Messaging Overview support article yet, we recommend that you do that first.
What messages are included in the Unified Inbox? All channel messages from Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo, and, if enabled, SMS messages between you as the host and your guests are included in the Unified Inbox. For now, email is not part of the Unified Inbox. However, emailing your guest through the use of email templates, triggers, and individual Bookings > Email this Guest continues to be the best option for email messages.
Inbox Navigation
The Unified Inbox is located in-app on the left navigation menu.
The Unified Inbox offers many familiar features, including the following.
- Select message types (e.g., Inbox, Sent, Archived, All Mail)
- Expanded filters, including:
- Contacts
- Date Ranges
- Sources (e.g., Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, SMS)
- Statuses (e.g., Read, Unread, Starred, Unstarred)
- Properties
- Simple select/unselect all or individual messages
- Star messages
Compose Message
To write a message, click on the Compose button.
In the middle Inbox pane, a New Message will appear. In the To field, you can start typing your guest name.
When you select the guest, you can choose the message source type you want to send. In this case, we messaged Amy on both Vrbo and SMS messaging and we can continue the guest conversation either Vrbo or SMS by selecting "Continue Conversation" on Vrbo or "Continue SMS Conversation." Notice that both options include the listing channel icon or SMS icon to help identify the message source type.
After you select the message source type you want to send, it will be displayed at both the left top and bottom right of the message pane. But even if you selected one of the message source types earlier, you can easily change the message source type by using the dropdown menu at the top left of the message pane that will list all of the source types that you've communicated with the guest in the past.
When chatting via SMS, your character limits and segment count are clearly displayed just above your new message field. Next to the Send button, there are icons to attach a file or select a template for your guest message.
Guest Information
When a guest message is selected, the right-side Guest Information pane displays booking information for the guest's upcoming, current, or past booking. You can click on the booking total downward caret to expand or close the booking charges or select the Activity Timeline to reveal your guest message timeline.
When you click on the Charges and Transactions buttons, the Booking Charges and Transactions pages will open in another tab.
On mobile devices, users can click on the top kebab icon to expand or close the Guest Information pane.
Activity Timeline
In the Activity Timeline, your guest communication is displayed in descending order with the message source type icons and guest or host initials icons. When a guest opens an email, the blue "Opened" label is displayed. Click on the upper right Full View to open the full Guest Conversation in a new tab.