Messages are triggered based on an event and a term.

Scheduling events

Messages can be scheduled based on the following events:

1. Booking
2. Arrival
3. Departure

1. Booking

The booking event refers to when a reservation is created and/or synced to Uplisting. This is effectively the time your guest reserves your property.

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Use the booking event to send messages such as 'Thanks so much for booking our place. We look forward to having you!'. You can delay the message by a few minutes if you are concerned an instant response appears ingenuine.

2. Arrival

The arrival event refers to the date and time a guest is due to check in. Learn more about arrival times.

⚠️Arrival refers to the arrival time set on the booking

All bookings default to an arrival time equal to the check-in time set on your listing. However, you can override the arrival time on each booking.

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Use the arrival event to send pre-arrival messages. Most messages sent to your guest will most likely use the arrival event.

3. Departure

The departure event refers to the date and time a guest is due to check-in. Learn more about departure times.

⚠️Departure refers to the departure time set on the booking

All bookings default to a departure time equal to the check-out time set on your listing. However, you can override the departure time on each booking.

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Use the departure event to send pre-departure messages such as check-out instructions.

Scheduling terms

Terms determine when to send the message based on the event. The terms are:

1. Before
2. After

1. Before

Selecting the before term will send a message prior to the event, before arrival, for example.

⚠️Departure refers to the departure time set on the booking

It's not possible to select before booking as this would be impossible based on the booking event.

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Use before to send pre-arrival messages such as check-in instructions.

2. After

Selecting the after term will send a message post-event, after check-in, for example.

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Use after to send during stay messages such as 'how is your stay going' and post check-out messages such as 'leave us a review'.

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Warning

It's worth noting that there should be some overlap of messages if you're using "Greater than 24 hours" and "Less than 24 hours" to cover a guest booking within exactly 24 hours.

We suggest amending one filter to Greater than 25 hours.

Scheduling term values and units

Finally, scheduling a message requires selecting a term unit (eg. minutes) and a term value (eg. 1).

Term units

1. Minutes
2. Hours
3. Days

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The term unit you choose depends on the message. Minutes offer the most flexibility, but hours and days may be easier to follow. For example, you could set 4320 minutes but the equivalent of 3 days is easier to understand.

Term values

Term values range from 0 through to 1000's. Select a new booking message to send 1 minute after booking, for example. Or set check-in instructions to send 1 day before check-in.

Send to last-minute bookings

When scheduling before arrival messages an additional 'Send to last-minute booking' setting becomes available.

This setting is disabled by default. When disabled, bookings that are created within the scheduling time, will not receive the message. Any bookings made within 3 days of arrival will not receive this message in the example below.

This setting is helpful as you most likely don't want a guest who books 3 days before check-in receiving all pre-arrival messages. You don't want to bombard your last-minute guests with several messages all at once.

It's better to create specific messages for last-minute guests, including a mix of your new booking, a reminder of your upcoming stay and (potentially) check-in instructions. Use message filters such as booking lead time to ensure guests only receive messages when relevant.