Hotel Pre-Arrival Messaging and Upsells: A Workflow That Guests Welcome

Hotel pre-arrival messaging works best as a short, automated sequence: a booking confirmation, a practical message a few days before arrival with online check-in and an arrival-time form, then one optional offer for extras. Software sends the messages and logs the answers. Staff approve templates and offers, and deal personally with any request involving safety, accessibility or allergies.

Most properties already send something before arrival, often one long email mixing directions, house rules, a breakfast offer and a request for passport details. This guide sets out the workflow stage by stage, who checks each part, and which messaging and pricing rules apply before you add upsells.

AI Automation for Hotels & B&Bs, Explained Step by Step | MakeItFlow · 3:24 Subscribe

Why pre-arrival communication breaks down

• Channels behave differently. Bookings from online travel agencies (OTAs) often arrive with a relay address and the platform's own messaging rules, so one template rarely suits every guest.
• Answers get lost. A guest replies "arriving around 11pm, travelling with a dog", and the reply sits in an inbox instead of the reservation notes.
• Service and sales get mixed. An upgrade offer dropped into the confirmation can change the legal status of the whole message in some countries.
• Prices drift. An add-on priced differently in an email and on the booking engine causes disputes, and in some places breaks pricing law.

Our page on automation for hotels and B&Bs covers the wider picture; here we focus on the days between booking and arrival.

The hotel pre-arrival messaging workflow, step by step

Each stage has a trigger, an action and a reviewer. Timings are examples; set them around your own booking window.

1. Booking confirmation (trigger: reservation created)

The property management system (PMS) or booking engine sends a confirmation as soon as the reservation exists. Keep it purely transactional: dates, room type, total price paid or due, cancellation terms, address and how to contact you. Leave out offers.

Who reviews: the manager approves the template once, and again whenever terms or prices change.

2. Practical pre-arrival message (trigger: a set number of days before arrival)

The guest receives directions, parking, check-in times and a link to a short form, through the channel the booking allows. A QR code on the welcome card or arrival sign can link to the same arrival page. Our free QR code generator makes one, but never encode a door code in it.

Who reviews: front office checks the wording each season. Run it through the readability checker so a tired traveller can scan it on a phone.

3. Online check-in and arrival details (trigger: guest opens the form)

The form collects arrival time, the number of guests, special requests and anything local rules require. Spain, for example, requires lodging businesses to keep a register of traveller data under Royal Decree 933/2021. Collect only what the law and the stay genuinely need, and never ask for card numbers in a form or email.

Who reviews: answers go to the reservation where the PMS allows it, or onto reception's arrival list.

4. Request routing (trigger: form submitted or message received)

Routine requests (a cot, a late arrival, a parking space) become tasks for housekeeping or reception. Anything that mentions accessibility, allergies, medical needs, safety or a complaint is flagged for a person straight away and is never answered automatically.

Who reviews: the duty manager confirms flagged requests directly with the guest.

5. Optional offer (trigger: separate, a day or two after stage 2)

If you offer extras such as breakfast, early check-in, late check-out, parking or a room upgrade, send them as their own clearly labelled message, to guests whose consent status allows it. Show the full price of each extra, require an active choice, and update the booking total the moment one is added.

Who reviews: the manager approves which extras are offered, their prices and the wording.

6. Day-before reminder (trigger: no form response 24 hours before arrival)

One gentle reminder, transactional only, asking for an arrival time. Then the sequence stops.

Who does what: a summary table

Service messages and marketing: the rules differ by country

Not every message to a booked guest is "transactional". Whether it counts as marketing depends on its content, and countries draw the line differently.

• United Kingdom. The ICO says service messages are those that are "not promotional but are for administrative or customer services purposes". It is strict about mixed messages: if a service message has direct marketing elements, even when that is not its main purpose, it counts as direct marketing.
• United States. Under CAN-SPAM, the FTC looks at a message's primary purpose. A message that mixes transactional and promotional content can be treated as commercial if the subject line suggests an advertisement or the transactional part does not come first. Text messages fall under the separate Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Its consent rules for marketing texts are stricter and often litigated, so take advice before sending promotional SMS.
• Canada. CASL exempts a message from the consent requirement only if it solely facilitates, completes or confirms a transaction the person already agreed to.
• Australia. Under the Spam Act, whether a message is commercial depends on its content, presentation and links. The regulator has taken action over messages that businesses described as factual because their links led to promotions.

The safe design works everywhere: keep confirmations, practical messages and reminders free of offers, and send upsells separately to guests whose consent allows marketing. Check the rules where you operate, and each OTA's terms for its messaging tools.

Pricing transparency for upsells and extras

The details vary, but major markets agree on the direction: no hidden mandatory fees, and no extras added without a clear choice.

• United States. The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees covers short-term lodging. Its business FAQ says the total price must be shown more prominently than other pricing information. Optional extras do not have to be included in the total, but once a guest selects a feature that raises the rate, the total must be updated. Taxes can be shown separately, but before payment. Some states add their own rules.
• United Kingdom. The DMCC Act's drip pricing rules require mandatory charges in the headline price. See the CMA's price transparency guidance and our guide to hotel direct booking websites. Separately, the Consumer Contracts Regulations require express consent for any extra payment, so a pre-ticked box is not consent.
• European Union. Article 22 of the Consumer Rights Directive requires the guest's express consent to any extra payment. If consent was inferred from default options the guest had to reject, the guest can get the payment back.
• Canada. The Competition Bureau says drip pricing is false or misleading under the Competition Act unless the extra fixed charges are imposed by government, such as sales tax.
• Australia. If a business shows part of a price, the Australian Consumer Law requires the total price as a single figure, shown at least as prominently.

In practice: show the full price of each extra, make each one a deliberate opt-in, confirm the new total in writing, and read prices from the same source as your booking engine so an email never quotes a different price.

What stays human

• Pricing and offers. Which extras exist, what they cost and when they are discounted is a revenue decision for the owner or manager.
• Accessibility, allergy and safety requests. Staff confirm these directly with the guest.
• Complaints, refunds and compensation.
• Upgrade decisions. Whether a guest gets the better room depends on the full house picture, loyalty and judgement, not just availability.
• Payment issues. Card disputes and suspected fraud stay with the manager. Card data stays with PCI DSS compliant, tokenised providers, never in notes, emails or AI tools.

Data protection checks before you switch it on

Guest details are personal data under GDPR in the UK and EU, state laws such as California's CCPA, PIPEDA in Canada and Australia's Privacy Act. The basics:

1. Purpose and basis. Servicing the booking covers transactional messages; marketing needs its own basis.
2. Processor agreements. Sign data processing terms with your messaging, form and email tools.
3. Minimisation. Ask only for what the stay and local registration rules need. Do not collect passport scans "just in case".
4. Retention. Set how long check-in answers and ID data are kept, in line with any registration law that sets a minimum or maximum.
5. Deliverability and trust. Guests must trust that a check-in link really came from you. Test your domain with the email deliverability checker, and see our guide to why emails go to spam.

How to start small and measure

Start with stages 1, 2 and 6 only: a clean confirmation, a practical pre-arrival message with an arrival-time form, and one reminder. After a few weeks, ask reception whether arrivals feel better prepared.

Then add request routing, and only after that the optional offer. To see which offers guests actually use, tag the links in offer messages with the UTM builder so bookings of extras show up separately in your analytics. Keep the images in those emails light with the image compressor, since guests often open them on mobile data.

Judge success qualitatively: fewer surprises at check-in and no complaints about unexpected charges. Make It Flow maps how a booking moves through your PMS, channel manager and inboxes before suggesting anything, and builds each stage with clear human checkpoints. If you would like help planning it, talk to us.

FAQ

How many days before arrival should a hotel send a pre-arrival email?

There is no single rule. Many properties send a practical message a few days before arrival, which gives guests time to reply and staff time to prepare requests, followed by one reminder the day before if there is no response. Bookings made at the last minute should skip straight to a short, combined message. Base the timing on your typical booking window and check-in process.

Can I include an upsell in the booking confirmation?

It is safer not to. In the UK, the ICO treats a service message with direct marketing elements as marketing, and in Canada the CASL exemption covers messages that solely relate to the transaction. Under US CAN-SPAM, mixed messages can become commercial depending on the subject line and layout. Keep confirmations transactional and send offers separately to guests whose consent allows it.

Do upsell prices have to include taxes and fees?

It depends on where you operate. In the UK, mandatory charges must be in the headline price. In Australia, a single total figure is required. Under the US FTC fees rule, taxes can be disclosed separately before payment, but the total must update when a guest adds an extra. Show the full price of each extra clearly and check the rules where you operate.

Is it legal to pre-select extras like breakfast in a pre-arrival offer?

In the EU and UK, extra payments need the guest's express consent, so a pre-ticked box does not count, and a guest charged that way can claim the money back. The US FTC treats an add-on as optional when the guest must actively choose it. In practice, make every extra an unticked choice and confirm the new total in writing.

Can OTA guests receive pre-arrival messages?

Usually yes, but through the channel the OTA allows. Many OTAs give properties a messaging tool or relay email address and set rules on what those messages may contain, especially anything promotional. Use the OTA's own tools for practical information, read its partner terms before sending offers, and do not copy relay addresses into a marketing list.

What information should online check-in collect?

Collect arrival time, guest numbers, special requests and whatever your local guest registration rules require, such as identity details in some countries. Avoid collecting anything you do not need, never request card numbers through a form or email, and set a retention period. Requests about accessibility, allergies or medical needs should be confirmed by a member of staff.