Before you can send text messages through Hello Hotel, you need to register your business for 10DLC compliance. This is a US carrier requirement — not a Hello Hotel requirement — and it applies to all businesses sending SMS from a standard 10-digit phone number.
The registration process is built into Hello Hotel and takes about 10 minutes. There’s no cost to you — 10DLC registration fees are included in your Hello Hotel subscription.
10DLC stands for “10-Digit Long Code” — it’s the industry framework that US mobile carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) use to verify that businesses sending text messages are legitimate. Think of it as proving your business identity to the phone carriers so your messages get delivered reliably and aren’t flagged as spam.
Without 10DLC registration, your messages may be blocked or filtered by carriers, and delivery rates will be significantly lower.
Registration has two parts: brand registration and campaign registration.
Your brand registration tells carriers who your business is. You’ll enter:
Legal business name — your registered business name (must match government records)
EIN (Employer Identification Number) — your federal tax ID
Business address — your registered business address
Business type — sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, etc.
Contact information — a guest-facing email and phone number on your hotel’s domain (not Gmail, Yahoo, or other free email providers)
Go to Settings → Messaging Compliance and follow the guided wizard. Enter your details carefully — mismatches between your business name and EIN are the most common cause of registration delays. For the full field-by-field walkthrough, see Registering Your Brand.
After your brand is approved, you’ll register a messaging campaign. This tells carriers what type of messages you’ll be sending.
Hello Hotel pre-configures your campaign type as Customer Care / Reservation Updates — which covers the messages hotels typically send: check-in instructions, reservation confirmations, response to guest inquiries, and operational communication.
During campaign registration, you’ll add SMS consent language to your Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (Hello Hotel provides the exact copy), then submit. Most campaigns are approved within a few business days. See Understanding Campaign Registration for the full walkthrough.
Brand registration: Usually approved within 1–2 business days, but can take up to a week depending on carrier processing.
Campaign registration: Typically 1–5 business days after brand approval.
You can track the status of both registrations under Settings → Messaging Compliance.
Once registered, you can send messages related to guest service and hotel operations: check-in/check-out instructions, reservation updates, answers to guest questions, directions, amenity information, and general property communication.
You should not send marketing or promotional messages (sales, discounts, newsletter-style blasts) under this campaign type. Promotional messaging requires a separate campaign registration.
Start this early. Registration takes a few days to process, so don’t wait until the day before launch. Start as soon as you create your organization.
Double-check your EIN. The most common rejection reason is a mismatch between your legal business name and EIN. Make sure they match exactly what’s on file with the IRS.
Use a business domain email. Free email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook) will likely cause rejection. Use an email on your hotel’s domain that’s also listed on your website.
You can still receive texts immediately. 10DLC registration is only required for sending outbound messages. Inbound texts from guests work right away. See What Happens While You Wait for 10DLC Approval for details.
This is a one-time process. Once registered, you don’t need to re-register unless your business information changes.
Registering Your Brand — step-by-step brand registration walkthrough
Understanding Campaign Registration — how campaign setup works
SMS Consent and Opt-In/Opt-Out — consent requirements and keyword handling
Messaging Restrictions — what you can and can’t send
What Happens While You Wait for 10DLC Approval — what works during the waiting period
10DLC Frequently Asked Questions — common questions and answers
SMS Not Sending or Delivering — troubleshooting delivery issues
