Automatic email

Blog

Automatic email
August 28, 2013, by Ron

Recent Posts »
Monthly Archives »
Categories »

If I understand correctly, system generated emails are sent nightly. That seems like quite a wait. Does that apply to inbound emails from VRBO, etc. ?

10 Responses:

John Amato, August 28, 2013:

No, and this can be a bit confusing until you get used to it.

Automatic Scheduled Emails are defined in your Email Templates tab, and these settings are used to create an actual schedule of emails to be sent - with actual dates - for each new booking that is created. The nightly process looks for any emails that are scheduled to go out that date, and then checks the criteria fields (defined in each Email Template) to make sure it is Ok to send it, and sends it if so.

But there are other emails that get sent in real-time. The Auto-Responder emails are one example, and so is the Guest Confirmation, and some others. It is our plan to eventually declare these, and make them configurable, in the "Triggered" emails section of the Email Templates tab, but we're not there yet.

Does that help?

Ron, August 28, 2013:

That helps. Thanks

PACVL, February 10, 2015:

Broken link on both of the hyperlinks in the above.

John Amato, March 12, 2015:

LCBR - thanks for the heads up! (Corrected now...)

John

Ricardo Torres, April 16, 2015:

Cool! I think I get it. I've probably over-analyzed this, but I was/am a little confused with the (seeming) triggers you can set up when adding/editing an email template vs. the Automatic Schedule. I think the above clarifies that Automatic Schedule does not override conditions in the template.

QUESTION 1 of 2
Example, if I set up a Template that is intended to remind me to check on a payment refund:
- Criterium: Must Be Paid In Full
- Criterium: Deposit Must Be Paid

Okay, now I want to Automatically Schedule this email to be sent to me 7 days after checkout (after cleaning has been done and any damages assessed). Automatic will first check to make sure that the two above criteria are met prior to sending the email...YES? So, it's okay to set the "Send" method to "Automatic"?

QUESTION 2
Alternatively, if I have "Check-in Details" as a custom Template, with criteria:
- Must Be Paid In Full
- Deposit Must Be Paid

Do I need to set up an "Automatic Schedule" for this, or is the meeting of said criteria enough to send the email?

Thanks for your help!
- Ric

Ricardo Torres, April 18, 2015:

Okay, after much deliberation and about 6 hours (no kidding) of carefully outlining emails for 11 different properties, it seems that I've missed something.

My understanding of the Email Templates (based on what is written alongside the features) is that I should be able to set up a trigger, on payment made for example, but limit its trigger-happiness with the criteria above first...YES?

I have an email trigger set up with the intention to send Check-in Details (arrival instructions) as soon as the reservation is paid in full. It even reads, "Your reservation is now paid in full..."

To do this, I set up a trigger, "Send on payment made" with the criteria
- Must be paid in full (and not "must be paid on schedule")
- Security deposit must be paid in full.

I just received a booking, and my criteria were ignored. My guest paid only half down to reserve (no deposit), and the guest received an email saying, "You're all paid up. Here's how to get in..."

WHAT AM I MISSING HERE? Thanks in advance.

- Ric

John Amato, April 21, 2015:

Hi Ric - yes, your first post (Apr 16) sounds correct to me; that is how it works.

John Amato, April 21, 2015:

Ric for your second post: I will look into this, because it sounds like maybe there is a glitch in there. But in the meantime I think that Check-in Details email would be better sent as an automatic scheduled email with criteria set properly. This tends to work better anyway as you want the final arrival instructions to be sent pretty close to the arrival date.

Try it that way and see if it works better for you...

Ricardo Torres, April 23, 2015:

Thanks, John!

We'll try to set it up in the Automatic Email system. Though I would prefer it to be triggered by the payment. My main worry with automatic is that I don't know how it will treat "0". So, if I want to send Check-in Details to a guest who booked last minute, there's very little room for human error - that the email would get sent as soon as he/she booked the property. I'm not sure if "0 days before Check-in" is the same as "send now", or if it would not send until midnight that night...

Anyway, I'll try it.

PACVL, April 23, 2015:

I have experienced what you are describing Ricardo. The automated email system does not send the email if the booking is made after the trigger... So for example I have mine set to send the Check In instructions 3 days prior to arrival. If they make a booking 2 days prior they nor any of the other automated emails are triggered. John might it be possible to have the system send them anyway? Is it a setting or an option that perhaps I've missed somewhere?

Reply »

Software

Solutions

Company

Resources

Bookerville, LLC
21954 Hyde Park Drive Ashburn, VA 20147