What are Journeys and how to use them

There are five default automations in Yada and you can add more as you see fit.

1. One day after a booking is confirmed, it offers your guest the day before the booking (if it is available on your calendar) at a discount. This is so you can get that money from the otherwise orphaned night if they are interested in having a more leisurely check-in or arriving earlier. It goes a day after their booking because, oftentimes, travel plans haven't firmed up yet.

2. The next one can be scheduled either before or after check-in, and it offers a day at the end of their stay (again, if that date is available on the calendar). This helps them keep the fun going and extend their time if they're interested.

3. The one automation that happens earlier than any of those and often has the highest ROI is the inquiry win-back. This goes through the OTA channel to anyone that has inquired about staying with you but has not booked. It sends a sequence of messages about why they should stay with you and gives them reason to re-engage and confirm their booking.

4. You then have an automation that goes out two weeks after check-out, and the default channel is SMS. It rolls back to email if we don't have their phone number, and it rolls back to OTA if we don't have either of those. That message invites them to re-book for next year using your direct link.

5. The final automation is a booking anniversary, where one year after they booked the first time it sends them a message inviting them to book again. Unless you have those automations running elsewhere, turning them all on in Yada is best, since they are very effective and timely.
   
   

How to view your Journeys

1. Go to Marketing

2. Click Journeys

3. Review:

   • live journeys

   • scheduled journeys

   • send timing and listing selection

    

How to edit a Journey

The timing on default Journeys cannot be edit. Everything else can, and if you want to change the timing you can create a new Journey. To edit:

1. Find the Journey you want to change

2. Click Edit

3. Review:

   • timing (if not default)

   • listings included

   • message content

    

Channel behavior

Journeys can send through multiple channels depending on availability. A Journey is set to send by:

1. SMS first

2. then email (non-alias only)

3. then OTA channel if the first two don't exist on the Contact record

Email builder option

If you want a richer email version, turn on the separate email version and use the Visual Builder to add formatting, blocks, and styling.

Best practices

• Start with Inquiry Winback

• Use post-checkout rebooking and referral next

• Add pre-stay upsells once the basics are running

• Keep the first version simple and improve later