Communications Tab
PrintThe Communications Tab offers hotels a platform to send Pre-Arrival emails to guests one day prior to arrival. These emails include a Call to Action button navigating to a web form where guests can confirm their reservation details, submit an Estimated Time of Arrival, and if the hotel chooses to offer Skip the Front Desk - a choice to request skipping the desk or check-in traditionally.
SETTINGS:
This section enables hotels to 1) turn Automated Pre-Arrival Emails on or off (only applies if reservation data is housed in OpenKey via a PMS integration or through manually uploading daily arrivals) and 2) specify if guests are required to check in at the front desk, can choose to Skip the Front Desk or check in traditionally, or are required to check-in remotely (in cases where a traditional front desk is not present at the hotel).
1) Send pre-arrival emails automatically
If your hotel's PMS is integrated with OpenKey HOST or you manually upload arrivals on a regular bases:
- Arrivals will show under RESERVATIONS in the Communications Tab of OpenKey HOST
- Any guest with an email on file can receive an email inviting them to confirm their check-in details
- Once the email is sent, the guest’s information will move to the bottom of the tab under “EMAIL SENT”
- These emails are simple ways for the guest to provide their phone number, ETA, and 'Skip the Front Desk' preference prior to arrival.
By checking "Send pre-arrival emails automatically," these emails will be sent one day prior to arrival. By unchecking this box, emails will not go out automatically, but you can still manually send them from the RESERVATIONS table.
2) Skip the Front Desk
This drop down features three options:
- Skip the front desk option is not available - Guests must come to the front desk to check in before they will be issued a mobile key. (Default)
- Skip the front desk option is available - Guests can request their key pre-stay and if approved by a Hotel Team Member, will receive a key prior to arrival.
- Skip the front desk is required - All guests will be issued a key prior to arrival.
Click on the linked options for more information on how each selection changes the Pre-Arrival Email & Web Form Guest Flow.
EMAIL FORM:
This section offers 1) the Pre-arrival Link to your hotel's specific Pre-Arrival Web Form and 2) a form to send individual pre-arrival emails to guests.
1) Pre-arrival Link
If you prefer to create your own one-day-out pre-arrival email, you can embed this link into your Call to Action. Guests can then click on this to be brought to the same web form as available in OpenKey's pre-arrival emails. Please note, the booking number will not automatically populate when you embed this link, as it does when clicked from OpenKey's emails. You can code this option into your email template by adding an HTML tag for reservation numbers. The link will look similar to this in your code:
https://arrival.openkey.co/sample_openkey_link?booking=
2) Email form
This section allows hotels to send one-off emails to guests (or to themselves for testing purposes). The reservation number is required and must not correlate to any bookings already in the system. If you are testing, please use a reservation number that differs from your regular bookings (ex: TEST123456).
RESERVATIONS
This section houses 1) the Import Reservations function and 2) the PMS arrivals for the next few days.
1) Import Reservations
If your hotel's PMS is not integration with OpenKey HOST, you can manually upload arrivals through this tool. For detailed instructions, click here.
) Emails Sent
This section houses all arrivals that have been sent an OpenKey Pre-Arrival Email but not yet checked into the OpenKey HOST system or surpassed their check-in date. With PMS-integrated properties, once a guest checks in, they will disappear from this section.
REMINDER: Integrations are only one-way, meaning OpenKey DOES NOT automatically communicate back to the Property Management System. Any action taken in OpenKey must be verified/completed in your PMS.
