Texting is the core way you communicate with guests in Hello Hotel. Messages are sent as standard SMS from your Hello Hotel number, so guests don’t need to download anything — they just text back like normal.
Open a conversation (or start a new one) and type your message in the compose area at the bottom of the thread. Press Send or hit Enter to deliver it.
Your message appears in the conversation timeline immediately. The guest receives it as a standard text message from your Hello Hotel number.
When a guest receives your text, it comes from your Hello Hotel phone number — the same number they’d call. They reply by texting that number back, and the reply appears in your conversation thread.
Guests don’t see your name, your team member name, or any app branding. It looks like a normal text from a business phone number.
Standard SMS messages can be up to 160 characters. Longer messages are split into multiple segments by the carrier and reassembled on the guest’s phone. Most modern phones handle this seamlessly — the guest sees one continuous message.
A few things to know about longer messages:
Messages up to about 1,600 characters are supported
The compose area shows a character count as you type
Emojis and special characters can reduce the per-segment character limit (from 160 to 70 characters per segment) because they use a different encoding
Hello Hotel bills SMS per message, not per segment. A 600-character text that gets split into 4 segments by the carrier still counts as one message on your bill. This makes billing simpler and more predictable.
Your plan includes a set number of messages per month. You can track usage under Settings → Billing & Usage.
To send the same message to multiple guests at once (like check-in instructions or a weather alert):
Go to Contacts
Select the guests you want to message using the checkboxes
Click Send Message from the bulk actions bar
Compose your message — you can use merge tags (like guest name) for personalization
Each guest receives an individual message and their replies come back to their own conversation thread.
Keep it short. Hotel guests respond best to concise, actionable texts. A check-in message doesn’t need to be a novel — include the essentials (time, instructions, any codes) and offer to answer questions.
Texts work both ways. Encourage guests to text your number with questions instead of calling. Many guests prefer texting, and it’s easier for your team to manage multiple text conversations than multiple phone calls.
Check 10DLC status before sending. If your 10DLC registration isn’t approved yet, outbound messages may be blocked or filtered by carriers. You can still receive inbound texts while waiting for approval. See Setting Up 10DLC Messaging Compliance.
Watch the character count with emojis. A single emoji can cut your segment capacity significantly. If you’re sending a longer message, consider skipping emojis to keep it in fewer segments.
