Notifications and Reminders
Reminders are how you stop no-shows and chase unpaid balances. They are configured store-wide under Webkul WC Addons → Booking Management System → Global Settings → Notification and Alerts, and can also be fired by hand from the booking list.
What is sent, and what is not
| Booking reminders | Sent by this plugin, to the customer's email address |
| Balance-due reminders | Sent by this plugin when a deposit leaves an outstanding balance |
| Order confirmations, payment receipts, refund notices | Sent by WooCommerce, exactly as for any other order |
Important
Version 4.0.0 does not add its own booking-confirmation or booking-cancellation templates to WooCommerce → Settings → Emails. Your customers' booking confirmation is the ordinary WooCommerce order email — which already carries the booking's dates, guests, resource, services and extras on the order line. If you want the wording to mention the reservation, edit your WooCommerce order email templates.
Booking Emails
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Booking Emails | Enabled | Master switch for booking emails |
| Send Admin Copy | Enabled | Copy the store admin on booking emails |
| Email From Name | empty | Override the sender name. Blank uses the WordPress default |
| Email From Address | empty | Override the sender address. Blank uses the WordPress default |
Tips
Leave Email From Address blank unless you have a specific reason. A "from" address that does not belong to your domain is the most common cause of booking emails landing in spam.
Reminders
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Reminder Jobs | Enabled | Master switch for automatic reminders |
| Reminder Before Start | Enabled | Send a reminder before the booking starts |
| Hours Before Start | 24 | How long before |
| Reminder After Start | Disabled | Send a follow-up after it starts |
| Hours After Start | 1 | How long after |
| Reminder Before End | Disabled | Send a reminder before it ends |
| Hours Before End | 1 | How long before |
| Reminder After End | Disabled | Send a follow-up after it ends |
| Hours After End | 2 | How long after |
Each reminder type is sent at most once per booking. The booking list records which ones have gone out and when, so you can see at a glance whether a customer has already been chased.
What each reminder is for
| Reminder | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Before start | "Your stay begins tomorrow — check-in is from 2 pm." |
| After start | A late-arrival check for a no-show |
| Before end | "Check-out is at 11 am tomorrow." |
| After end | A thank-you or a review request |
| Balance due | "The remaining ₹7,245 is due before arrival." |
Balance-due reminders
Under Payments:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Deposit Balance Reminder | Disabled | Chase the outstanding balance automatically |
| Balance Due Reminder Before Start (hours) | 24 | How long before the booking starts |
The reminder names the outstanding amount and the booking's start time. It is only sent for bookings that actually carry a balance — see Pricing.
The same section also holds compatibility switches, all enabled by default, for stores running gift cards, wallets, points or multi-currency plugins:
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Gift Card Compatibility Mode | Enabled |
| Wallet Compatibility Mode | Enabled |
| Points Compatibility Mode | Enabled |
| Multi-Currency Compatibility Mode | Enabled |
Sending a reminder by hand
From Bookings:
- Choose a Reminder type at the top of the tab — Before start, After start, Before end, After end or Balance due.
- Click Send reminder on the booking's row.
You get "Reminder sent for booking #N", and the sent list on that row is updated.
Manual reminders say so in the message, so the customer is not confused by a second copy of an automatic one.
If a reminder fails
| Message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No customer email found for this booking. | The booking has no customer email — usually a manual booking with Customer ID 0 | Edit the booking and set a customer, or contact them another way |
| Failed to send reminder email. | Your site could not send mail | Check your SMTP or mail plugin; test with any other WooCommerce email |
SMS, WhatsApp and push
Under Messaging:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Twilio SMS Hook | Disabled | Send booking SMS through Twilio |
| Twilio Account SID | empty | From your Twilio console |
| Twilio Auth Token | empty | From your Twilio console |
| Twilio Sender ID (Phone or Service SID) | empty | The number or messaging service messages are sent from |
| Twilio SMS Template | empty | The message body |
| Enable WhatsApp Hook | Disabled | For a custom WhatsApp integration |
| Enable Push Hook | Disabled | For a custom push integration |
Warning
Your Twilio Auth Token is a credential. Never share a screenshot of this section, and rotate the token in the Twilio console if you think it has been exposed.
SMS is only attempted when the hook is enabled and the Twilio credentials are filled in. If either is missing the message is skipped silently — the booking itself is never affected.
The WhatsApp and Push switches expose hooks for a developer to connect a provider. Turning them on without an integration behind them does nothing.
Automatic reminders need WP-Cron
All automatic reminders run on an hourly scheduled job. If your host has disabled WP-Cron, or your site gets very little traffic, they will not fire. Manual reminders from the booking list always work.
See Installation for how to check.
A sensible starting configuration
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Enable Reminder Jobs | Enabled |
| Reminder Before Start | Enabled |
| Hours Before Start | 24 |
| Reminder After End | Enabled, 2 hours — a thank-you |
| Enable Deposit Balance Reminder | Enabled if you take deposits |
| Balance Due Reminder Before Start | 48 |
Next step
- Managing Bookings — send a reminder on demand.
- Pricing — set up the deposits that balance reminders chase.