This guide explains how to set up and send your HELP response in RMS for properties sending SMS to United States mobile numbers.

Overview

Mobile carriers in the United States require every business sending SMS to support the keyword HELP. A guest who replies HELP to one of your messages must receive a response that identifies your business and tells them how to reach you.

RMS provides guidance text showing what a HELP response should contain. You build your own SMS template from it, save that template once in RMS, then send it whenever a guest replies HELP.

Please Note! This applies to properties sending SMS to guests with United States mobile numbers using the 2-Way SMS module. Properties in other regions are not affected.

Please Note! RMS is highly configurable. Some Terminology, User Access & Permissions, Images, Labels and Functions used in these articles may differ from your setup. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Before you start

You will need:

• The 2-Way SMS module activated for your property in the Module Market.
• Your verified toll-free number in place.
• The support email address and website address you want guests to be given. Use a monitored mailbox, not a personal one.

The guidance text

Build your template from the guidance text below, replacing the three values in square brackets with your own details:

[Property Name]: Booking and reservation notifications. For assistance contact [property support email] or visit [property website]. Msg & Data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply STOP to cancel.

For example:

Amalfi Resort: Booking and reservation notifications. For assistance contact stay@example.com or visit example.com. Msg & Data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply STOP to cancel.

Important! Replace the three bracketed values with your own details. Keep the rest of the wording as it is. Your response must identify your business, give the guest a way to contact you, and keep the message rates, message frequency and STOP opt-out statements, because that is what the carrier expects to see in a HELP response. If you need to word it differently, contact RMS before you use it.

Step 1: Create the template

1. Go to Setup > Correspondence > SMS.
2. Select Add.
3. Enter a Description of HELP Response. A consistent name makes the template easy for staff to find quickly.
4. Enter the SMS text using the guidance text above, with your property name, support email, and website in place of the bracketed values.
5. Select Save/Exit. This is the second of the four icons at the top right of the dialog, not the first.

6. 

    

Tip! Type your property name in full rather than inserting the Property Name merge field. Merge field delimiters are non-standard characters, so a template containing one shows the reduced 70 character limit while you are editing it. The message still sends against the 160 character limit once the field is replaced with standard characters, but the counter is easier to read without it. Your support email address and website are not available as merge fields, so type those in full either way.

Step 2: Send the response when a guest replies HELP

Guest replies arrive in the Message Centre as an SMS Conversation.

1. Select the Message Centre icon.
2. Select the SMS Message Type.
3. Select the conversation containing the guest's HELP reply.
4. Select the HELP Response template.
5. Select Send Message.

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Once your HELP response has gone out, carry on with the conversation as normal if the guest needs something more specific.

How your team should handle a HELP reply

• Treat HELP as a keyword, not a question. Guests may send HELP, help, or Help. Any of these counts, and all of them get the same template.
• Send the template first. Do not answer with an improvised message in its place, even a friendlier or more useful one. The template carries the disclosures the carrier expects; an improvised reply may not.
• Reply promptly. Carriers test this. A guest who texts HELP and hears nothing back is a compliance failure as well as a poor guest experience.
• Make sure someone is watching the Message Centre. Include the SMS tab in your front desk handover so HELP replies are not left sitting overnight or over a weekend.
• A guest can reply HELP at any time, not only after a booking confirmation. Handle it the same way whenever it arrives.

Important! A guest who replies STOP is opting out of your messages entirely. That is a separate keyword and must be respected. Do not send the HELP template in reply to a STOP request, and do not keep messaging a guest who has opted out.

How long the HELP response is

A single SMS holds 160 standard characters. The fixed part of the guidance text is 147 characters before your property name, support email address and website are added, so the finished response will not fit in one SMS. It sends as a multi-part message, which is expected and is not a fault.

Each part of a multi-part SMS holds 153 standard characters. The worked example above comes to 187 characters and sends as two parts.

Important! If your property name, email address or website contains an emoji or another non-standard character, the limit drops to 70 characters for a single SMS and 67 per part, which will push the response into more parts than expected. Keep all three values to standard characters. For the full rules, see SMS template character counts.

Tip! To keep the response to two parts, use a short form of your website address, for example example.com rather than www.example.com/contact-us. Do not shorten the required sentences to save characters.

Please Note! The use of URL shorteners may be restricted by certain carriers or regional regulations. Use your own domain rather than a shortened link.

Keep it current

Review the template if your support email address or website changes, and update it in Setup > Correspondence > SMS. A HELP response pointing a guest at a mailbox nobody reads, or a website that no longer resolves, puts your verification at risk.

You can use the SMS History report to confirm HELP responses are being sent.

Related Articles

• 2-Way SMS module
• Create an SMS template
• SMS template character counts
• Message Centre
• SMS Conversations
• SMS History report