Hotel Unified Guest Inbox

A unified guest inbox puts every email and OTA chat message for a reservation into one conversation, so staff reply from one screen instead of juggling mailboxes and extranets. Frontdesko’s Messages tab covers email plus Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia chat.

By the Frontdesko team • Last updated 31 October 2026

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What does a Friday look like with one guest inbox?

An illustrative scenario at a 22-room hotel in Melaka. The property, times and guests are invented to show the screens as they work; they are not a customer account.

Time	What happens	Where in Frontdesko
06:40	A Booking.com guest arriving today sends a chat message asking about early check-in. The desk PC chimes and a toast reads “New message from” the guest’s name.	Messages tab badge and toast
06:42	The receptionist opens Messages and switches the list to Needs reply. The thread shows the guest’s earlier email reply to the confirmation and today’s chat in one timeline, each message labelled with its channel. The right-hand card shows the room, status, source, total and balance.	Messages tab, Needs reply filter, reservation card
06:44	She picks Booking.com chat in the “Send via” selector, types the answer and presses Ctrl/Cmd + Enter. The guest reads it in the Booking.com app.	Composer, “Send via” channel picker
09:15	A direct-booking guest replies from their phone to the confirmation email. The reply goes to that stay’s own reply address, lands in that reservation’s conversation, and a copy is forwarded to the hotel’s notification email.	Conversation list, “Guest replies go to” address
11:30	The Booking.com guest says thanks. Nothing more is needed, so she clicks No reply needed and the thread stops counting as awaiting a reply.	Thread actions (Booking.com only)
14:00	The owner searches the list by a confirmation number a guest quoted on the phone and sees every email and chat message for that stay in one timeline.	Search box in Messages
16:30	At the group’s second property, set up on Monday, a manager tests a cancellation email on a dummy booking. Nothing reaches the inbox she typed in, because an amber banner on every page says communications are on hold. The message appears in the Held messages list instead.	Amber banner, Settings → Communications → Held messages

The point of the morning is not speed for its own sake. Before a shared inbox, the Booking.com message sits in the extranet, the email reply sits in a front desk mailbox, and the owner’s phone has the forwarded copy. Three places, three chances for a guest to be answered twice or not at all. Here each reservation has one conversation, and the unread count on the tab is the single number the desk needs to watch.

How does the unified guest inbox work?

Every guest message is mirrored into one conversation per reservation. Email comes from the messages staff send and the replies guests send back. OTA chat comes through the channel manager for Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia. An OTA enquiry that has no booking yet gets its own thread until it is linked to one.

Item	How it behaves
Channels today	Email, and OTA chat for Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia when the property’s channel connection has guest messaging enabled.
One conversation per	Reservation. OTA enquiries without a booking hang off their own OTA thread.
List filters	All, Unread, Needs reply. Search by guest name, confirmation number or email.
Real time	A new message updates the tab badge and shows a toast with a chime, without a page refresh.
Read state	Two-way: opening a thread in the inbox marks it read on the reservation screen too, and the reverse.
Starting a message	“New message” searches reservations by guest name, confirmation number, phone or email.
Reply address	Each stay has its own reply address. Mail from the Messages tab or the reservation screen carries it so the guest’s reply returns to the same thread. The address is shown on the reservation card with a Copy button.
Guest replies	Stored in the conversation and forwarded to the hotel’s notification email with the guest as the reply-to, so a one-line answer from a phone still reaches them.
OTA thread actions	Close thread, and No reply needed (Booking.com threads only).

What the inbox does not do

It does not include WhatsApp or SMS yet. The inbox is built so those channels can be added, but today it covers email and OTA chat. For WhatsApp, see guest communication and the WhatsApp messaging guide.
It cannot send email to a guest with no email address on the booking. The composer says there is no way to reach that guest yet.
OTA chat is limited to Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia, and only where the property has a channel connection with messaging switched on. If the OTA option is missing from the composer, ask support to check the connection.
Replies you type from your own mailbox, rather than in Frontdesko, go straight to the guest and bypass the thread, so they will not appear in the conversation history.

What is a communications hold and when should you use it?

A communications hold is a per-property switch that stops Frontdesko sending email and OTA chat messages to guests and staff while you are still setting up. Booking confirmations, cancellations, reminders, newsletters and replies from the Messages tab are all held. Properties created through Frontdesko’s trial signup and onboarding import start with the hold on, so a test cancellation on a dummy booking cannot email a real inbox. Existing properties are not touched. You switch it off deliberately when you are ready to go live.

Question	Answer
Where is it?	Hotel admin → Settings → Communications. The switch is labelled “Hold all outgoing messages (onboarding mode)”.
Who can change it?	Admin and manager roles.
How do you know it is on?	A persistent amber banner on every page of the staff PMS and the hotel admin: “Communications on hold — guests and staff receive no messages.”
Can anyone still get mail while it is on?	Yes. The allowlist (“Still deliver to these addresses”) takes email addresses or phone numbers, for example your own address for testing. A send only goes through when every recipient is on the list.
What is not held?	Sign-in codes, password resets and Frontdesko’s own onboarding emails to the owner. These are platform mail, not messages from your hotel to a guest.
What happens to a held message?	It is recorded in the Held messages table with channel, recipients, subject and a short preview, so you can see what would have gone out. It is not queued: switching the hold off does not release old messages, and there is no “send anyway” button yet.
What does staff see when sending?	A message explaining the send was held because communications are on hold, rather than a generic send failure.

If you finish onboarding and forget the switch, the settings card nudges you once onboarding is complete but the hold is still on. A silent hold is the failure mode to avoid: guests would receive nothing and staff would believe emails were going out.

How do you set up the unified inbox?

Open the Messages tab in the staff PMS. Emails sent from reservations and guests’ replies appear as conversations, one per reservation.
Set the hotel’s notification email in settings so forwarded guest replies reach a mailbox someone reads.
For OTA chat, connect your channels through the channel manager and confirm guest messaging is enabled for the property. Channel manager tiers are priced by property size; see pricing.
Agree who answers what: the Needs reply filter is only useful if one person owns it each shift.
While onboarding, leave the communications hold on and add your own address to the allowlist. When the property is ready, switch the hold off and send a real test booking confirmation to yourself.

If you are still deciding how much of the front desk to automate, the front desk automation guide places guest messaging in the wider picture.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a unified guest inbox for a hotel?

A unified guest inbox puts every guest message for a reservation into one conversation, whichever channel it arrived on. In Frontdesko the Messages tab combines email with Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia chat, so staff reply from one screen instead of switching between mailboxes and OTA extranets.

Which channels does the Frontdesko Messages tab cover?

Email, and OTA chat for Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia where the property’s channel connection has guest messaging enabled. WhatsApp and SMS are not part of the inbox today, although the inbox is built so more channels can be added later.

What happens when a guest replies to a hotel email?

The reply goes to that stay’s own reply address, is stored in the reservation’s conversation, and is forwarded to the hotel’s notification email with the guest set as reply-to. The tab badge updates and a toast appears for staff who are logged in.

Do replies sent from the inbox reach the guest in the OTA app?

Yes. A reply sent with the OTA chat option goes through the channel manager to the OTA’s own chat, so the guest reads it where they wrote. Email replies go to the guest’s email address on the booking.

What is the communications hold?

It is a per-property switch that stops email and OTA chat messages leaving Frontdesko while a property is being set up. Confirmations, cancellations, reminders, newsletters and inbox replies are held and recorded in a Held messages list. Sign-in codes and password resets are not held.

Are held messages sent later when the hold is turned off?

No. Held messages are recorded so you can see what would have been sent, but they are not queued for delivery. Turning the hold off only affects messages created afterwards, and there is no send-anyway action yet.

Do new properties start with the hold on?

Properties created through Frontdesko’s trial signup and onboarding import start with the hold on, shown by an amber banner on every page. Existing properties are not changed. An admin or manager switches it off in Settings, Communications when the property is ready to go live.

Can some people still receive email while the hold is on?

Yes. The allowlist accepts email addresses and phone numbers that keep receiving messages during the hold, such as the owner’s own address for testing. A message is only let through when every recipient on it is on the allowlist.

One Place for Every Guest Message

See the Messages tab with a demo property. New demo properties start with communications on hold, so nothing you try reaches a real guest.

Start Live Demo Guest Communication

Related Guides

Guest messaging and the channels behind it