The Ultimate Hotel and Hospitality SMS Guide

When you’re traveling, you want your experience to be as smooth and seamless as possible. Part of that involves staying aware of what to do and where to go. Short message service (SMS) texting improves the guest experience by providing additional convenience and empowering your staff to work more efficiently.

The Benefits of SMS for Hotels and Hospitality

SMS is convenient, concise and cost-effective, making it an excellent choice for customer communication in hotels and other hospitality businesses.

1. Increased Guest Engagement

Email, and other traditional communication channels, are far from the most effective tools you can use to effectively engage with guests.

Vacationers are unlikely to check their email inboxes after receiving the initial confirmation message. And while guests traveling for business are more likely to see your emails, they’re also probably reading and responding to a flood of work-related messages daily. Your message can easily get lost in the crowd.

To increase engagement with guests, it’s best to meet them where they are. Now that people carry their phones with them everywhere, text messages are hard to beat and have an incredibly high open rate—98% of SMS texts get opened!

2. Cost and Time Savings

Here’s why texting is one of the most cost-effective forms of communication businesses can use:

• Each message only costs a few cents to write and send.
• Instead of spending time drafting long emails, you can keep texts short and attach additional resources as needed.
• Automation allows you to reduce labor and overhead costs while boosting your profitability.

SMS is even more affordable than email, one of the other most popular communication channels for hospitality businesses.

3. Increased Potential for Revenue Generation

SMS is an effective tool for upselling and cross-selling. You can use personalized templates to automatically recommend offers and services to specific customers. For example, you can:

• Remind guests of the perks that come with joining your loyalty program.
• Advertise the day’s meal and drink specials in your in-house restaurant.
• Provide an attachment listing other amenities and services, such as spa treatments and pay-per-view entertainment.

4. Streamlined Communication

SMS is fast and convenient for anyone who owns a cell phone. Because messages get delivered directly to the recipient’s phone, you can reduce the chances of your messages getting buried in your guest’s inbox or junk folder.

Plus, if guests need to get in touch with your staff for any reason, all they have to do is respond to your initial message. No need to go hunting for a specific extension or wait on hold for the services they need!

How to Use Text Messaging for Hotels

SMS is highly versatile in hotels and hospitality. Need some inspiration? Here are our best examples.

1. Reservation Reminders and Confirmations

No-shows mean missing out on potential revenue and make it difficult to figure out which rooms are available. Ensuring guests remember to be on time for their reservations can help.

You can use SMS texting to ensure your guest list is always up to date by:

• Sending confirmation texts: Once the guest’s reservation has been confirmed, send a short confirmation message letting them know their stay is officially booked.
• Asking for guest confirmation: To prevent no-shows, send a text prompting guests to confirm their intent to stay at your hotel. Ask them to respond with a Y for yes or an N for no.
• Sending upcoming reservation reminders: One or two days before their stay, send guests a brief reminder of their reservation. Include important information for checking in, like a link to directions or what ID to provide.

2. Room Service Requests

Ordering room service over the phone is often inconvenient, especially for younger guests who may feel uncomfortable making phone calls.

Instead, you can automate the room service process by allowing guests to send their orders directly to the kitchen using a dedicated hotel text line. The kitchen can send a confirmation message when they receive the order, and your guests can rest easy knowing their food is on its way.

3. Contractor Collaboration

Your hotel works with many external contractors, including caterers, electricians, plumbers and entertainment companies.

Managing all those contacts can get confusing, especially if you provide multiple numbers for each part of your hotel. An SMS solution provides one dedicated number contractors can use to get in touch with the right people, which helps your hotel staff stay organized and prevents costly miscommunications.

4. Greetings and Farewells

A friendly welcome is essential for making a good first impression, especially with new guests. You’ll want to send several messages throughout the guest’s journey:

• Greeting: Welcome your guests to your hotel with a short, warm text that tells them how excited you are to serve them. You can send this message either before the guest arrives or after they check in.
• Farewell: The day before the guest leaves, send a quick message telling them how grateful you are to have hosted them. Remind them when checkout time is and include recommendations for what to do on their last night.
• Post-stay: After the guest departs, send a final message thanking them for their stay. Let them know you were glad to serve them and that you hope they return soon. Include a link to a guest survey to gather their feedback.

Asking guests to give a post-stay review shows you care about their input and helps your business pinpoint opportunities for improvement. And with SMS, attaching links to surveys, social media pages and review websites is easy.

5. Marketing

Because there are so many ways you can use SMS marketing for hotels, we’d need a whole second article to do the topic justice. For now, though, here are some examples you could use:

• Opt-in: Using the text-to-join number on your website, visitors can opt-in to your mailing list to receive exclusive updates, perks and offers.
• Answer questions: Allow people interested in making a reservation to ask questions over text, and use an automated chatbot to provide quick answers.
• Run contests: Conduct occasional contests and sweepstakes to encourage more potential guests to join your mailing list.

6. Concierge Services

During peak season, concierge desks can easily become overwhelmed by the number of calls they receive. And the more people wait for service, the more frustrated guests can become.

You can use an automated chatbot to answer FAQs and other simple questions. Guests with complicated requests—or anyone who asks to speak to a human—can automatically get forwarded to the live concierge.

7. Staff Communication

You can use SMS for more than communicating with guests. It’s also a great tool for quickly distributing information to members of your hotel staff, including valets, housekeeping staff, kitchen staff, security teams and more. 

Using internal SMS to manage your team can help you:

• Boost service efficiency: SMS lets managers and team leaders quickly distribute updates and reminders to their staff, which enables faster response times and improves customer service.
• Streamline attendance management: Two-way SMS communication enables employees to contact management when they need to call off or request a schedule change. Management can then text other team members to find coverage and alert them of scheduling updates, preventing no-call-no-shows. 
• Enhance the employee experience: More efficient communication keeps everyone in the loop, reducing the risk of miscommunication and improving collaboration. You can also use SMS to recognize high-performing employees for their hard work, which can boost morale and reduce employee churn.

5 Text Message Templates for Hotels

Here are some sample templates you could use to communicate with guests. Just swap out guest names, business names and times to match your requirements.

1. Friendly Welcome Message

There’s nothing like a warm welcome when you’re settling into your hotel room, and a quick SMS is an easy way to make guests feel more at home. For example, you could send an online check-in SMS notification several hours before a guest’s arrival:

• “Hello, [Name]! This is [Hotel] with a quick reminder that check-in today is from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Safe travels, and we’ll see you very soon!”

You can follow that message up with a quick greeting when the guest checks in. Here’s an example of a short but sweet welcome SMS for hotels:

• “Welcome to [Hotel]! We’re excited to have you with us. If you have any questions or special requests, please respond to this message at any time.”

Two-way texting capabilities will give guests an easy way to contact you if and when they need any assistance.

2. Checkout Reminder

Ensuring guests check out at the right time is essential for keeping business moving, which is why a checkout SMS reminder can be a valuable tool. Here’s a sample automated checkout text message for hotels:

• “We hope you’ve enjoyed your stay at [Hotel]! You can check out any time tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Please return your room key to the front desk and ensure you have all your belongings before you leave!”

You could also personalize the message by including the guest’s name:

• “Hi, [Guest Name]! Just a reminder that checkout is at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. We’d like to thank you for choosing [Hotel], and we hope you visit again soon!”

3. Room Service Order Confirmation

While room service is one of the ultimate luxuries of staying in a nice hotel, calling the front desk during peak hours and waiting to speak with the concierge can take a long time. SMS solutions change that.

Guests can quickly place a room service order via text using your dedicated number instead of spending extra time on hold. An automated SMS solution can then trigger a confirmation message once the order has reached the kitchen:

• “The kitchen has received your room service order! Now sit back and relax—your food will be ready in 20 to 30 minutes.”

Then, when the food is on its way, send a quick notification so guests know when to open their doors:

• “Your room service order is on its way to [Room Number]! We hope you enjoy your meal.”

4. Reservation Reminder

It’s easy to forget appointments and reservations when you’re traveling, and no-shows hurt your business. Prevent no-shows and late arrivals with proactive, personalized texts.

For example, you could use SMS to manage reservations at your hotel’s in-house restaurant. Shortly before their scheduled arrival, send a reminder to ensure guests remember their upcoming reservation:

• “Just a reminder that your reservation for two at [Restaurant] is scheduled for tonight at 6:30 p.m. Please respond with a Y to confirm or an N to cancel.”

You can also use SMS to manage walk-ins during peak hours. Ask guests to leave their name and phone number when they put their name on the waitlist, and send a notification when their table is ready:

• “This is [Restaurant] letting you know your table is ready! Please make your way to the host stand at the front of the restaurant to be seated.”

5. In-House Service Promotion

From luxurious day spas to thrilling casinos, hotels often provide multiple in-house experiences to generate additional revenue and enhance the guest experience.

Promotional SMS for hotels is a great way to advertise your services to new and returning guests and reward them for their patronage. For example, you could include a discount in your greeting for a loyalty club member who has used your hotel spa during past stays:

• “Welcome back, [Guest Name]! We’re so glad to see you again. We know you love a little self-care while you’re on vacation, so we’re giving you 10% off any service in our first-floor spa.”

Or, for a new guest, you could simply attach a list of all the services you offer:

• “Hi, [Guest Name]! We’re happy you’re here. Click this link to view all the services and experiences you can enjoy during your stay. Questions? Simply reply to this text for answers!”

Key Features of SMS for Hospitality

While it’s important to ensure you choose the solution that makes the most sense for your business and budget, you should be aware of certain must-have features.

Look out for the following features and capabilities when evaluating SMS solutions:

• Easy opt-in and opt-out: Consent is everything in customer communications. An SMS solution that provides a clear, easy process for opting in and out of your mailing list gives your guests a sense of agency over their preferences.
• Automation: Simple automation capabilities take the burden of repetitive, time-consuming tasks off your employees’ hands, allowing your team to focus on immediate guest concerns.
• Personalization: Customers expect businesses across virtually every industry, especially hospitality, to deliver personalized communications and services. An SMS solution should allow you to change fields such as guest name, party size and reservation date to create messages that are relevant to each guest.
• Integrations: Your SMS solution should seamlessly integrate with your hotel’s other tech tools, such as your customer relationship management (CRM) solution, your reservation software and your property management systems (PMS). These integrations enable data to flow between platforms, which makes personalized messaging possible.
• Support: Whatever SMS vendor you choose, ongoing technical support is important for getting the most out of your investment. Make sure you have a reliable way to contact your vendor’s support team any time you run into a technical issue.
• Two-way texting: Effective communication is a two-way street! Two-way texting capabilities allow guests to respond to your messages, providing a convenient channel for making customer service requests.
• Templates: Pre-built templates eliminate the need to spend time drafting each message individually, saving your team valuable time and effort when reaching out to guests.

If you want more examples of how SMS solutions can enhance the guest experience and improve your hotel’s efficiency, check out our case studies.

See How Red Oxygen’s SMS Solutions Enhance Service Delivery

With more than 20 years of experience, Red Oxygen is a leader in business SMS solutions for hospitality businesses, restaurants, entertainment companies and much more. Our solution integrates with your existing tech, so you can send personalized SMS messages from any device at any time. Plus, bulk SMS capabilities enable you to create templates in advance for easy text blasts, such as emergency alerts and maintenance updates.

Ready to see the power of SMS for hotels and hospitality in real time? Schedule your live demo today to get started!