Guest messages sent through Booking.com do not arrive as chat messages. Booking.com sends your property an email notification, wrapped in layout markup, tracking links, and boilerplate. The Booking.com email parser reads that notification and turns it into a readable guest message in your Unified Inbox, so your team works a conversation instead of an email.
Raw email, parsed message, and domains
Raw email. The original notification, exactly as Booking.com sent it. Bookboost keeps it on the conversation and your team can open it at any time. It is the fallback whenever something in the parsed message looks wrong or missing.
Parsed message. The guest's actual words, extracted from that notification and posted into the conversation thread like any other guest message. This is what your team reads and replies to.
Parser domain. The sending domain the parser watches. Booking.com does not send from one address forever. Notifications currently arrive from mchat.booking.com, guest.booking.com, and property.booking.com. Your parser configuration holds the list of domains it acts on, and only mchat.booking.com is filled in by default.
Two things follow from that, and together they are the most common cause of a parser that looks broken:
New domains are not added for you. When Booking.com starts sending from an address that is not on your list, someone has to add it. Nothing propagates automatically.
A notification from an unlisted domain is not parsed. It arrives in the Unified Inbox as an ordinary email instead, which is why the symptom usually reads as "the parser stopped working" rather than "a domain is missing".
The configuration is held per organisation, not per property, so adding a domain once covers every property in that organisation.
How it works
A guest sends a message through Booking.com. Booking.com emails a notification to the address configured on your property.
That notification reaches your Bookboost inbox address. See Setting up Booking.com to send guest messages to Bookboost for how to point it there.
If the sending domain is on your parser's list, the parser extracts the guest's message and posts it into the conversation.
Both versions stay on the conversation: the parsed message your team reads, and the raw email behind it.
Replies your team sends from Bookboost go back to the guest through the same Booking.com thread.
Booking.com conversations are also matched to the right guest profile automatically. See Automatically link Booking.com and Expedia messages to guest profiles.
What you see in the Unified Inbox
The guest's message as a normal message in the conversation thread, not a block of email markup.
Booking.com identified as the source of the message.
Booking.com's action buttons rendered inside the message, for example Accept, Decline, Add breakfast, or Waive fee, so your team can act on a request without leaving the conversation.
An option to open the original email behind the parsed message.
Setting up the parser
There are two halves, and both are required.
On Booking.com. Your property has to whitelist the Bookboost domains, point guest message notifications at your Bookboost inbox address, and add a topic with the contact field. Full steps are in Setting up Booking.com to send guest messages to Bookboost.
In Bookboost. Once notifications are arriving, configure the parser:
Open Inbox Settings using the settings icon in the Unified Inbox, then select Parsers.
Select Create.
Select Booking.com as the parser type. It is currently the only type available.
Check the domain list. Only
mchat.booking.comis there by default, so add any other Booking.com sending domain that is missing.
Leave the parser set to on. It is enabled by default.
Select Save.
Because the configuration sits at organisation level, one update covers every property in that organisation. You can disable the parser later without deleting it, or delete the configuration entirely.
What this does not do
Images inside a Booking.com notification are not shown in the parsed message. If a guest's message includes an image, open the raw email to see it.
Not every message parses. Booking.com changes its email templates, and a template the parser does not recognise produces an incomplete message. The raw email is always there, and these cases should be reported to Bookboost so the parser can be updated.
It does not add new sending domains for you. The domain list is yours to maintain.
Booking.com is the only OTA with a parser. Expedia connects to Bookboost through a direct integration instead, described in Set up the direct Expedia integration. No other OTA is supported.
When a message does not parse
Messages arrive as ordinary emails after the parser was working fine. Booking.com has almost certainly started sending from a domain that is not on your list. Check the domain list in your parser configuration first. This is the single most common cause.
The conversation is empty and shows no guest name. Either the sending domain is missing from your configuration, or the notification is in a language the parser does not yet handle. Open the raw email to read and answer the message, then contact support with a link to the conversation.
Part of the message is missing. Booking.com has changed a template the parser does not yet recognise. Open the raw email for the full content and report it, so the parser can be updated for everyone.
Common questions
Booking.com started sending from a new address. Do I need to do anything?
Yes. Add the new domain to your parser configuration in Inbox Settings > Parsers. New domains are never added automatically, and until one is added, notifications from it arrive as ordinary emails.
Do I have to do that for every property?
No. The parser configuration is held per organisation, so adding a domain once applies to every property under it.
Do I lose the original email?
No. The raw email stays on the conversation and can be opened at any time. It is the reference whenever the parsed message looks incomplete.
Can I switch the parser off?
Yes. Toggle it off in Inbox Settings > Parsers. Booking.com notifications then arrive as ordinary emails in the Unified Inbox, and you can switch it back on without reconfiguring anything.
Do Booking.com messages link to the guest profile automatically?
Yes, provided the guest's details are present in the parsed message. See Automatically link Booking.com and Expedia messages to guest profiles.
Is there a parser for Expedia, Agoda, or Airbnb?
No. Expedia has its own direct integration, covered in Set up the direct Expedia integration. There is no parser for any other OTA.
What to do next
If notifications are not reaching Bookboost at all, the parser is not the problem. Start with Setting up Booking.com to send guest messages to Bookboost.
Getting help
Open Help at the bottom of the left menu and choose Talk to Us, or email support@bookboost.io. Include a link to an affected conversation in the Unified Inbox, so support can look at the raw email behind it.