What Are Reservation Touchpoints?
Under the Automation Journey, you can set scheduled actions to go out after specific events are triggered from your property management system (PMS). Note that not all systems notify Akia of these events and the message might not send as expected.
![Notion image](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F65fa4772-58a1-4541-bc50-320b7650bdf7%2FScreenshot_2023-05-18_at_2.24.06_PM.png?table=block&id=b7dd94c8-d4e9-40df-87d7-069ede53d4ab&cache=v2)
Depending on your PMS, some of these touchpoints may not be available or they might not work as expected. Please reach out to us via the Support Chat or at help@akia.com if you would like confirmation if your PMS supports the above triggers.
How Do I Create a Reservation Touchpoint?
Setting up a reservation touchpoint is very similar to creating a regular time-dependent scheduled action.
Akia Tip: After you have created a reservation touchpoint, regardless of when in the day you created it, the message will begin sending the following day.
- Click on your profile photo and go to Automation
![The](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F41f1b195-f108-4c8d-b486-f955b3a9c622%2FScreenshot_2023-05-18_at_2.29.37_PM.png?table=block&id=c516e346-7e99-4b35-977f-140768180995&cache=v2)
- Click + Add Touchpoint and select which reservation touchpoint you want to use
- In the sidebar that appears, you are able to customize the name, if you want the message sending to be delayed, and any action variants.
- Because these messages are triggered on the specific reservation action, you cannot specify a set time for when the message will send.
- Click on the “No Preview” message under the Action Variants section to write your message.
![You need to add a name for the touchpoint before you can continue specifying the action.](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F9e0e5a61-bd19-4ce8-a821-5b735351984f%2FScreen_Shot_2022-08-05_at_2.04.14_PM.png?table=block&id=2a1ba9a2-8a53-4f09-810b-accc084a69ac&cache=v2)
- Scroll down and write your message in the default Text Message field and hit Ok to save
- If you don’t want to send a text message to the guest and want to perform another action, click on the Actions dropdown to select an alternative. For more information, refer to our actions page here.
![You are also able to customize the specific action you want to perform for the reservation touchpoint if applicable.](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F1512616f-cf3d-46c1-8ce2-d69aa0e18eb1%2FScreen_Shot_2022-08-03_at_5.33.38_PM.png?table=block&id=02445bf7-3224-4d53-a5eb-b2878354096f&cache=v2)
- You will be taken back to the Event: ___ sidebar and can now see your message preview under the Action Variants section
- Click Start to save the scheduled message and have it begin sending to tomorrow’s guests
![The](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2Fc8d97e97-ddb0-4a64-b15d-165d096de3b6%2FScreen_Shot_2022-08-03_at_5.37.46_PM.png?table=block&id=99ad0d33-59a3-45d7-b1f8-6bf3c9fc0174&cache=v2)
Akia Tip: Scheduled actions are automatically paused when they are created, so clicking Start is the only way to unpause the message and have it begin sending. Clicking Ok will only save your changes, it will not unpause the message.
Use Cases
- 🗓 Acknowledge a Reservation Date Change: Reassure your guest you received their date change.
- Select Event: Reservation Date Changed and add the message tokens {{customer.check_in_at}} and {{customer.checkout_at}} to your message and reassure the guest you’ve received the correct dates.
- 🛏 Notify a Guest Their Room Is Ready: Right after you mark a guest’s room as “ready,” send the welcome message to the guest.
- Select Event: Room Ready and let the guest know they can enter - optionally you can send the door code to the guest at this time.
- 🔔 Get Notified of a new Booking: Make sure Akia is getting all of the reservations from your PMS by having it automatically email you when a new booking is created in Akia.
- Select Event: Booking and under Action Variants, specify the Action as Send an email to a list of email addresses and customize the email template to include the guest’s information with Message Tokens.