Mews magic links are one-tap URLs that send a guest straight into the Mews guest portal — no login or password required. Hello Hotel can generate two kinds:
Check-in link — opens the guest portal directly into the online check-in flow
Check-out link — opens the guest portal into check-out, so a guest can settle up and leave without stopping at the desk
Digital key link — opens the guest's digital room key, so they can unlock the door from their phone
You can drop these into automated SMS or email messages, or copy them on demand from a guest's contact profile.
You'll need:
Mews connected to your Hello Hotel account
Mews guest portal activated for your property. Activation is per-property and requires the Mews beta flag plus integration permission — your Mews account manager handles this
Digital key enabled (optional, only needed if you want to send digital key links). Off by default — turn it on in Settings → Integrations → Mews → Digital Key Links
If guest portal isn't activated for your property, the check-in link variable falls back to a staff-facing Mews Navigator URL. Worth a quick check with your Mews rep before sending the link to a real guest.
Hello Hotel adds two new template variables to the automation builder:
Name | Inserted as | What it returns |
|---|---|---|
Guest Check-in URL |
| A magic link to the Mews online check-in flow for this reservation |
Guest Check-out URL |
| A magic link to the Mews check-out flow for this reservation |
Digital Key URL |
| A magic link to the guest's digital room key |
These variables are available in any Send SMS or Send Email action, and in the message composer and snippets.
The link resolves into your message like any other variable, but the guest's portal session isn't created until they actually tap it — not when the message is sent. That's why a check-in or check-out link is safe to build into a snippet that sits in your library for weeks, or an automation that runs months from now: the link is always fresh when the guest opens it.
A check-out link stops working 24 hours after departure.
There's nothing to turn on for check-out links. Mews decides which reservations are eligible, property-side.
Open the automation in the workflow builder
Click into the SMS or email body where you want the link
Open the variable picker (the { } button)
Under Reservation, select Guest Check-in URL or Digital Key URL
The variable is inserted at your cursor and resolves to a fresh magic link each time the automation runs
Welcome to The Timberline! Check in here: {{reservation.guestCheckInUrl}}. Once you're checked in, your digital key is ready at {{reservation.digitalKeyUrl}}.
You can also grab a fresh link on demand from any guest's contact panel:
Open the conversation or contact
Find the current or upcoming reservation in the contact sidebar
Click the copy check-in link or copy digital key link icon button next to the reservation
The link is copied to your clipboard, ready to paste into a message or email
Buttons only appear for current or upcoming reservations that are synced from Mews. Past reservations don't show the buttons because the links wouldn't be useful.
A few details worth knowing:
Generated fresh per use. Hello Hotel never caches or stores the URL — every send (or click of the copy button) generates a new link from Mews. The link is treated as a short-lived access token.
One link per request. Each magic link is tied to a specific reservation and guest. Don't share the same link between guests.
Messages always send. If the link can't be generated (e.g., guest portal isn't activated, or the digital key feature is off for your property), the SMS or email still sends — but the variable will be blank or fall back to the Navigator URL. Use the fallback syntax ({{reservation.digitalKeyUrl|please contact the front desk for your key}}) to provide a safety net.
Send the check-in link the day before arrival. Pair it with a Scheduled automation that fires on the morning of arrival day to give guests plenty of time to complete online check-in before they arrive.
Combine with the Online check-in completed trigger. Send the magic check-in link in your "morning of arrival" message, then use the Online Check-in Completed Trigger to send the door code and welcome details the moment they finish.
Test the digital key flow yourself before sending to guests. Create a test reservation in Mews, copy the digital key link from the contact sidebar, and confirm it opens correctly on your phone.
The variable renders blank in the message. Either Mews guest portal isn't activated for your property, the digital key isn't enabled in your Mews integration settings, or the link couldn't be generated (e.g., the reservation isn't synced yet). Use the fallback syntax to handle this gracefully.
The copy button doesn't appear on a contact. The reservation needs to be current or upcoming AND synced from Mews. Past reservations and unsynced ones don't show the buttons.
A guest who booked through Airbnb (or another OTA) taps the check-in link and lands on a login page they can't get past. OTA bookings often arrive in Mews with a temporary, masked email address that the OTA manages — Airbnb, for example, routes mail through a proxy address and controls final delivery, so the guest's real email never lands on the profile. Without a real email on the profile, the magic link can't sign the guest straight into the guest portal. Instead it drops them on a Mews login page, and they have no email to log in with — so the link looks broken to the guest.
The fix is to get a real email onto the guest's profile. The simplest way is to ask the guest and add it for them:
Text the guest from Hello Hotel and ask for the best email for their reservation (example below).
Add the email to their Mews profile. Open their contact, click View in PMS in the guest sidebar to jump to their Mews profile, and save the real email there.
Once a real email is on the profile, the magic link signs the guest right into the portal and they can complete online check-in.
Example text to send:
Hi [first name]! We'd love to get you checked in before you arrive. Since you booked through Airbnb, we don't have an email on file for you — what's the best one to reach you at? We'll add it so your check-in link works and your room details come through. Thanks!
A nice side benefit: capturing the guest's real email does more than fix check-in — it gives you their actual contact information. Instead of being stuck talking to them through the OTA's masked messaging, you now have a direct line for confirmations, upsells, and future stays.
Prefer to have the guest do it themselves? Mews can also capture and verify the email during online check-in and auto-merge the profile — configure the Mews Online check-in email to send about two days before arrival so guests get a nudge with time to spare. Delivery to a masked OTA address isn't guaranteed, though, which is why asking for the email directly is usually faster. Mews's full write-up is here: Maintaining OTA guest profiles with verified emails.
Still stuck? Reach out via the chat widget in your Hello Hotel app, or email [email protected].
