Effective guest communication ensures a smooth experience, resolves issues promptly, and enhances guest satisfaction, leading to positive reviews and repeat bookings in short-term rentals.
Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo's native messaging platforms allow hosts and guests to communicate directly through their app or website, facilitating booking details and check-in instructions and allowing hosts to address any questions or concerns. However, they prefer to control the guests and their information so that they can charge ongoing fees to both sides. Instead of providing a real email address, they create temporary "proxy" email addresses that they filter and control.
Until a host procures a guest's contact information, hosts must rely on the messaging platforms of those channels. Luckily, OwnerRez directly integrates with the native messaging platforms of Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com!
Note: Why can't you use a platform email or proxy email address like "joe.blow.12345@messages.airbnb.com" or "joe.blow.12345@messages.booking.com?" These platform/proxy email addresses aren't real. If you send messages to them, your message will be collected by the channel, stripped, re-formatted, and displayed on the channel's message platform in various ways that typically don't work well for email.
Using OwnerRez's in-app channel messaging for Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo is easy. You can view channel messages in your inbox or send channel messages manually with individual guests by navigating to the specific booking or inquiry and clicking on Conversation.
And, you can create Channel Templates that you can send with Triggers. See our Trigger Examples support article for all sorts of Channel Messaging ideas.