You probably already send some kind of reminder. The question is whether anyone reads it. A carefully written email that lands in a promotions tab three days after the guest last checked it does about as much as no reminder at all. A text message sent at the right moment, with the address and a cancellation link, can be the difference between a full room and an empty one.
This guide is about the practical side: which channel suits which message, when to send, what a good reminder contains, what happens when a message doesn’t get through, and the consent basics that keep your reminders from turning into a complaint.
What each channel is good for
There is no single best channel. Each one has a job it does well, and the strongest setups combine them rather than picking one.
Email: the full picture
Email is where the details belong. It has room for the date and time, the address with a map link, parking tips, what’s included, the waiver link and your cancellation terms. Guests can search for it later and forward it to the rest of the group. The downside: inboxes are crowded, and an email is easy to miss on the day itself.
SMS: short and hard to miss
A text message is read on the lock screen, often within minutes. That makes it ideal for the short final nudge – “See you at 18:30, here’s the address” – but a poor fit for long explanations. Keep it to a couple of lines and one link. SMS also works for guests who don’t use messaging apps.
WhatsApp: where many guests already chat
For many guests, WhatsApp is the app they check most. Messages there feel personal and are easy to reply to, which is useful when someone wants to ask about parking or bring an extra player. It does come with its own rules: WhatsApp expects businesses to have the guest’s agreement before messaging them there, and business messages typically use pre-approved templates. Treat it as an addition for guests who want it, not the only channel.
Timing: when to send what
Good timing matters more than the number of messages. The following is a suggestion to start from, not a rule – adjust it to how far ahead your guests usually book and when your free cancellation window closes.
- Right after booking: the confirmation by email, with everything the guest needs and the cancellation link.
- A few days before (for bookings made far in advance): a reminder sent while free cancellation is still possible. If a birthday group has to cancel, you want to hear it while you can still resell the slot.
- 24 hours before: directions, what to bring and the waiver link. Email works well here, optionally with a short SMS or WhatsApp pointer to it.
- 2 hours before: a short “see you soon” by SMS or WhatsApp. This is the one that catches guests who simply forgot.
Watch out for odd hours. A 2-hour reminder for a 10:00 slot goes out at 8:00, which is fine. For a 9:00 opening slot it would arrive at 7:00 on a Sunday morning – not everyone’s favourite wake-up call. For very early slots, consider sending the last reminder the evening before instead.
What a good reminder contains
A reminder should answer the questions guests would otherwise phone you about. A simple checklist:
- Date, time and activity: “Saturday, 18:30, The Lost Lab” – not just “your booking”.
- Address and how to get there: a map link, the entrance if it’s hard to find, parking or public transport.
- When to arrive: say clearly if guests should be there ten minutes early for the briefing.
- What to bring: comfortable shoes, grip socks, ID for age checks – whatever applies to your venue.
- The waiver link: if guests sign a digital waiver, send the link ahead so check-in takes seconds instead of minutes. Ask the organiser to forward it to the group.
- The cancellation link: with a plain sentence about your fee and refund rules.
- How to reach you: a phone number for the day itself.
Write it the way you’d say it at the front desk. Short sentences, your venue’s name as the sender, no marketing slogans. A reminder that looks like an advert gets treated like one.
A VR arena next to a train station and an escape room in an old town with no parking need different directions. A trampoline park needs “bring grip socks”, a karting track needs “closed shoes”. Set up reminders per room or location so every guest gets the details that actually apply to them.
When a channel fails: plan the fallback
Messages fail more often than you’d think. An email address has a typo, a phone number is missing a digit, a guest doesn’t use WhatsApp. If your reminder silently fails, you won’t know until the slot stays empty.
- Try the next channel: if the first channel doesn’t get through, send the same reminder by another one – for example email first, then SMS, then WhatsApp.
- Check for a reaction: for larger bookings, it can make sense to check whether the reminder was opened and, if not, let a team member know so they can call.
- Collect good contact data: ask for a mobile number in the booking form and validate the format. The best fallback is a correct number in the first place.
Consent and GDPR: the basics
This section is a general overview, not legal advice. Rules differ in detail between Austria, Germany and Switzerland, so check your setup with your data protection advisor or lawyer.
The key distinction is between transactional and marketing messages. A confirmation or reminder about a booking the guest made is part of delivering what they paid for. Newsletters, discount codes for the next visit or review requests with an offer attached are marketing, and for those you generally need the guest’s explicit opt-in – in Germany typically confirmed by double opt-in.
- Keep the two apart. Don’t slip a promotion into a reminder: it blurs the line and erodes trust.
- Ask for marketing consent separately, with an unticked checkbox, and store when and how it was given.
- Only collect what you need. A mobile number for reminders is reasonable; say in your privacy policy what you use it for.
- For WhatsApp, make sure guests have agreed to hear from you there, and respect it when someone asks you to stop.
Don’t become spam
Even transactional messages can feel like spam if there are too many of them. Three or four messages around a single visit is plenty. Use a recognisable sender name, avoid link shorteners that look suspicious, keep SMS free of all-caps words and rows of exclamation marks, and don’t send anything in the middle of the night. If guests start replying “stop”, your sequence is too long.
Set it up once
Once the channels, timing and content are decided, none of this should be manual. In Leisbase, automations handle the sequence: wait until a set number of hours before the booking, send by email, SMS or WhatsApp – or send with a fallback across channels – branch with if/else, notify the team when a guest doesn’t react, and, for guests who have agreed to marketing, create a promo code for the next visit. Timing and channel can be set per room or location, and the waiver and cancellation links fit straight into the messages. For the bigger picture on deposits and cancellations, read our no-show playbook.
