How do I send follow-up and reminder emails for bookings?
WP Booking System can automatically send reminder emails before a booking starts and follow-up emails after it ends.
For example, you can send arrival instructions three days before check-in, a checkout reminder before departure, and a thank-you or review request after the booking.
These emails are configured from the Email Notifications section of your booking form and are scheduled automatically based on the booking’s start or end date.
How do I create a booking reminder?
Go to:
WP Booking System → Forms
Open the booking form and select Email Notifications.
Click Add New Email Notification and configure the customer as the recipient by selecting:
Send To → Dynamic Email
Then select the Email field from your booking form.
For When to Send, choose:
Before the booking starts
The Day Offset determines how many days before the booking the email should be sent.
For example:
Day Offset → 3
sends the reminder three days before the booking starts.
What should I include in a pre-arrival reminder?
The content depends on what you rent, but useful information for accommodation bookings can include:
- booking dates;
- property address;
- check-in time;
- directions;
- parking information;
- key collection or access instructions;
- contact information;
- important house rules;
- anything the guest should bring or prepare.
You can use Dynamic Tags to automatically insert information from the booking into the email.
This allows one notification to work for every customer without manually editing the message.
Can I send more than one reminder?
Yes.
You can create as many Email Notifications as you need.
For example, an accommodation business could create:
Seven days before arrival
A general reminder containing:
- booking dates;
- address;
- travel information;
- important policies.
One day before arrival
A shorter email containing:
- check-in time;
- access instructions;
- key collection details;
- contact information.
Each reminder is created as a separate Email Notification with its own Day Offset.
Can I send an email after the booking starts?
Yes.
Select:
When to Send → After the booking starts
and set the required Day Offset.
This can be useful for longer stays or rentals where you want to contact the customer after arrival.
For example, you could send a message one day after check-in asking whether everything is satisfactory and reminding the customer how to contact you if they need assistance.
Can I send a checkout reminder?
Yes.
Create an Email Notification and select:
When to Send → Before the booking ends
Then choose the Day Offset.
For example, an email sent one day before the booking ends could contain:
- checkout time;
- key return instructions;
- cleaning instructions;
- where to leave rented equipment;
- outstanding information the customer needs to provide.
This can reduce checkout-related questions and make the departure process clearer.
How do I send a follow-up email after a booking?
Create another Email Notification and select:
When to Send → After the booking ends
Then choose how many days after the booking the message should be sent.
For example:
Day Offset → 1
sends the email one day after the booking ends.
A follow-up email could:
- thank the customer;
- ask whether everything went well;
- request feedback;
- ask for a review;
- provide a returning-customer offer;
- invite the customer to make another booking.
Can I send more than one follow-up email?
Yes.
Because WP Booking System allows multiple Email Notifications, you can create different post-booking messages.
For example:
One day after departure
Send a short thank-you email and ask whether everything went well.
Three days after departure
Send a review request.
In most cases, keeping the number of follow-up emails limited is better than sending customers several similar messages.
Scheduled emails are only sent for Accepted bookings
This is important.
Scheduled emails are only sent if the booking is in the Accepted tab.
This applies to emails scheduled:
- before the booking starts;
- after the booking starts;
- before the booking ends;
- after the booking ends.
If a booking remains Pending, its scheduled reminders and follow-ups will not be sent.
For businesses that manually approve bookings, make sure the booking is Accepted before relying on scheduled emails.
What happens if I accept the booking after a reminder should have been sent?
Scheduled emails are based on the booking dates and the configured Day Offset.
For this reason, bookings should normally be accepted before the scheduled notification date is reached.
You can see scheduled emails from the Booking Details tab inside the Booking Modal.
This is useful for checking which messages are currently scheduled for a particular booking.
What time are reminder and follow-up emails sent?
Scheduled emails are sent at the Delivery Hour configured in:
WP Booking System → Settings → Email
For example, if Delivery Hour is set to 09:00, your scheduled reminders will be processed around that configured hour.
The same Delivery Hour applies to scheduled notifications such as pre-arrival reminders and post-booking follow-ups.
Can I send a final payment reminder?
Yes, if you use Part Payments.
When the Final Payment Method is set to Same as initial payment, WP Booking System generates a Final Payment Link for the remaining balance.
You can include this link in an Email Notification using the:
{Final Payment Link}
Dynamic Tag.
WP Booking System also includes a Customer Final Payment Reminder email template that can be used as a starting point.
Example final payment reminder
You could create an email with:
When to Send → Before the booking starts
Day Offset → 7
and include the Final Payment Link.
The customer would then receive an email seven days before arrival with a link to pay the remaining balance.
The timing is based on the booking date and Day Offset, rather than on a separate configurable payment due date.
What happens after the final payment is made?
WP Booking System also provides an email trigger for:
When the final payment is made
You can use this to send a separate message confirming that the remaining balance has been received.
For example:
“Thank you. We have received the final payment for your booking.”
This is different from the reminder itself.
The reminder asks the customer to make the payment, while the final-payment notification can confirm that the payment was successfully completed.
Can I send different reminders for different bookings?
Yes.
Email Notifications support Conditional Logic.
You can use it to send an email only when certain booking conditions are met.
For example, you could create different arrival instructions depending on:
- the selected accommodation;
- the booking calendar;
- options selected in the form;
- the payment method;
- other form field values.
This allows you to automate different messages without creating completely separate booking processes.
Can I include booking details automatically?
Yes.
Email Notifications support Dynamic Tags, which can insert booking and form information automatically.
You can use Dynamic Tags for information such as:
- customer details;
- booking dates;
- form field values;
- booking information;
- pricing information;
- payment information.
Using Dynamic Tags reduces the amount of information you need to duplicate manually in each notification.
Can I attach the booking to the customer’s calendar?
Yes.
Enable the iCalendar Attachment option in the Email Notification.
WP Booking System will attach an .ics calendar event containing the booking dates.
Customers can then add the booking to compatible calendar applications.
For pre-arrival reminders, however, you may not need to attach the calendar event repeatedly if it was already included in the original booking confirmation.
How can I check whether a reminder is scheduled?
Open the booking in the WordPress dashboard and view the Booking Details tab.
WP Booking System displays emails that are scheduled to be sent for that booking.
This is useful when troubleshooting a reminder that a customer expects to receive.
Remember that scheduled emails will only be sent while the booking is Accepted.
How can I check whether an email was sent?
Enable Email Logging under:
WP Booking System → Settings → Email
After an email has been sent, open the booking and check the Email Logs tab.
If the email appears in Email Logs, WordPress successfully passed it to its mail system.
This does not necessarily guarantee that the recipient’s email provider delivered it to their inbox, but it helps distinguish a WP Booking System scheduling problem from an email delivery problem.
What if scheduled emails are not being sent?
First check the booking itself.
Make sure:
- the booking is Accepted;
- the notification is enabled;
- the customer email field is configured correctly;
- the correct When to Send option is selected;
- the Day Offset is correct;
- the notification has a Subject and Message.
Also check the Booking Details tab to see whether the email is scheduled.
Check the Delivery Hour
Go to:
WP Booking System → Settings → Email
and verify the configured Delivery Hour.
Remember that scheduled emails are not necessarily sent at the exact time the booking was originally created.
Regenerate scheduled email jobs
WP Booking System also includes a tool for regenerating Email Notification scheduled jobs.
Go to:
WP Booking System → Settings → Tools
and use Regenerate Email Notification Cron Jobs if scheduled emails need to be rebuilt.
This removes the existing scheduled email jobs and regenerates them based on your bookings and notification settings.
What if the email was sent but the customer did not receive it?
If the email appears in Email Logs, WP Booking System successfully handed the email to WordPress for sending.
Delivery can still fail because of:
- server email configuration;
- spam filtering;
- sender authentication;
- the From Email address;
- the recipient’s mail provider.
For better deliverability, use a From Email address from the same domain as your website.
For example:
bookings@example.com
is preferable to using a Gmail or Yahoo address as the From Email for a website hosted on example.com.
For more reliable delivery, you can also configure WordPress to send emails through SMTP or a transactional email service.
A simple reminder workflow
You do not need to create many notifications.
For a holiday rental, a practical setup could be:
Three days before the booking
When to Send: Before the booking starts
Day Offset: 3
Send arrival instructions, address and contact information.
One day before the booking ends
When to Send: Before the booking ends
Day Offset: 1
Send checkout instructions.
One day after the booking ends
When to Send: After the booking ends
Day Offset: 1
Send a thank-you message and request feedback.
If Part Payments are enabled, you can add a separate pre-arrival Final Payment Reminder containing the {Final Payment Link}.
Summary
WP Booking System can automate communication throughout the entire booking period.
Use scheduled Email Notifications to send messages:
- before the booking starts;
- after the booking starts;
- before the booking ends;
- after the booking ends.
Choose the timing with the Day Offset setting and control the sending time globally with Delivery Hour.
If you use Part Payments, you can also include the {Final Payment Link} in a scheduled reminder before arrival.
Most importantly, remember that scheduled reminder and follow-up emails are only sent for Accepted bookings.
