System Messages vs Triggers

New to Owner Rez and working through system messages vs triggers. I set up several email triggers (I already them from my old PMS) but then I discovered all of the system messages. It seems like there is a bit of duplication and I'm trying to figure out if its more appropriate to use system messages or triggers for many of the booking-related messages. There seems to be more functionality with triggers so curious what others are doing. Would love to see / hear examples of when you may be using system messages over triggers and why.

Yep, there can be duplication but triggers are generally more flexible than system messages. Sometimes you'll start with the system message because it's easy and simple and then turn that off and use a trigger instead when you want complex send criteria or different configurations per property that can't be handled with merge fields.

Here's a bit of general info on system messages vs triggers: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/system-messages-triggers

Hello. I was wondering why I wasn't getting reviews from some very happy guest that booked direct. When I look at the email history, there is no email shown asking for their review -- even though I had it enabled as a system message. I've now made it a trigger. Should I disable the system message with the trigger in place?

Also, I know this previous thread is pretty old, but the link referenced above is no longer available... 

Thanks for your help!

The system message is used if you manually go to a Booking > Reviews > and use the Request dropdown button to ask for a review.  It should not be disabled.

But, as you noted, by default OwnerRez does not automatically request reviews from guests, because you may not necessarily want them from all guests.  If you do want to send the request automatically, an email template and trigger is indeed the right way to do it.  Here's an example:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/review-request

This video may also be helpful:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/email-templates-and-triggers