Set up automated messages to your guests

The new template editor is still rolling out. Not every Smoobu account has it yet. If a template you open in Experience > Communication shows a Send automatically? checkbox instead of the four sections Scope, Message, Trigger, timing & rules, and Attachments, your account is not part of the rollout yet. Until it is, your templates keep working exactly as before and there is nothing you need to do. When your account moves to the new editor, check how your payment reminders work: see A guest who already paid got a payment reminder below. The steps for your editor are under Use the old template editor further down.

Smoobu can email your guests for you: a confirmation when they book, check-in details a few days before arrival, a review request after departure. You write a message template once, choose the event it follows and when it should go out, and Smoobu sends it for every matching booking.

Before you start

Have this in place before you create your first template:

• Your @host.smoobu.com alias is set up, so guest replies come back into Smoobu. See Send messages from your own email address.

Create an automated message

1. In Smoobu, go to Experience > Communication.
2. Under My message templates, click New template. The editor opens with four sections. To start from a ready-made text instead of a blank template, click Choose a template and pick one.
3. Open Scope and choose the Properties and Channels the template applies to. Leave them on All properties and All channels to send it for every booking.
4. Open Message and choose the Recipient: Guest, Account owner (the email address of your Smoobu account), or Other recipient. Other recipient asks for a Recipient email, for example your cleaner's address.
5. To send a copy to someone else as well, click the + next to Recipient and enter their address. You can add up to 10 copies, in addition to the main recipient. Copies always go out as Bcc, so the guest does not see the addresses you copy in.
6. Enter a Subject and write the Message. Click Placeholders above either field to insert booking details that fill in for each guest, for example [firstGuestName], [apartment], [arrivalDate], and [onlineCheckInLink]. Placeholders for online check-in, the Guest Guide and partner integrations only appear in the list while that feature or integration is switched on: if Smoobu Online Check-in is turned off, [onlineCheckInLink] is not in the list.
7. Open Trigger, timing & rules and pick the Trigger, the event the message follows. The triggers are explained in the next section.
8. Under When to send, choose the Days (0 to 30), When (for example Before arrival), and the Time window the message goes out in. For Booking notification, Cancellation, Online Check-in Completed, and Add-on purchase these fields are greyed out, because those messages send the moment the event happens.
9. Optional: switch on any Additional sending conditions, for example to send only once online check-in is complete.
10. Optional: open Attachments and click Upload file to add a file, for example your house rules as a PDF.
11. Click Save.

Check it worked

The template appears in the My message templates table with its trigger, channels, languages and recipient, and in the Template dropdown when you message a guest from a booking. For a full test, enter a booking with your own email address as the guest (Enter a direct booking or block dates yourself) and check that the email arrives. To switch a message off again later, or to stop a single send for one booking, see Turn off or pause automated messages.

Choose the event that sends the message

The Trigger decides which event a template follows:

• Booking notification: a booking arrives in Smoobu.
• Arrival: the guest's check-in date.
• Departure: the guest's check-out date.
• Cancellation: a booking is cancelled.
• Online Check-in Completed: the guest submits the Smoobu Online Check-in, Chekin or Stellar form. See Set up online check-in for your guests.
• Add-on purchase: the guest buys an extra in the Guest Guide. See Sell extras and services through the Guest Guide.
• Manual sending only: nothing is sent automatically. The template stays ready for you to send by hand from a booking, and AI suggested replies can use it as context (How do I use AI suggested replies for guest messages?).

With Arrival and Departure you can send up to 30 days before or after the date. Some channels limit messages after check-out: Booking.com only lets you message a guest until 7 days after check-out, and if the guest writes to you about the booking in that time, you get another 14 days. Keep departure messages for Booking.com guests inside that window. Booking notification, Cancellation, Online Check-in Completed, and Add-on purchase send the moment the event happens, so you cannot set a delay for them.

Send only when a booking matches conditions

Under Additional sending conditions (Optional), each condition has its own switch, and you can combine several on one template:

• Add invoice: attaches the booking's invoice. The message is only sent if the invoice already exists at the send time; without it, the message is not sent at all.
• Send the template even if the trigger is in the past: sends the message even when the booking arrives after its send time, for example a "2 days before arrival" message for a guest who books on the day of arrival. This switch is not offered for an Arrival message set to 0 days, which goes out on the day of arrival. That message does not need it: it still goes out when a guest books after its send time.
• Online check-in status (Smoobu Online Check-in, Stellar and Chekin only): you choose whether the message sends only when online check-in is complete, or only when it is incomplete.
• Payment status (based on whether the booking is manually marked as paid): you choose whether the message sends only when the booking is marked as paid, or only when it is not.
• Booking length: sends only if the booking is longer than the number of nights you set.

Send the message in your guest's language

The first message you write, on the Default tab, goes to every guest whose language is not set, and to every guest whose language you have not added. To add a language, click Add a language and pick it. Each language gets its own tab with its own subject and message. The booking's Language field decides which version a guest receives: channel bookings usually arrive with it filled in, and for direct bookings you set it yourself when you enter or edit the booking. Write the Default version in your property's local language and add languages as you need them. If you change the Default version later, Smoobu shows Translations may be outdated, because your other language versions may no longer match. Click Review translations to check them and update them where needed.

To have Smoobu translate a language version for you, click the translate icon next to Add a language. The translated text is marked Translated with AI; read it before you save. AI translation is available for English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Greek, and Russian, and the language list shows which languages it does not cover. Template translations have a limit of 30,000 characters per day. This limit is separate from the limit for translating guest messages in your inbox (Translate guest messages with AI).

Add attachments to a template

Open Attachments and click Upload file. A template can carry up to 5 files, each a PDF, JPG, or PNG of up to 1 MB. The same attachments go out with every language version. If each language needs its own file, duplicate the template and give each copy its own language and attachment.

Airbnb does not accept attachments, so the attachment field is switched off while Airbnb is one of the template's channels. If you add Airbnb to a template that already has attachments, a warning appears.

Duplicate a template

In the My message templates table, click the Duplicate icon on the template's row. Smoobu opens a copy with the same message, channels, attachments, and settings. The copy is only stored once you save it.

Format your emails

Click HTML / Advanced Editor below the message to add formatting such as headings, bold text, colours, and links. To go back, click Switch to plain text editor.

Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo do not support formatted messages. While any of them is one of the template's channels, HTML / Advanced Editor is unavailable. If you add one of them to a template that already uses formatting, a warning asks you to remove the formatting or duplicate the template. The cleanest setup is two templates: a formatted one for your direct and website bookings, and a plain-text copy for Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo. Formatted emails can still arrive with uneven fonts or lost line spacing, so keep the formatting simple. See How messaging works with Airbnb and Booking.com for what each channel delivers.

Send a payment reminder for the balance due

To remind guests of an open balance, write a template that uses the [rest] placeholder: it fills in the total price minus the prepayment, so the guest sees exactly what is still due. Add [stripePaymentLink] to include a payment link for that amount; how the link works is covered in Send a payment link or charge the remaining balance. Switch on Payment status (based on whether the booking is manually marked as paid) and choose Only send if booking is unpaid. This condition goes only by the paid status on the booking, and Smoobu does not set that status for you. Mark each booking as paid yourself when the money arrives, or the guest still gets the reminder.

Use the old template editor

Until your account has the new editor, templates are created like this:

1. Go to Experience > Communication and, under My message templates, click Create.
2. A Fill from template window opens. Pick a ready-made starter and click Use selected template, or close the window to write your own. The starters send nothing until you save one as your own template.
3. Enter a Subject and the message text, using placeholders from the list in the editor.
4. Under Accommodations and Channels, choose the properties and channels.
5. Choose the Recipient: Guest, Mail to account owner's address, or Individual Recipient. With Cc/Bcc you receive a copy of every message at an extra address.
6. Tick Send automatically? and set Time to send message (up to 10 days before or after), the Trigger (Booking notification, Arrival, Departure, Booking cancellation, Online check-in completion, or Orders for a purchase in the Guest Guide), and the Time. With Booking notification the message goes out as soon as the booking arrives.
7. For Arrival, Departure, and Online check-in completion, tick Send email even if trigger is in the past so last-minute guests still get the message.
8. Click Save.

In the old editor, Add language adds a translation and the version without a language tag goes to every other guest. The HTML editor switch turns formatting on; send plain text to Airbnb and Booking.com guests. Payment collection reminder sends a template only while the booking still has an unpaid balance. Add invoice attaches the invoice, and the message is not sent if the invoice does not exist yet.

Common problems

A last-minute guest didn't get your message

If the booking arrived after the message's send time had already passed (a "3 days before arrival" message, booked 1 day before arrival), Smoobu skips the send unless Send the template even if the trigger is in the past is switched on (in the old editor: Send email even if trigger is in the past). Switch it on for every message a guest must always receive.

You created a new template, but existing bookings didn't get it

Smoobu schedules forward only. A booking whose send time had already passed when you saved the template does not receive it; future bookings get it as normal. Switching on Send the template even if the trigger is in the past makes the message go out anyway.

Your template doesn't show in the booking's Template dropdown

Only templates you have saved appear there. Create and save the template in Experience > Communication first, then it appears in the dropdown. A template you only want to send by hand can use the Manual sending only trigger.

A message with an invoice didn't go out

With Add invoice switched on, Smoobu only sends the message if the booking's invoice already exists at the send time. If no invoice has been created by then, the message is not sent at all, not even without the attachment. Create the invoice before the send time, or schedule the message for a day or so after the booking. That is also why Add invoice does not suit a booking confirmation.

Use templates with Add invoice switched on for your direct and website bookings. Guests who booked through a channel pay and are invoiced on that channel's side, so your invoice on top of theirs usually just confuses them. The invoice attaches whether the email goes out from your @host.smoobu.com alias or through your own email server (Send messages from your own email address).

A guest who already paid got a payment reminder

Payment reminders go by the booking's paid status, and Smoobu does not set it for you. When your account moves to the new editor, every template that used Payment collection reminder switches to Payment status: Only send if booking is unpaid. From then on, a booking you have not marked as paid gets the reminder, even if the guest has already paid. Mark each booking as paid as soon as the money arrives.

The HTML / Advanced Editor button or the attachment field is greyed out

HTML / Advanced Editor is unavailable while Airbnb, Booking.com, or Vrbo is one of the template's channels, and the attachment field is switched off while Airbnb is one of them. Remove that channel from the template's Scope, or duplicate the template and keep a plain version for those channels.

A door code or check-in link came through empty

Door-code placeholders are often still empty at booking time because the lock partner hasn't generated the code yet; sending the message closer to arrival usually fixes it. See Door codes aren't showing up in your messages. If the online check-in link is missing from your messages, see The check-in link is missing from your messages.

Related articles

• How guest messaging works in Smoobu
• Turn off or pause automated messages
• Send messages from your own email address
• How messaging works with Airbnb and Booking.com
• Send a payment link or charge the remaining balance
• How do I create a rental or lease agreement for my guests?

Still stuck?

If these steps didn't fix it, contact the Smoobu team: open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner. To get the fastest answer, please include:

• Your Smoobu User ID (in the profile-icon menu, top right).
• The property name or ID, if it's about one property.
• The Booking ID, if it's about one booking (Bookings, then View more).
• The channel name, if it's about channel sync (Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, and so on).
• A short step-by-step: what you did, what you expected, and what happened.
• Screenshots or a short screen recording of the problem.
• Your browser and operating system, if something looks wrong on screen.