You're not going to write marketing emails at 9 PM. Nobody is.
Let's be honest about why you haven't started emailing your past guests.
It's not that you don't believe in it. You've heard "you should be collecting emails" fifty times. You probably agree.
It's that you're busy. Between check-ins, turnovers, the cleaner who canceled, and the 9 PM text asking how the hot tub works, sitting down to write a marketing email is never the thing that wins. The check-in always wins. So the email never goes out.
That's the real reason most hosts' lists sit there doing nothing. Not strategy. Time.
The list is rarely the problem. The sending is.
Here's the pattern in every host Facebook group. Somebody signs up for an email service. They write one email on a Sunday. They send it once. Then the next booking comes in, the next turnover hits, and an email never goes out again. Six months later they've got 200 contacts and one lonely email in the archive.
The list was never the bottleneck. The sending was.
And it matters more than you'd think, because automated email sequences generate 320% more revenue than emails sent by hand.[1] The hosts winning at this aren't writing more. They set it up once and let it run.
Set it once, and it runs without you
Automation takes your time out of the equation. You're not choosing between the turnover and the email anymore, because the email sends itself.
Three messages do almost all the work, and GuestLink runs all three for you:
A welcome email the day they check in. This is the one guests actually read. Revinate's benchmark puts the open rate at 50% and clicks at 13%,[2] because the guest is on-property and paying attention. It sets the tone and gets them on your list.
A friendly note once a month after they leave, so you stay top of mind and they have an easy way to find you again when they're ready.
A "come back and book direct" offer 6 and 11 months down the road, timed for when people plan their next trip. It lands when they're feeling nostalgic about the place, and it costs you nothing to send.
Three triggers, every guest, on time, forever. You set them up once and then forget they exist.
What this does to your week
Sending that volume by hand would eat hours every month you don't have. On autopilot, it's a few minutes now and then to glance at the sequence and make sure it still sounds like you.
The booking shows up the same way it would have from a hand-written email. You just never had to open the laptop to get it. No wonder 69.1% of hosts your size say more direct bookings is a top priority.[3] They want the result. They don't want another job. Automation is the only realistic answer for a property owner who's already got a million things to do.
What it takes
That's the whole point of GuestLink. You print a QR code, put it in the property, and the capture plus all three emails run on their own. You can preview every message before it goes out, or forget the thing exists and watch the bookings come in. No hardware, no website, no agency. $250 a year, one booking pays for it.
Collecting the emails is half the battle. Actually sending them is the half that gets the result you want. The good news is you don't have to do it manually anymore, thanks to GuestLink.
Sources
Written by
Dom Trovato · Founder, GuestLink
Dom Trovato is the founder of GuestLink and the publisher of The Host Report. He writes about direct bookings, guest data, and the systems that turn one-time stays into repeat revenue.
Connect on LinkedInReady to start your list?
Print a QR. Place it at your property. Watch the list compound.