Allowing guests to opt in or out of text (SMS) messaging for either transactional or marketing purposes ensures legal compliance, prevents spam complaints, builds trust, and improves guest communication for vacation rental businesses, enhancing your marketing effectiveness. In many countries, including the United States, it may be a legal requirement for your business to obtain written consent before sending guests promotional text messages.
OwnerRez's SMS Messaging Preferences allows you to add checkboxes for guests to opt-in to text messaging for transactional (e.g., bookings, quotes, etc.) and/or marketing messages.
Guest Booking Experience
How are those preferences presented to guests? If you choose to let guests opt in or out of text (SMS) messaging for either transactional (e.g., bookings, quotes, etc.) or marketing SMS messages, those options will be displayed on the Public Booking Link, and the booking/inquiry widget. The guest's messaging preferences selected as part of their booking process will be saved in their contact information.
Here's an example of how those options are displayed to guests on the Public Booking Link.
For single property Hosted Website Book Now pages, those guest options appear to guests like this.
The booking/inquiry widgets displayed for multiple properties or Integrated websites display those guest options as follows.
What is that number displayed after your SMS brand? It's the number associated with your specific brand registration with The Campaign Registry which is required to be displayed to guests.
Configure Messaging Preferences
When users initially enable the SMS Messaging Premium Feature, transactional messages for bookings, quotes, etc., will be automatically displayed to potential guests. If desired, users with new SMS brands and numbers can also add the marketing SMS option by navigating to Settings > Messaging > Messaging Preferences, selecting "Collect Marketing SMS Opt-in," and Save.
For users with existing SMS brands and numbers, configure your transactional or marketing SMS options by navigating to Settings > Messaging > Messaging Preferences. Below are the default settings. If you want to display the option for guests to opt in or out of text (SMS) messaging for either transactional (e.g., bookings, quotes, etc.) or marketing purposes, select either one or both, and Save.
Manage Guests' Messaging Preferences
You can change your guests' messaging preferences by navigating to their Guest Info, either through the Guest Conversation > Contact Info > Marketing Opt-Out or the specific Booking > Overview > Guest > Edit Contact Info > Marketing Opt-Out.OwnerRez suggests confirming any guest marketing preferences in writing before changing their preferences. This is the only area where you, as the host, can opt individual guests out of receiving marketing emails. Any email addresses of guests who have opted out of receiving marketing emails will be excluded from the Email List Report.