Emailing Your Guests From RoomBoss

It is possible to setup RoomBoss to send emails to direct/portal/OTA guests using your own email templates.

Emails are sent based on user defined html templates and their sending is determined by trigger events. Where appropriate, emails can be sent with a number of days offset (eg. 3 days before or after the trigger event).

If turned on, emails will be sent on the triggers for all packages which have an email address added for lead guest or vendor lead guest and contain bookings where you are the Point of Sale.

You can set emails to be sent on some or all of the following triggers on packages containing bookings where you are the point of sale:

• Direct / Portal enquiry made.
• Book and Pay reservation made.
• Unpaid invoice due date (-/+ve offset possible).
• Payment received.
• Send Email button on the Edit A Booking page.
• Start date of first booking in package (offset possible).
• Departure date of last booking in package (offset possible).
• Reservation is cancelled.

Emails sent can contain guest first and last names, booking id, a link to the guest intranet for the guest’s booking/enquiry and, in the case of “Departure date of master booking in package” email, a link to the feedback form.

Setup Email Templates

To setup email templates Navigate → Product Setup → Rich Message and choose the Automated Emails tab

Choose the email trigger and language from the drop down menus and enter the email subject (when the email is sent RoomBoss will add the booking id to the subject line) and email text and click save. You can also use Merge Tags and Html in your templates, see below for more on this.

You can see a preview of your message by clicking the Preview button.

Merge Tags

Using merge tags in your template allows you to include information that is specific to the booking of the guest who will receive the email in the emails you send. When setting up your email templates you can use the following 5 merge tags, when your email is sent the merge tags will be replaced as indicated:

Emails sent using the template in the above screen shot would include the guest first name instead of _$gfname$_ and a link to the guest booking instead of _$blink$_

Merge tags can be added to your email template by clicking the buttons shown below while creating your template.

Note: Merge tags can be used in the body of the email only, not the email subject.

Adding Your Own Html To Templates

If you have your own Html email templates you can add these by clicking the html button and pasting your html into the popup.

Once your template has been added you can edit text etc using the template editor (emails are limited to 20,000 characters, this includes your html). You can also use html to hide the urls for the links to the guest booking / feedback so for example you could use the below to replace the urls with clickable text link or here:

<a href=”_$blink$_”>here</a>

<a href=”_$flink$_”>link</a>

It is also possible to edit your text in a free html editor, such as the ones found here or here, and paste the html into the html popup on the email page inside RoomBoss.

You are welcome to use the simple html email template found here.

Email Language

If a language has been set for a guest and a template email exists for that language then the email will be sent in that language.

If no language has been set for a guest then the English language template will be used. The only exceptions to this are for a guest who has no language set and:

• the guest Residency is set as Japan, the Japanese template will be used.
• the guest Residency is set as Chinese, the Simplified Chinese template will be used.

Turn On Sending Of Automated Emails

To turn on automated emails Navigate → Account → Edit Account Details and click Edit Details

In the “Automated Emails” box checking the checkbox for a trigger will mean that emails are sent using your template on the trigger event.

Using the offset you can set the email to be sent a number of days before or after the trigger event, for example:

• A 14 day offset on the “Start date of master booking in package” trigger would cause the email to be sent 14 days before the “Start date of master booking in package”
• A 10 day offset on the “Departure date of master booking in package” trigger would cause the email to be sent 10 days after the “Departure date of master booking in package”
• For the invoice due date trigger you can choose the email to be sent before the due date (use -ve offset) on the due date (use 0 offset) or after the due date (use +ve offset)

Checking “Include RoomBoss feedback url” check box will mean that the email sent will include a link for the user to submit feedback for this booking.  Note, it is also possible to include this link in your email using merge tags.

Notes on Email Triggers

Direct / Portal enquiry made

• Email is sent immediately when an enquiry is made via your website or a portal website
• Email is not sent when request is made inside your account
• Email is not sent when request is made inside an agent account

Book and Pay reservation made

• Email is sent immediately when a Book and Pay reservation is made via your website
• Email is not sent when reservation is made inside your account
• Email is not sent when reservation is made inside an agent account

Payment received.

• Email is sent immediately when payment is received on any package containing direct, active or cancelled, request or reservation by payment gateway (Paypal, Zenryo etc)
• Email is not sent when payment is registered manually inside your account
• You may want to turn off the “Confirm receipt of payment then thank customer!” task creation if sending this email, if so this can be done on the Edit Account Details page

Send Email button on the Edit A Booking page.

• Email is sent immediately when Send Email button on the Edit A Booking page is pushed
• It is only possible to send this email on packages containing bookings for your own products where you are the point of sale

Unpaid invoice due date

• Email is sent at 15:00 UTC (00:00 JST) on the day it is scheduled (based on the offset)
• Email is not sent for invoices on packages with no active bookings

Start date of first booking where you are point of sale in package (offset possible)

• Email is sent at 15:00 UTC (00:00 JST) on the day it is scheduled  (based on the offset)
• Only considers bookings where you are the point of sale

Departure date of last booking in package (offset possible).

• Email is sent at 15:00 UTC (00:00 JST) on the day it is scheduled  (based on the offset)
• Only considers bookings where you are the point of sale

Reservation is cancelled

• Email is sent immediately when you cancel the the accommodation reservation (not a Request or Internal Request) in a package containing accommodation
• Email is sent immediately when you cancel the last Reservation (not a Request or Internal Request) where you are the point of sale in a package in a package that does not contain and accommodation booking.
• Email is not sent for bookings which check out in the past.
• Email is not sent in the case where you have a booking with a 3rd party vendor and the vendor cancels the booking

Notes on Automated Emailing

• The email address associated with your RoomBoss account will be bccd on all emails sent on your behalf
• The reply to address for all emails sent on your behalf is the email address associated with your RoomBoss account

Basic Example Emails

Auto emailing has been designed to be as flexible as possible and you can send emails based on your own html templates if you wish. Not all of the email triggers may fit with your workflow, however, some basic examples of emails you could send are:

Enquiry

Dear _$gfname$_,

Thanks for your enquiry.

This is an automated response, this accommodation is available, however it may be subject to conditions such as a minimum stay.

Our office hours are 9am – 6pm Monday to Friday in summer and 8am – 8pm everyday during winter. We will get back to you with more as soon as possible.

Payment Received

Dear _$gfname$_,

We have received your payment many thanks.

You can see your booking and payment details and download receipts here _$blink$_

Send Email button on the Edit A Booking page

Dear _$gfname$_,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Please check your booking and payment details here _$blink$_. If you have any questions you can reply to these email or contact us on 0123 456789.

Reservation Cancelled

Dear _$gfname$_,

Your booking has been cancelled. Details can be seen here _$blink$_

This is an automated email, if you still wish to book with us or think this booking has been cancelled in error please reply to this email.

Prompt Unpaid Invoice

Dear _$gfname$_,

This is automated reminder email for a payment due on your booking, if you have made payment by bank transfer or have discussed payment with us please ignore.

If you have yet to make payment, you can see your booking and make payment here _$blink$_

Please reply to this email if you would like to contact us.

Welcome Before Arrival

Dear _$gfname$_,

We are looking forward to seeing you soon.

Please check the details of your booking here _$blink$_, and let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks After Departure

Dear _$gfname$_,

Thanks for visiting us, we hope you had a great time.

We would love to hear about your experiences via the form here _$flink$_

Book and Pay Reservation Made

Dear _$gfname$_,

Thanks for your booking, your room is held pending payment. To confirm please check the details of your booking and if you have not already done so make payment here _$blink$_

If payment is not made within 24hrs, your booking will be cancelled. Once payment is made you will hear from us again to confirm.