To ensure that the whitelisting process for Oaky has been correctly applied, follow these steps to make a test booking on Booking.com. This will help confirm that the necessary pre-arrival emails and Oaky links are functioning as expected.
Step 1: Book a Room
Choose a room with a Free Cancellation policy.
Ensure the booking date is less than 7 days away.
This will allow you to receive a pre-arrival email from Oaky before the cancellation terms expire.
Step 2: Wait for the Pre-Arrival Email
Wait for the pre-arrival email from Oaky.
This email should arrive before the free cancellation period ends.
Step 3: Verify the Email
If you didn’t receive the email:
Check the Hotel’s Oaky Dashboard to ensure the booking was imported.
If the email was sent but not received, the whitelisting of the Oaky domain may have been done incorrectly.
Action: Refer back to Booking.com Whitelisting step.
If the email was received:
Check for images in the email.
If images are missing, the whitelisting of the images link may have been done incorrectly.
Action: Refer back to Booking.com Whitelisting step.
Check that the CTA Button (e.g., "Personalise your stay") is present and clickable.
If the button is not clickable, the whitelisting of the links may have been done incorrectly.
Action: Refer back to Booking.com Whitelisting step.
Check that the URL Base is present and clickable.
If the URL Base is missing or not clickable, adjustments need to be made:
Missing URL Base: Add it to the email template.
Not Clickable: Whitelisting of the links may have been done incorrectly.
Action: Refer back to Booking.com Whitelisting step.
Step 4: Cancel the Booking
Cancel the booking before the Free Cancellation period expires.
Do this as early as possible to avoid holding up a room that the hotel could sell.
Check for any further emails from Oaky after canceling the booking.
If you receive an email post-cancellation, there might be an issue with the integration between Oaky and the hotel’s Property Management System (PMS).
By following these steps, you can ensure that the whitelisting process is correctly applied and that the Oaky pre-arrival emails are functioning as expected.
Below are examples of how the Email should look like when whitelisting is correct.
Some guests prefer to receive these emails only in the Booking.com app (or receive them in both the app and email). When this happens, Booking.com strips out all images and CTAs. Therefore, it’s crucial to keep the [URL_BASE] in the email template. Below is an example of a properly whitelisted message in the Booking.com app.
How to add the [URL_BASE] tag in your pre-arrival emails? Find out the steps here.
Below are examples of whitelisting incorrectly applied.
