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Enhanced Email Configuration

Send emails from your business email address

An enhanced email configuration gives ThinkReservations special permission to send your guests emails from your own domain. This changes the "from" email address from reservations@thinkreservations.com to be your own email, and is required for our email marketing module. This is done by configuring some settings on your domain: DKIM and SPF.

Prerequisites

Before the request to enable DKIM can be submitted, you will need to make sure you have the following:

  1. The email address to be used must contain a valid domain that you own, hence free email services are not supported. We call this a "hosted domain".

  2. You must have access to the domain settings yourself, or have access to someone that does. We will not be able to make these changes to your domain on your behalf.

  3. The email service you are using must be compatible with DKIM (Most, but NOT all services, allow this)

Getting Started

Configuring the enhanced email configuration is self-service and should take about 5 minutes to complete.

  1. To start the request, ensure you have met the above requirements.

  2. Navigate to ThinkReservations > Settings > Custom Email Domain

  3. Enter your domain name in the box at the top, and click the Add domain button. Enter your domain like examplehotel.com.

  4. Note the domain information provided. Work with your domain to get the DNS records updated. The process should take about 5 minutes. If you are working with a webmaster or someone else who will be helping you with this, use the Copy all records button. This will copy all of the information on the screen for you to paste into an email.

  5. Once the system gets confirmation that the changes have been made, the status will change to "Verified". it can take up to 72 hours for the information to populate on servers across the web. Our system will check every 15 minutes, or you can click the Check now button to force it to check immediately.

  6. Once verified, set the "From email address" in Settings > Business Settings.

  7. Send a test email to double-check your work.

Example of the Custom Email Domain screen. When you enter your own domain, you will see the records that you will need to add.

Updating your Domain

Step 4 above is to update your DNS Records. This step happens outside of ThinkReservations with your domain provider. This is a technical change to your domain, so you may need to work with the individual or company that manages your domain to make these changes for you. This is often your webmaster.

For reference, here are some instructions for editing DNS records with some of the more popular domain providers:

⚠️ Need more help? If you don't have access to a technical firm or individual to help you manage changes to your domain, we might be able to help. ThinkReservations can try to assist with making these changes for you. Generally, these changes can be completed very quickly.

Further Reading...

What is DKIM?

DKIM stands for Domain Keys Identified Mail. In plain language, it’s a security method that helps verify that the emails sent from your business are really coming from you, not from someone pretending to be you. When DKIM is set up, your email messages get a digital signature. This tells email providers (like Gmail or Outlook) that your emails are trustworthy, which can improve delivery and reduce the chances of your emails being marked as spam.

What is DMARC?

Although Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) isn't required for DKIM and SPF to function, Gmail and Yahoo require DMARC if you send more than 5,000 emails to their addresses within a 24-hour period. Implementing DMARC improves email deliverability, protects your domain from spoofing, and instructs receiving servers how to handle emails that fail DKIM and SPF checks. If you anticipate sending high volumes of emails to Gmail or Yahoo users, we strongly recommend configuring DMARC proactively. Please note that DMARC configuration involves technical updates to your domain settings, so we suggest reaching out to your domain administrator or IT professional for assistance, as ThinkReservations does not manage these settings.

What is SPF?

In simple terms, SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication standard that helps prevent email spoofing and phishing by verifying the legitimate source of emails, ensuring they are actually sent from the domain they claim to be from.

Understanding Email Addresses: From vs. Reply-To

  • From Email:
    This is the address that your email recipients see as the sender. For example, if your default setting is reservations@thinkreservations.com, that’s the “from email.” If you want your emails to look like they’re coming from your own business email (like innkeeper@myexamplehotel.com), you will need to change the “from email” by working with us to set up DKIM on your account.

  • Reply-To Email:
    This is the address where responses go when a recipient hits “reply.” This is how we make sure that when a guest replies to one of your emails, you are able to see their response. Changing the reply-to address doesn’t require any special technical setup. It’s simply a setting you can adjust on your own in your ThinkReservations account under Business Settings. Free email services like Gmail and Yahoo are supported for the reply-to email.

Changing the Email Settings

Emails contain a reply-to email address and a from email address. Most emails, this is the same, but because ThinkReservations is sending emails on behalf of its users, they are often different. By default, the from email address is blank in Business Settings, and we use reservations@thinkreservations.com as the from email address. When the enhanced email configuration is set up and verified, you can set the from and reply-to email addresses to be on your own domain.

  • To Change the From Email:
    Navigate to Settings > Business Settings. Update the field labeled: FROM EMAIL ADDRESS to an email address you own on the configured domain.

  • To Change the Reply-To Email:
    Also set under Business Settings. However, this does not require you to have the enhanced email configuration set up. The field is labeled:
    REPLY-TO EMAIL ADDRESS.

When done making changes, make sure to click Save at the bottom of the page.

You may see that your domain is already populated on the Custom Email Domain settings page with the note "Single address". This appears when your account was set up before the self-service option was created, and means that the "from email address" used must match the one listed. See the screenshot below:

If you would like to use a different email address, you can add your domain and update the records shown after you add your domain. Once verified, you can remove any duplicate information.

Common uses for the enhanced email configuration setup:

  • To make it appear that reservation emails are being sent from the property instead of from the ThinkReservations system.

  • Email validation to help reduce the chances of it being falsely flagged as spam.

  • Sending marketing emails from within ThinkReservations.

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