Text Messaging Package FAQs

Mews Guest Journey

In this article, you can find answers to the following frequently asked questions about the Text Messaging Package:  

 

General FAQs

Pricing for the add-on starts at €50/ month and is enough to send approximately 500 online check-in and After check-in SMS reminders. The exact number of messages sent for €50 can vary as the cost associated with sending an SMS depends on the country of origin of the phone number. The average SMS price in EU countries is €0.095. You can find the full country price list in Mews Operations, by going to the main menu  > Settings > Property > Guest experience > Text messaging. 

  

The Maximum monthly budget provides flexibility and allows you to top-up the €50 included in the basic package. For example, if you set your maximum monthly budget to €60, Mews only spends the extra €10 once you use up the initial €50.  

You can increase or decrease your budget at any time. 

  • An increase takes effect immediately.
  • A decrease takes effect at the start of the next billing month, provided you set it lower than your current spending. If not, the decrease takes effect immediately, too.  

 Note:  

  • If you don’t fully use up the base budget of €50 or the top-up in the current month. The add-on carries it over to the next month and does not expire. However, any unused budget is not subject to a refund.  
  • The Maximum monthly budget available is €500 which means the maximum top-up available is €450.

   

The Text Messaging Package has a 30-day cancellation period which means that once you unsubscribe you have 30 days to change your mind during which you are still charged.  If you choose to reinstate during these 30 days, you can keep using the add-on as before and retain the same ‘Sender’ number and roll over any credit left in your account.  

 

When is the SMS sent?

Mews sends the online check-in reminder at approximately 9:30am local time every morning and the After check-in message automatically when a guest checks in. For a more detailed look at timings, in Mews Operations, go to the main menu  > Queues > Text messages.

 

Why wasn't an SMS sent?

Mews only sends SMS messages to guests if they have an email address in their Customer profile. Guests cannot access the guest portal without an email address. Also, Mews does not send online check-in reminder SMS if your property’s check in is before 9:30am local time. 

 

What country code format does Mews support?

Mews supports sending SMS messages to phone numbers starting with ‘+’. Mews does not support phone numbers starting with ‘00’ and cannot send messages to them. When you attempt to send an SMS message to a ‘00’ number, Mews does not charge you for it.    

 

Can I manually re-send an SMS?

No, manual re-sending is currently not available but is in plan for the near future.  

 

Can I customize the text in the SMS?

No, customization options are not yet available in order to keep SMS length under 160 characters, as longer messages incur extra costs.  

 

I am subscribed to the Text Messaging Package, am I sending SMS now?

The add-on sends the SMS messages on the day of the guest's arrival when they are yet to complete their online check-in and once their reservation is set to ‘in house’. The add-on sends the check in reminders in batches starting the morning after you subscribe to the add-on. For the messages to start sending, you need to enter a “Short name” in your settings. This is the name guests see as the “Sender” on their phones. To look for sent messages, go to the Text message queue.  

 

The add-on sends SMS reminders only to guests who did not check in online through the Confirmation and Online check-in emails. It sends the After check-in SMS to all guests with pre-filled phone numbers once their reservation is set to ‘in house’. If you need to send more than 500 messages per month you need to increase the Maximum monthly budget in your settings.  

 

You can view the total spending in Mews Operations, by going to the main menu  > Settings > Property > Guest Experience > Text messaging. You can then click on the General tab to view how much of your available budget you still have to spend. Under Available budget, you can see:

  • Total available budget for this month. Note: The system includes any unused balance from previous months in this section.
  • Remaining available balance. Note: The system rolls over any unused balance to the next month.

  

The ‘Spent this month’ shown in the text messaging configuration page is higher than my maximum monthly budget, how is this possible?

Before sending out daily reminders, Mews checks whether there is a sufficient budget available. If there is any budget left, Mews prepares all the SMS messages for that day. As a result, it is possible that the remaining budget may be less than the total cost of the SMS messages sent on that day. However, Mews carries over any unused budget from previous months and adds it to the total balance, and uses it to cover any budget shortfalls on the current day. 

 

Yes, you can control which services receive SMS notifications. Mews automatically sends the online check-in reminder SMS for all services where you enable Online check-in emails. However, the system only sends the After check-in SMS to the services you select when configuring the add-on.

To disable SMS for a specific service:

  • Online check-in reminder: Turn off the Online check-in emails for that service.
  • After check-in: Remove the service from the add-on configuration. 

This way, SMS notifications can remain active for certain services while being disabled for others

 

What is the difference between Available budget, Sent this month and Spent this month?  

Each field describes a different feature of the add-on:

  • Available budget: This displays the total available budget for the month on the right side while showing the remaining available balance on the left. Note: The total available balance includes all unused budget from previous months and the base budget for this month. 
  • Sent this month: This displays how many SMS messages you have sent this month.
  • Spent this month: This displays the total cost for all SMS messages you have sent this month. 

 

How does the monthly budget work when using top-ups?

The add-on first uses the €50 monthly base budget, then any unused budget from previous months. It only uses any top-ups once you spend both the monthly and carried-over budgets.

 

You can find a list of all currently unsupported countries in Mews Operations, by going to the main menu  > Settings > Property > Guest Experience > Text messaging > Countries not supported. These countries either have additional requirements for guest communications, such as the US, or Mews does not currently support sending messages there, such as South Sudan.   

 

Can I send SMS to countries that have additional regulations?

Yes, Mews supports easy registration for countries with additional regulations for guest communications, such as the United States. You can find more information here.  

Registration can typically take up to 3 weeks. There are five different statuses available depending on the outcome of your review, these are: 

  • Pending
  • In review
  • Approved
  • Failed
  • Suspended  

You can find more information concerning timelines and statuses here.  

If an error occurs, such as a failed or suspended registration, Mews reviews it and updates the status accordingly. You can monitor the Text messaging screen for any updates regarding your registrations status or you can reach out to customer support for more information.  

 

No, all costs including separate brand and campaign registration fees are non-refundable. Mews requires registration fees to begin reviewing your application. Due to this, once you submit the request, the fees are already processed and therefore regardless of the outcome a return is not possible.  

 

To unregister your brand or campaign you need to reach out to customer support. If you wish to re-register again afterwards, you need to pay registration fees a second time. You can also simply remove a country from your sending list by excluding it in the Text messaging screen. 

 

Brand and campaign registration are both required and need approval before you can begin sending SMS messages to guests from certain countries. However, Mews handles the campaign registration in the background and to simplify the process Mews only requires you fill out a single form.  

 

You can learn more about Mews integrations here. 

 

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