is there a way to include a calculated date in the email.

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 4, 2016 11:52 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1133 posts

I want to include something like this in one of my templated emails:

Cancellations: Just to remind you, that per rental agreement, our cancellation policy is to provide full refund if reservation canceled by you 60 days or more prior to check in. The cut off date for penalty-free cancellation is {calculated cutoff date}. If you are concerned about possible cancellation, we suggest obtaining trip/cancellation insurance {link to insurance form}

//where {calculated cutoff date } = {arrival date} - 60//
Is there a way to include calculated field?

Thanks

Michelle J
Nov 4, 2016 12:02 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jan, 2011 582 posts

That's a great message to send.

Does the date coincide with a prominent booking date? Or payment date? For instance, is 60 days out the same time you require the the final payment to be made? If so, you could use the field code for the second payment due date and that would work since it's the same.

Failing that, you could just leave the date off and say "60 days out" without the specific date.

Another idea... if you're using a trigger to send this email [x] days before arrival, you could do it like this... Set the trigger to be sent 70 days before arrival (which is 10 days before the cut-off date). In the email message, you could say "The cut off date is coming up in 10 days!" or something like that to show a sense of urgency.

We do have something called "Logic Fields" that we're working on which are custom field definitions but where the field definition has if/else type logic so that the value can change depending on the booking criteria. This might be an expansion of that.

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 4, 2016 12:13 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1133 posts

Thank you,
I do 60 days out mentioned, unfortunately 60 days out does not correspond with 2nd payment due date (which is 30 days out).

I thought about triggered email at 70 days out, but since the guests already get so many emails, I don't want to create yet another one if possible - I wanted to keep that in "general info" email that I send one day post booking.
Another thing I did not want to give them "ideas" of canceling. One thing to inform, another thing - a separate email will almost sound like suggesting canceling, if you know what I mean.

Would be great to have some calculated variable such as "days before" or "days after" an {existing event variable}
similar to the triggers we have. maybe one day :)
Thanks

Michelle J
Nov 7, 2016 8:06 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jan, 2011 582 posts

That's a very good point about not wanting to give them the idea of cancelling - definitely not a good idea. The variable idea is a really good. Thanks for the suggestion.