Hotels
Business texting for hotels
Confirm the booking, send arrival details the day before, and let guests reply to those texts when they need something. Reception answers from one inbox, between everything else.
How do hotels use business texting?
Hotels text guests to confirm bookings, send arrival details such as check-in times and parking, answer questions during the stay, remind them about checkout and ask how it went. Those are service messages. Offers for a future stay are marketing and go only to guests who've agreed or fall under the soft opt-in, with an opt-out line.
Texts around a stay
A stay has natural points for a text: a confirmation when they book, arrival details the day before (check-in time, parking, how to find you), a message when the room's ready if they've turned up early, and a checkout reminder on the last morning, followed by a thank-you and one question about how it went.
Send those from a UK mobile number and guests can reply. Questions like 'Can we check in at 1?' or 'Is the restaurant open on Sunday?' come into one inbox, where reception can answer them between other jobs.
Overseas guests
CaptiFi Connect sends to UK mobiles only, including Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. A guest who books with a mobile from another country is refused with a reason and not charged, so keep email for them and use texts where the guest has a UK number. If your booking system calls the API, the refusal reason comes back in the response, so it can switch to email on its own.
Room and access details
Be careful what goes in a text. Anyone who sees the guest's lock screen can read it, so don't send a room number and an access code together, and don't put the guest's name and room in the same message. If you text door or key safe codes for self check-in, send them close to arrival and change them between stays.
Offers for a future stay
Texting past guests about a winter break or a Christmas package is marketing. Under PECR you need their consent, or the soft opt-in: you took the number during the booking, you're marketing similar stays or services, and you gave them a simple way to say no at the time and in every text since. Ask on the booking form, record the answer, and keep marketing contacts in a list of their own.
If you run guest WiFi through CaptiFi, our sister company, guests who agreed to marketing at sign-in can be imported into CaptiFi Connect by CSV. The two products aren't linked up at the moment.
Features hotels use
The parts of CaptiFi Connect that suit a hotel or B&B:
- Booking confirmations and arrival details, sent now or scheduled up to a year ahead.
- Texts from a UK mobile number that guests can reply to, with replies in one inbox.
- Templates for arrival, checkout and directions.
- An approved sender name for offers to past guests.
- Campaigns with an automatic opt-out line.
- The REST API and webhooks, if your booking system can call them.
Sample texts
Merge fields in braces are filled from each contact. The part count is worked out the way the platform bills it.
Arrival details(service)
Hi {first_name}, looking forward to seeing you at Harbour View tomorrow. Check-in is from 3pm and parking is behind the hotel. Questions? Just reply.
149 characters, 1 part
Room ready(service)
Good news {first_name}, your room at Harbour View is ready. Pop into reception for your key whenever you're back.
113 characters, 1 part
Checkout reminder(service)
Morning {first_name}, checkout today is 11am. Want a bit longer? Reply and we'll see what we can do. Harbour View
113 characters, 1 part
Thank you(service)
Thanks for staying with us, {first_name}. How was everything? Reply with any comments, good or bad. Harbour View Hotel
118 characters, 1 part
Winter break(marketing)
Hi {first_name}, midweek winter breaks are back at Harbour View: 2 nights with dinner on the first evening. Call 01632 960321 to book. Reply STOP to opt out
156 characters, 1 part
Getting set up
- 1
Create your account
Sign up with your hotel's details. We check every new account before it can send.
- 2
Save templates
Write the confirmation, arrival, room-ready and checkout texts once, with {first_name}.
- 3
Schedule arrival texts
Schedule each arrival text for the day before the guest arrives, and cancel it if the booking is cancelled.
- 4
Answer in the inbox
Guests' replies arrive one thread per number. Answer from the same thread.
- 5
Link your booking system
Optional: if your booking system can call an API, it can send confirmations and arrival texts itself.
Common texts for hotels
| Message | When it goes | Service or marketing | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking confirmation | When the booking is made | Service | Your stay is confirmed, 2 nights from Fri 13 Nov |
| Arrival details | The day before arrival | Service | Check-in from 3pm, parking behind the hotel |
| Room ready | When an early arrival's room is ready | Service | Your room is ready, your key is at reception |
| Checkout reminder | The morning of departure | Service | Checkout is at 11am, reply if you'd like it later |
| Thank you and feedback | The day after checkout | Service if it promotes nothing | Thanks for staying, how was everything? |
| Offer for a future stay | Seasonally | Marketing | Midweek winter breaks are back |
| Dining or event package | A few weeks before | Marketing | New Year's Eve dinner and room package |
Questions people ask
Can guests text reception?
Yes, by replying to a text you've sent them from a UK mobile number. Replies arrive in the inbox, one thread per guest, and your answers go from the same number whenever it's available.
What about guests with overseas mobiles?
CaptiFi Connect texts UK mobiles only. Overseas numbers are refused with a reason and not charged, so use email for those guests.
Can we send door codes by text?
You can, but keep the room number and the guest's name out of the same text, send it close to arrival and change the code between stays.
Do we need consent to text past guests about offers?
Yes, unless the soft opt-in applies: you took their number during a booking, you're marketing similar stays, and you gave them a simple, free way to opt out then and in every text since.
Does it work with our booking system?
There are no ready-made connections to hotel booking systems. If yours can call a REST API, a developer can set it up to send texts through CaptiFi Connect.
Send your first text this week
Set up your account and contacts now; we check every new account before it can send.