From Update 3.6
The setup for Automated Emails can be found in the Property section of Benson. This means that you will need to have access to the Property section of the system to get to them and start setting them up.
An important aspect of Automated Emailing is that Benson will not send emails to any Client, Consultant, Guest or Reservation that has “Opted-Out” of Automated Emailing. To indicate that an individual, entity or Reservation has opted out of Automated Emails, head over to their respective sections on the system and you’ll find the checkbox to opt them out.
Benson has a total of six different Automated Email templates to set up, each with its own quirks, so we’ll go into the detail of each.
Pre-Arrival Emails
The most important thing to remember with Pre-Arrival emails is that they will ONLY be sent to the Guest email addresses that have been captured in the Room section of a Reservation. Pre-Arrival emails are not sent to the Responsible, Consultant Client or Contact of a Reservation unless these individuals are staying in a Room.
You can setup the email text, “from” email address as well as the days before arrival that the email must be sent on this template. For example, if you want your Guests to receive a Pre-Arrival email the day before they arrive at your Property, you’ll set the “Days Before Arrival” to 1. Benson will automatically send these emails out in the morning of the relevant day.
Any information about accommodation rates, deposit amounts and other monetary details are excluded from this email.
Post-Stay Emails
Post-Stay emails behave almost identically to Pre-Arrival emails – the only difference being that you can set up how many Days After Departure you want the email to be sent.
Like with Pre-Arrival emails, Post-Stay emails will only ever be sent to the Guest email addresses that have been captured in the Room section of a Reservation. Any information about accommodation rates, deposit amounts and other monetary details are excluded from this email.
Booking Confirmation Emails
Unlike Pre-Arrival and Post-Stay emails, Booking Confirmation emails will only ever be sent to the Responsible Client and / or Consultant / Contact on a Reservation. A Booking Confirmation will never be sent to the Guests in the Rooms of a Reservations.
Another thing to note about Booking Confirmation emails is that they are not sent automatically when a Reservation is created – you will need to select the checkbox that says “Send a Booking Confirmation Email?” in order for the email to fly off once the Reservation has been created.
The Booking Confirmation email will also include the booking confirmation PDF document when sent.
Booking Amendment Emails
Like Booking Confirmation emails, Booking Amendment emails are only ever sent to the Responsible Client and / or Consultant / Contact of a Reservation (unless they have opted-out of receiving automated emails!).
Depending on what kind of change you are making to a Reservation, you’ll see a checkbox asking if you want a Booking Amendment email to be sent in the “Summary” section of the update process. Selecting this checkbox will sent off a Booking Amendment email to the relevant contacts.
Cancellation Confirmation Emails
Cancellation Confirmations are only ever sent to the Responsible Client and /or Consultant / Contact on a Reservation.
You’ll see a checkbox appear when cancellation a Reservation that asks if you’d like to send a Cancellation Confirmation email to the relevant contacts once the process has been finished.
Guarantee Overdue Emails
Guarantee Overdue emails are automatically sent off to the Responsible Client and /or Consultant / Contact of a Reservation on the day the Reservation becomes “Guarantee Overdue”. The email will indicate to the recipient that there is an outstanding deposit as well as the required deposit amount.
These emails will never be sent to any Guests in the Reservation, and will only be sent to Clients and Consultants who have not opted out of Automated Emails.
Cancellation Warning Emails
If you’ve set up the auto-cancellation process for your Reservations, it might be a good idea to activated the Cancellation Warning email if you want your Clients or Contact persons to be notified that their Reservation is going to be cancelled.
The email will only go to the Client and/or Contact of a Reservation, and you can specify how many days before cancellation you’d like the email to go out.