You can communicate with guests using text messages, alongside of emails.
Setting up SMS
Please contact us to activate the SMS module for you in your system. After that, go to Settings > Integrations. There, you will see Twilio.
Click the Configure button.
You can either add your existing Twilio account credentials, or if you don't have an account, click the Create your Twilio account here link.
Setting up a Twilio account
The account set up is straightforward at first, but there are some important steps you'll need to follow.
Account creation is much like any other service, you will need to verify your email address and also use your mobile number in order to get your account up and running.
After verifying, you will see this page; please make the choices as indicated:
You will then be redirected to the Twilio dashboard; click the Get a Trial Number button:
You will be assigned a mobile number based on your country; the available options vary by country.
The actual number is not hugely important, but if you really want, you can search for something different using the link 🙂
You now have everything you need to start sending SMS. Copy and paste your Account SID, Auth token, and phone number from the dashboard into your settings:
Other info about Twilio
You will notice your free account has some free credit so that you can get started easily, but you will need to convert your account to a paid one. This is because free accounts have restrictions, including extra text at the end of messages stating that "this message is from a Twilio trial account.", which you definitely do not want your guests to see!
Note that we do not receive any financial benefit from your use of Twilio
It is not supported for a guest to reply to the text messages sent
Overview of how SMS works
SMS tab
There is now a tab labelled SMS when editing an email. This is where you will compose your text message content.
When active, SMS will take priority over emails. This means that an SMS will be sent to every guest who has a valid mobile number in their reservation, and any guests who do NOT have a phone number, but DO have a valid email address, will receive the email version.
Composing your SMS
SMS tab
This switch enables SMS for this message, which takes priority over delivering email content
The content of your message
Character count estimation. Here, you can get an idea of how many characters you are using, and thus how many text messages may be required to deliver it to your guest. Note that actual content that tags represent can vary greatly in their length, resulting in the chance that you will need more text messages than estimated to deliver the content to the guest (160 characters per text message)
Tags for your content. Simply copy and paste them into your message content (including the brackets ###{{ }}). Note the last 3 cells in the right column - make sure you choose the appropriate URL for the message type you are sending - check-in, upsell, or feedback!