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Reminder not sending?

What to check when a booking reminder, confirmation chase or other timed message doesn't reach your guest.

Most "nothing arrived" cases are one of these. Work down the checklist.

  1. 1

    Is the message Enabled?

    In Messages, the message itself must show On. An automation can't send a message that's switched off.

  2. 2

    Does the automation exist at all?

    A message can be written and switched On without ever being scheduled — those are two different things, and only the schedule makes it send. On Automations, look under your list at Add an automation: if the message is still sitting there as a card, it has no automation yet and nothing was ever going to send it. Click the card to add one.

  3. 3

    Is the automation Enabled?

    On Automations, check the automation's Enabled toggle is on and the timing is what you expect.

  4. 4

    Does the guest have an email?

    Booking messages go by email. A booking with no email on it — a walk-up or phone booking you added without one — has nowhere to send to. Check the booking in the diary.

  5. 5

    Is the Email channel set up?

    Under Channels, Email is the live channel. Confirm your sender details are saved.

  6. 6

    Is the booking inside the send window?

    A booking whose send moment passed more than about a day ago has missed its window and won't get the message. One whose send moment passed recently still catches up on the next run — so switching a message on today does reach bookings that are close to it, but never back-fills the whole diary. See How timing is measured.

  7. 7

    For a confirmation chase — has the guest already answered?

    This one is working as intended, not a fault. Ask them to confirm and Chase an unanswered booking both stop as soon as the guest answers — whether they confirmed or cancelled. If the booking shows an answer, no further chase was ever going to send. Your reminder is separate and still sends, even to a guest who confirmed.

A few more things worth knowing:

  • Expected a text and got an email? Right now, every venue does — our text-messaging account isn't switched on yet, so no text has gone out to anyone. That is the third of three conditions, and it's the only one you can't see or change:

    1. the message itself is set to SMS in Messages;
    2. you've saved a sender name under Channels;
    3. our text-messaging account is switched on — the SMS card reads Active rather than Set up — not sending yet.

    If any of the three is missing, booking confirmations and reminders fall back to email rather than not sending, so the guest still hears from you. Marketing messages (review request, win-back, birthday) wait instead of switching channel. Nothing here needs fixing on your side, and re-saving your sender name won't change it.

  • A text also needs a mobile number on the booking. A guest who booked without one gets the email instead.

  • A reminder always sends to a guest we can reach — including a guest who has already confirmed. Confirming does not switch the reminder off. It is badged Always sends on the Automations list for that reason. The review request, win-back and birthday messages are badged Consent required and only go to guests who opted in. If one of those "didn't arrive", the guest may simply not have opted in — that's expected, not a fault. For the review request you don't have to guess: Reviews lists who was asked and counts who was skipped, with the reason for each.

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