Hey guys,
We’ve now managed to start paid reservations on the day of arrival just by completing the online check-in.
I really like the check-in process and its smooth integration with the data. However, with OTA guests it’s such a bottleneck because a verification email is sent, and Booking.com’s email service sometimes takes up to 20 minutes to deliver it.
How can this be handled better? Is it possible to switch to SMS verification?
Has anyone else experienced these issues and found a good solution?
Best regards,
Hendrik
@Hendrik_Renken does it work with booking.com at all? If we sent emails to the mystic booking.com mail accounts, the link is always blocked excepted the use their browser inbox. That should not work at all at the moment.
You might need a partner for communication on whatsapp rather than SMS.
@Johannes_Rott no that works well, when you enable the Links you use in your mailing in booking.com extranet.
So for us its just the delay
Hendrik Renken wrote:
@Johannes_Rott no that works well, when you enable the Links you use in your mailing in booking.com extranet.
So for us its just the delay
for us it looks still like the screen below. even if we proceed with the steps MEWS is advising.
had the issue with a different PMS and guest journey before.
This is a good idea. Using SMS as a contact point in the guest journey when email is missing or masked, as in this case.
However, we have managed to make this work with Booking by first changing the settings in Mews so that all communication is sent from the hotel’s own domain, and then “whitelisting” our domain with Booking.
Another thing I am currently testing is configuring Mews to send the system’s own booking confirmation (with access to the guest journey) for all bookings regardless of channel. When I tested making a booking via Booking using a test account, I noticed that this confirmation is sent to the guest’s real email address, since Booking’s masking logic did not have enough time to kick in 
However the email of course won’t be stored in Mews unless the guest chooses to register 
Forgot to mention. If you think it would be a good idea then upvote the suggested improvement here: Register via SMS
Mark Alexander Joel wrote:
This is a good idea. Using SMS as a contact point in the guest journey when email is missing or masked, as in this case.
However, we have managed to make this work with Booking by first changing the settings in Mews so that all communication is sent from the hotel’s own domain, and then “whitelisting” our domain with Booking.
Another thing I am currently testing is configuring Mews to send the system’s own booking confirmation (with access to the guest journey) for all bookings regardless of channel. When I tested making a booking via Booking using a test account, I noticed that this confirmation is sent to the guest’s real email address, since Booking’s masking logic did not have enough time to kick in However the email of course won’t be stored in Mews unless the guest chooses to register
Is it working on the booking.com app as well. I think this is just possible when you open the message in the browser not on the app. Quite strange but whitelisting is not a final solution at the moment. Confirmed by booking.com as well. We now try to sent it by WhatsApp through one of our partners.
Thanks for your input. I am not sure if it works on the b.com app but if we get a small % of the OTA guests to use the online check in thats still more than 0% so we are happy with this solution. Have a nice day 
Hello @Hendrik_Renken ,
Thank you for posting in the Community, my name is Nic from the Support team and I will be answering your query.
Please note that the most direct alternative is to use the Mews SMS package. This feature allows you to bypass the Booking.com inbox entirely by sending the online check-in link directly to the guest’s mobile phone number.
When enabled, Mews automatically sends an SMS with a secure, clickable link to the guest 48 hours before arrival (or immediately for last-minute bookings).
There’s a similar thread here that discusses this topic -
Booking.com deletes Online Check-In and Mews Messages Links | Community
I hope this clarifies it. If you have any other questions, please let us know!
Kind regards,
Nic
Hi @nicolai.bueno How interesting! You are saying the texts do include a URL to the guest portal so that guests wo emails or with invalid emailadresses still can register and use it? I tested several times but the texts I get doesn’t include any url to register. How strange…I am testing a new Expedia booking for a collegue just now to see what texts he will get. Thanks!
Hi @Mark_Alexander_Joel ,
I hope you are doing well today!
Please reach out to Support team and open a ticket to investigate on this matter further. The last ticket you have with me auto-closed as I have not heard back from you.
Kind regards,
Nic
nicolai.bueno wrote:
Hello @Hendrik_Renken ,
Thank you for posting in the Community, my name is Nic from the Support team and I will be answering your query.
Please note that the most direct alternative is to use the Mews SMS package. This feature allows you to bypass the Booking.com inbox entirely by sending the online check-in link directly to the guest’s mobile phone number.
When enabled, Mews automatically sends an SMS with a secure, clickable link to the guest 48 hours before arrival (or immediately for last-minute bookings).
There’s a similar thread here that discusses this topic -
Booking.com deletes Online Check-In and Mews Messages Links | Community
I hope this clarifies it. If you have any other questions, please let us know!
Kind regards,
Nic
Hello @nicolai.bueno !
In help.mews.com the following is stated:
This is consistent with what we experience…
So I was wondering about your information about the SMS being sent 48 hours in advance or immediately for last minute bookings: is this a planned change? At the moment last minute bookings receive nothing at all automatically - no email, no sms - The email must be manually sent in those last minute cases. Can you update us on the plans for SMS sending?
Kind regards,
JP.
@j.spiess we used the sms service for over a few months but we experienced the same issue. it was allways sent on the day of arrival. the cost value was not efficient enough so we stopped using it and we are now working on a solution by whatsapp as MEWS now is providing the “magic link” to their partners. Hopefully we can finish the set up end of February and start with a higher number of online check-in´s.
Mark Alexander Joel wrote:
Hi @nicolai.bueno How interesting! You are saying the texts do include a URL to the guest portal so that guests wo emails or with invalid emailadresses still can register and use it? I tested several times but the texts I get doesn’t include any url to register. How strange…I am testing a new Expedia booking for a collegue just now to see what texts he will get. Thanks!
Hello,
It’s the same for us. Booking.com always removes any links included in our communications.
We haven’t found a solution yet and have been discussing this with both Mews and Booking.com.
Robin Gustavsson wrote:
Mark Alexander Joel wrote:
Hi @nicolai.bueno How interesting! You are saying the texts do include a URL to the guest portal so that guests wo emails or with invalid emailadresses still can register and use it? I tested several times but the texts I get doesn’t include any url to register. How strange…I am testing a new Expedia booking for a collegue just now to see what texts he will get. Thanks!
Hello,
It’s the same for us. Booking.com always removes any links included in our communications.
We haven’t found a solution yet and have been discussing this with both Mews and Booking.com.
Same here, especially booking.com is not interested at all. we used STRAIV before same issue. We start on a third party system in a few weeks to sent guest communication per whatsapp.
Johannes Rott wrote:
@j.spiess we used the sms service for over a few months but we experienced the same issue. it was allways sent on the day of arrival. the cost value was not efficient enough so we stopped using it and we are now working on a solution by whatsapp as MEWS now is providing the “magic link” to their partners. Hopefully we can finish the set up end of February and start with a higher number of online check-in´s.
Sounds interesting! Do you know which Connector API Endpoint yields the “magic link”? In the API docu I found nothing about it…
j.spiess wrote:
Johannes Rott wrote:
@j.spiess we used the sms service for over a few months but we experienced the same issue. it was allways sent on the day of arrival. the cost value was not efficient enough so we stopped using it and we are now working on a solution by whatsapp as MEWS now is providing the “magic link” to their partners. Hopefully we can finish the set up end of February and start with a higher number of online check-in´s.
Sounds interesting! Do you know which Connector API Endpoint yields the “magic link”? In the API docu I found nothing about it…
It’s on our wishlist, but as far as I’m concerned, Mews hasn’t released the possibility to share OCI links yet. If they already have, I must have completely missed that release note. Very exciting if that’s the case!
@j.spiess @Robin_Gustavsson
i can´t tell, i am not even sure if they just released it to their partners and not to us as Hotels,.. we are in contact with Chatlyn as we use them as chatbot and for a few other services as well.
As far as i know the first to get the link have been hijiffi …
i can keep you up to date as soon as it is tested and we see an outcome on that.