Reaching a guest used to mean stopping to find, or create, their profile before you could type a word. This limitation is gone.
Click the compose pencil, search for the guest (or type their email address or phone number if they are not a profile yet), and start writing. Sending creates the ticket and delivers the message together, so starting a conversation now takes about as long as it does in a personal email client.
This flow is switched on per account. If your compose pencil still opens the previous two-step process instead of a new ticket page, ask your Bookboost contact to activate it for you.
Starting a ticket
Click the compose pencil in the Inbox. A new ticket page opens, ready for you to type; there is no profile screen to get through first.
Find the guest in "To". Search by name, email address, or phone number and pick them from the results. If they have contacted you before, their entry shows which contact the message will go to and marks their primary one.
Or type their address directly. If the guest is not a profile yet, type an email address or phone number straight into To and send; the ticket is created without a separate profile step.
Check the channel and "From". Both open on whatever you used last for this kind of message. Switch between SMS and Email, and choose which property or sending address you are sending from. Both stay editable until you send the first message.
Write your message. This is the same composer you use to reply to a ticket, so attachments, GIFs, quick replies, and your signature all work exactly as they do there.
Click "Send". This creates the ticket and delivers the first message together.
After you send
Leaving the composer with a recipient and something typed saves it as a Draft, so you will find it waiting in your Drafts folder if you get pulled away. Leaving an empty composer creates nothing at all.
Once the ticket exists, it behaves like any other thread: the channel switcher is replaced by the reply and comment dropdown, and From is no longer editable.
Switching channel before you send
Channel stays editable until the first message goes out, and switching it re-targets who you are writing to. Pick a guest by email, switch to SMS, and To updates to their phone number automatically.
If the guest has no contact for the channel you switch to, the switch still goes through, To is left empty, and the guest is held, so switching back restores their contact without a new search. If you picked a guest on a channel they cannot be reached on in the first place, To shows an inline "No contact for this channel" message instead.
If an open ticket already exists
Before you send, Bookboost checks whether the recipient already has an open ticket (New, waiting for us, or waiting for guest) on the same property. What happens next depends on the channel.
Situation | SMS | |
Open ticket found | You are taken straight into the existing conversation; a Go back snackbar lets you return to where you were, and anything you had typed comes with you as a draft on that ticket. | A snackbar with a Go to ticket link appears, and the guest's profile slides into view. Send stays available if you do mean to start a second, separate conversation. |
Solved ticket found | Same as above; sending on it reopens the ticket. | Nothing happens. Following up on something already closed is friction-free. |
Archived ticket found | Nothing happens; archiving frees up the number. | Nothing happens. |
Adding a second recipient in To on email clears the notice, since duplicate detection follows the original recipient; removing the extra addresses brings it back. Switching channel away from the one that triggered the notice clears it too.
Occasionally the check can be overtaken: if someone else starts a ticket with the same guest in the moment between you opening the composer and pressing Send, you get one pause with the same notice. Press Send again to proceed.
Not supported yet
Channels beyond SMS and Email. Other channels can carry replies on an existing ticket, but cannot start one.
Multiple recipients on SMS. Additional To, Cc, and Bcc addresses are available on email only.
Property information in guest search. Search results do not yet show which property a guest belongs to.
Searching by booking number. You can only find a guest by name, email address, or phone number today.
Configuration and Setup
Ask your Bookboost contact to activate the new ticket flow for your account. Until it is turned on, starting a new ticket uses the previous two-step process instead.
Getting help
Open Talk to Us in the left menu, or email support@bookboost.io.