Messages: talking to your guests

Messages is your inbox for talking to guests. Each booking’s conversation sits in one place, with the guest’s messages, their requests and your replies.

What shows up in Messages

• Messages from guests. Guests write to you from their stay page with Message followed by your first name, or ask to move with Change your dates.
• Requests to cancel. A guest who asks to cancel on their stay page appears here, with what your cancellation policy says they’re due back.
• Notes left with a booking, for stays that haven’t ended yet (or ended in the last week).
• Enquiries from your website’s contact form, each as its own conversation with no booking.

Each conversation also lists the automatic emails the booking has had, such as “Booking confirmation email sent”.

The Needs a reply filter shows conversations still waiting on you, and the number beside Messages in the menu counts them. All shows everything.

Replying

1. Go to Messages and tap a conversation.
2. Write in the box at the bottom, or tap a Quick replies button such as Directions to start from a ready-made message.
3. Tap Send.

The guest gets your message by email and on their stay page. The email has a Reply button that opens their stay page, and what they write there comes back to this conversation. Someone who wrote from your website gets a Reply button too, which opens your conversation with them on your website. If no reply is needed, tap No reply needed to take the conversation off your list.

When a guest asks to cancel, you’ll see buttons such as Cancel and refund (or Cancel the booking when nothing is due back), Keep the booking and Offer other dates. For a change of dates, Open the booking to move dates or Say no, kindly. Replying on its own never cancels or moves a booking. See Cancelling a booking and Changing a booking.

Starting a new conversation

Tap New message and pick a guest. The list shows guests staying now or arriving in the next 60 days. To write to anyone else, open their booking and use the Message button there, which shows the guest’s first name.

Emails telling you a guest has written

When a guest sends a message, asks to change dates or asks to cancel, or someone writes from your website, PootlrHost emails your Email for guests from Settings › Your site, or your account email if that’s empty. Each email links straight to the conversation.

Good to know

• If you reply to that email from your own inbox, the guest gets it, but your reply won’t show in Messages. Reply from Messages to keep everything together.
• If a guest answers the email itself rather than tapping Reply, it comes to your Email for guests (or your account email), not Messages. PootlrHost can’t receive emails, so answer those from your own inbox.
• You can only reply when the booking has an email address. Add one on the booking first.
• Nothing is sent to guests until your site is live.
• Some team members can read conversations but not reply: see Team and permissions.