We’re excited to announce an improvement in how guest email addresses are managed within Oaky’s system. This change ensures better handling of email updates for reservations, which has been a highly requested feature by many of our customers. Below, we provide details about the update and answer some common questions about how it works.
What’s Changing? Starting 18 December 2024, Oaky will implement the following updates:
The system will now store the most up-to-date email address provided for a reservation.
What Does This Mean for Pre-Arrival Emails?
Oaky tracks which reservations have already been emailed, but not the specific email addresses.
If a guest’s email address is updated before arrival, the pre-arrival emails will be sent to the updated email address.
Exception: If the original email address was blocked and updated to a valid one, the system will send a pre-arrival email to the new address.
Here are some examples to clarify how the updated system will handle email changes:
Example 1: If a guest’s email address is updated before any pre-arrival emails are sent, the system will send all scheduled pre-arrival emails to the updated address.
For instance, if the email changes from johndoe@oaky.com to janedoe@oaky.com before any emails are sent, both Pre-Arrival 1 and Pre-Arrival 2 will go to janedoe@oaky.com.
Example 2: If a guest’s email address is updated after Pre-Arrival 1 has already been sent, the system will send Pre-Arrival 2 to the updated address.
For instance, if Pre-Arrival 1 was sent to johndoe@oaky.com then the email is updated to janedoe@oaky.com, Pre-Arrival 2 will be sent to janedoe@oaky.com.
Example 3: If no email address is provided initially (e.g., group bookings), and an email is added later, the system will send pre-arrival emails to the added new email address.
For instance, if a reservation originally had no email and janedoe@oaky.com is added later, the system will send all pre-arrival emails to janedoe@oaky.com, provided they are scheduled to go out after the update.
Example 4: If the hotel removes an email address in their PMS (e.g., due to wrong email address attached or booker's email), Oaky will still retain the previously imported email address.
For instance, if a guest was initially imported with johndoe@oaky.com and the later updates the reservation without an email address in PMS (remove email from reservation), Oaky will not overwrite the existing email. Pre-arrival emails will still be sent to johndoe@oaky.com.
If Oaky receive an empty data field, we don’t overwrite or remove the existing email address (value) in that field on our end.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Will pre-arrival emails be sent to updated email addresses if the changes happen before the emails are sent?
A: Yes. Pre-arrival emails will be sent to the email address that is stored at the time of sending.
Q: If the email address changes after Pre-Arrival 1 has been sent, will Pre-Arrival 2 go to the updated email address?
A: Yes. Pre-Arrival 2 will be sent to the updated email address.
Q: What happens if the reservation was initially imported without an email address and an email is added later?
A: If no email address was initially provided (e.g., for group bookings), our system will detect that the reservation hasn’t received any pre-arrival emails yet. Once an email address is added, the system will send pre-arrival emails as scheduled.
Q: What about reservations with blocked email addresses?
A: If a blocked email address is updated to a valid one, the system will automatically send the pre-arrival email to the new address.