Brand registration is the first step of 10DLC compliance. It tells US carriers who your business is so they can verify you're a legitimate sender of text messages. This is done through a guided wizard in Hello Hotel — it takes about 5 minutes if you have your business documents handy.
Have these ready:
Your EIN (Employer Identification Number) — your federal tax ID. If you're not sure of the exact number, check your IRS EIN confirmation letter (Form CP 575 or 147C).
Your legal business name — exactly as registered with the IRS. This must match your EIN. "The Seaside Inn LLC" is different from "Seaside Inn" — use the exact name on your tax documents.
Your business address — the registered address for your business entity.
Your hotel website URL — must be a live, working website.
A business domain email address — like [email protected]. Not a Gmail, Yahoo, or other free email.
Go to Settings → Messaging Compliance and click to start brand registration.
DBA or Brand Name — Enter your hotel's operating name. This can be different from your legal name. If your legal entity is "Seaside Hospitality LLC" but your hotel is called "The Seaside Inn," enter "The Seaside Inn" here.
Legal Company Name — Your exact registered business name as it appears on IRS documents. This is cross-referenced against your EIN — mismatches are the #1 cause of rejection.
Type of Legal Entity — Select the entity type that matches your business registration: sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, partnership, etc.
EIN (Employer Identification Number) — Your 9-digit federal tax ID in XX-XXXXXXX format. Double-check this — a single wrong digit will cause rejection.
Business Address — Your registered business address. You can type it in field by field (street, city, state, ZIP) or use the address autocomplete. The country defaults to United States.
Website — Your hotel's website URL. This must be a live, publicly accessible site. Carriers check that it represents a real business. If your site is under construction or parked, wait until it's live before registering.
Vertical (Industry) — This is pre-set to Hospitality. No change needed.
Guest-facing contact email — Enter the email address where guests can reach you, like [email protected] or [email protected].
This field is critical for approval. Two rules:
Use a business domain email. Carriers expect an email on your hotel's domain. Free email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Hotmail, AOL, iCloud) will likely result in rejection or a lower trust score. If you don't have a business email, set one up before registering.
Use an email that's on your website. Carriers cross-reference this email against your website. If the email appears in your site's contact page, footer, or header, it validates that it belongs to your business. If it doesn't appear anywhere on your site, add it before submitting.
Guest-facing contact phone number — Enter the phone number guests would use to reach you. Your Hello Hotel number works here, but only if you've already listed it on your website. Otherwise, use whatever number is currently on your site. The same cross-referencing logic applies.
Click Submit Brand Registration when everything is filled in.
Your brand registration enters carrier review. This typically takes 1–2 business days but can take up to a week. You can track the status under Settings → Messaging Compliance.
While you wait, you can start campaign registration — but it won't be processed until your brand is approved. See What Happens While You Wait for 10DLC Approval for what works during this period.
Legal name doesn't match EIN — This is the most common issue. The name must match exactly what the IRS has on file, including suffixes like LLC, Inc., Corp.
Free email address — Gmail, Yahoo, and similar addresses signal to carriers that the business may not be legitimate. Use your hotel's domain.
Email not on website — The email you submit should be publicly listed on your hotel's website.
Invalid or unreachable website — The URL must load a real, live website. Parked domains, "coming soon" pages, and broken links will be rejected.
Wrong EIN format or digits — Double-check the number. It should be 9 digits in XX-XXXXXXX format.
If rejected, you can edit your information and resubmit from the same page. Resubmissions go through the standard review timeline.
Don't rush through the legal name field. Pull up your IRS letter or state registration and type it exactly. Capitalization, punctuation, and suffixes all matter.
Update your website before registering. If your hotel's contact email or phone number isn't on your site yet, add it first. It takes carriers less time to approve when everything cross-references cleanly.
The DBA name is what guests see. The legal company name is for carrier verification only. Your brand/DBA name is the identity associated with your messages.
Need help? Reach out. If you're unsure about any field, use the chat widget in the app, in this help center, or on hellohotel.co, or email us at [email protected] — we'd rather help you get it right the first time than troubleshoot a rejection.
