does not
make sense to send a ‘Your property is ready for check in’ message to an
unconfirmed reservation, so I chose ‘Exclude Unconfirmed Reservations’ from the
‘Reservation Status’ dropdown box.
8. Compose your message. In your message you can include check-in instructions including a key code (if applicable) by using the tags.