How to Ensure Your Emails Reach Your Guests

Most people don’t realize that email and disco are about the same age. That’s right. Email is almost a half century old now. The way email is created and sent was designed to be as simple as writing a letter to someone else. Unfortunately, this has also introduced email falsification concerns commonly known as spoofing. Today it’s as easy to spoof (falsify) the sender of an email as it is to write someone else’s name at the bottom of a letter.   

So, for the past couple of decades, email providers have been working on ways to prove that the person sending an email is who they claim to be. In the last few years, they have really started enforcing the rules by rejecting emails believed to be sent without the authority of the person they claim to be from. 

Here are the top 3 ways to ensure your emails are delivered to guests. 

1. Don’t use a 3rd-party email address. 

The rules for proving authorization are centered around the domain the email is sent from (the part after the @ symbol). Because of this, the email address associated with letters from your PMS must be from a domain that you own in order to ensure deliverability. Ideally, the email will come from the same domain as your website.  

• Website: www.rezhotel.com 
• Email: reservations@rezhotel.com 

To get a little technical, you will need to add some information to your domain name service provider, such as GoDaddy or  NameCheap. Without this proof in place, there is a good chance that your emails will either go to the spam folder of the intended recipient or be rejected entirely.  

2. Don’t rely on the email address provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). 

If you pay for internet access, you probably have an email address provided to you by your internet provider. It’s right there, you don’t need to set anything else up, and it’s free. So why not use it to communicate with your customers?   

Frankly that email address isn’t  yours.  You don’t own it.  At best you are leasing that address with your subscription to your internet access. And unlike a phone number, you can’t transfer it if you want to change providers.   

Even if you have no intention of ever changing your internet provider, you may still lose that email address. If your ISP changes name or merges with another company, you may be forced into a new address. It is also not uncommon for ISP’s to set up an old address on a new account, often when it is no longer in use, but sometimes while you are still using it.  

This can be a dangerous  circumstance if you have accounts such as your bank or social media information tied to that email address.  

Major Third-Party Email Providers 

While not as volatile as an address from your ISP, using an email address with @gmail.com, @outlook.com, etc. could still be problematic if the provider you are using decides they don’t want to provide that service any longer. 

Marketing and Professionalism  

Unbranded Emails Can Actually Harm How Others View Your Business  

Imagine hiring a plumber and them showing up in a white van with a piece of cardboard duct-taped to the side with just the word PLUMBER written in marker. You might have second thoughts about using their service, right? The same can be said about using an email address that doesn’t match your website. Not using an email address from your own domain conveys a message that your business is only temporary or not legitimate. Some people may even have a concern that it is not even real.  

3. Do make sure your auto-generated rezStream software emails are delivered.

Email service providers use domain authentication to ensure that your emails from your rezStream Cloud software (using SendGrid which is our bulk email delivery service) are sent on your behalf. Without this in place, that automated reservation confirmation email or post-stay thank you email may not get to your guest, or it may end up in their spam folder. 

What is domain authentication? 

Domain authentication is like an id check. It uses entries in your Domain Name Service (DNS) to verify that you own the domain name for your email and that the party (rezStream Cloud/SendGrid) sending your email on your behalf has been authorized by you. Your DNS is typically managed by either your hosting provider (i.e., GoDaddy, Rackspace, Wordpress.com) or the registrar you used when purchasing your domain name (i.e., GoDaddy, Namecheap). 

What is involved? 

1. SPF (Sender Policy Framework). This is a validation system that compares the sender's IP address against the list of IP addresses that you have published. Your SPF record for your reservation software generated emails must therefore include the IP address for rezStream's SendGrid account. 
2. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). This is a two-part authentication mechanism designed to help email providers prevent malicious email senders. 
   The recipients' email service provider will compare this digital signature against a public key stored in your DNS. You will set up a CNAME record so that SendGrid can host this public key on your behalf. This is necessary as they control the corresponding private key used for the digital signature. 
3. CNAME. A CNAME entry is an alias for a subdomain under your existing domain. You will need to add a CNAME record that directs to a subdomain on SendGrid. 

In summary, emailing may seem as straight forward as typing a message and clicking send, but there is value in having a strategy. You need to factor in important technical considerations to ensure your emails are delivered and received by your guests as intended. So, follow the three guidelines above and be as confident in your email success as you are in your disco playlist!😊

rezStream is not an email services provider. If you’re an existing customer contact support@rezstream.com to see how we can help. Otherwise, contact your email and domain provider so that they can assist you with making changes.