Last Saturday's update added several new features like being able to disable security deposits at the property and quote level. Another new feature in that update has to do with booking confirmation email.
We heard from users that it was annoying to have confirmation emails sent - to the owner, guest or a third party - every time a booking was created or time was blocked off.
Sometimes, you just want to block off time or create a quick booking without telling the whole world. You might just be doing testing. You might be creating a reservation that you've gotten through a partner but you don't want the guest or anyone else being alerted. You can now do all these things.
We've also added an area that shows you what emails were sent for a booking, when they were sent and a preview of what the email will look like for recipient.
The new time you're creating a booking in the system manually (or blocking off time), you'll notice a new set of email options.
The options do exactly what they say - whichever email option you check will be sent and the ones that aren't checked will not be sent. By default, only the owner notification email is selected. This is because the majority of the time, if you are creating a booking yourself, manually, you probably don't want the guest or a third party getting email until you've had time to make sure the charges and billing details are correct.
Once the booking is created, click on the new Email link. You'll notice several email types enumerated along with their status, a preview option and a Send button.
The preview link will open a new window (or tab, depending on the browser) that shows you the exact email the recipient will get. It's useful to check the preview after you've updated charges so you can see exactly what the guest will see.
To send the email, click the Send button. If you've already done so - or if the email was sent at the time the booking was created - the email type will show the date and time of the transmission and the Send button will change to a Send Again button.
You can send each email type over and over again, as often as you want. So if the guest tells you that they never received the booking confirmation email, just send it again. The date and time will only show the most recent transmission.
In the future, we'll be adding more email types to this area including types for payments and security deposits.