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Booking.com deletes Online Check-In and Mews Messages Links

  • 31 October 2024
  • 6 replies
  • 262 views

I am surprised that I couldn’t find any thread discussing this issue.
Maybe I am the only one with this problem

For the past month, I’ve tried everything, but Booking.com continues to remove all links from every email we send. This prevents us from sharing the online check-in link or Mews Messages link with our guests.

My booking.com account manager suggested writing out the link instead of using a button, but that didn’t work either.

I even added the „app.mews.com“ link to Booking.com whitelist - „your approved links“

The account manager is aware of the issue but hasn’t provided a solution.

Does anyone know a solution to this issue?

 

Best answer by ettore.zotarelli

Hi everyone!
 

Unfortunately we have had some issues with Booking.com indeed blocking some links. I have seen that some properties were able to fix it by following these instructions, however it is not guaranteed.

We are in contact with the Booking team, but we have not had a resolution yet in terms of applying this to every Mews property, so in the meantime please update your security settings in the Booking extranet.

 

For those using the Mews SMS package, the links are also sent to all guests with a valid mobile number who did not complete their online check 24h before arrival; which helps tackle this issue as it circumvents the OTA's inbox.
We are also studying how we could add the Guest Portal links to our API so that they can be sent to guests via other communication methods, and therefore becoming more independent from the OTA's inbox.

 

We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank you all for the partnership as we try to find a way around this. And one big shoutout to @j.spiess for jumping in! 🏆

Yours,

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  • Senior Guru
  • October 31, 2024

Hello!

My experience is that booking.com removes the links in the messages displayed in the guests’ app and chat in the guest portal of booking.com, but not in the emails forwarded to guests. So if guests actually look at the forwarded email, the links should be functional … !

Because, emails sent to the @guest.booking.com addresses are forwarded to the guests actual email inbox (maybe in some weired and truncated way), in addition to beeing posted to the chat.

booking.com messaging is a mess … ;-/

We should collectively require booking.com to provide the actual guests’ real contact details, but I guess that is not going to happen unless some association or other powerfull body can achieve some legal clarification.

Regards,

Jean-Philipp.


  • Apprentice
  • November 4, 2024

Hi Jean-Philipp,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

I’ve made several reservations on Booking.com using my personal account, but Booking removed all links from every email and chat message, replacing them with “link removed.”

It’s interesting to hear that you and the Mews community haven’t encountered similar issues with Booking.com.

While I don’t expect a solution from Booking.com, I was hopeful that the Mews community might offer some insights.

Best regards

Philipp

 


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  • Senior Guru
  • November 4, 2024

Hello!

I have just tried it again, and for me it still works as I described… just it took a while for the email to be forwarded to my email inbox - like 15 minutes or so… but it came through perfectly intact.

Maybe in your booking.com account the messaging security settings need to be reviewed..? Did you have a look at that?

Kind regards,

jp.

 

 


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  • Senior Guru
  • November 4, 2024

ettore.zotarelli
Mews Employee
Forum|alt.badge.img+2

Hi everyone!
 

Unfortunately we have had some issues with Booking.com indeed blocking some links. I have seen that some properties were able to fix it by following these instructions, however it is not guaranteed.

We are in contact with the Booking team, but we have not had a resolution yet in terms of applying this to every Mews property, so in the meantime please update your security settings in the Booking extranet.

 

For those using the Mews SMS package, the links are also sent to all guests with a valid mobile number who did not complete their online check 24h before arrival; which helps tackle this issue as it circumvents the OTA's inbox.
We are also studying how we could add the Guest Portal links to our API so that they can be sent to guests via other communication methods, and therefore becoming more independent from the OTA's inbox.

 

We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank you all for the partnership as we try to find a way around this. And one big shoutout to @j.spiess for jumping in! 🏆

Yours,


  • Apprentice
  • November 11, 2024

Thanks for all your help.

I have reset all security settings and updated the URLs in the Booking.com extranet. The issue now appears to be resolved.


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