If the Phone field is empty on your Vrbo reservations, nothing is broken in Nowistay. Vrbo rarely includes the guest’s phone number in the reservation data it sends to connected software, and often leaves out the email address too. This article explains where to find the number, how to add it in a few seconds, and how Nowistay collects it automatically when the reservation comes with an email address.
Why the phone is missing on Vrbo reservations
Vrbo shows you the traveler’s phone number and email address on the confirmed reservation, in your Vrbo account, but on most reservations it does not pass them on to connected software. In Nowistay, most Vrbo reservations arrive without a phone number, and most without an email address either.
Vrbo also offers no messaging connection to software: Nowistay cannot read or write in the Vrbo inbox (see how to connect a Vrbo listing). Without a phone number or an email address, Nowistay has no way to reach the guest, which makes the number worth adding.
What it changes in Nowistay
- Automated messages reach Vrbo guests by email only. A reservation without an email address gets no automated message: the message history shows it as skipped, with the reason.
- WhatsApp, the recommended way to talk to Vrbo guests from Nowistay, needs the guest’s number. Once it is on the booking, your templates set to send on WhatsApp reach the guest, and the AI assistant answers them there.
- The Start WhatsApp conversation button and the call link on the booking stay disabled, and message variables with the guest’s phone number stay empty.
- A smart lock whose Code source uses the last digits of the guest phone gets a random code instead, which your messages send as usual.
Add the number from Vrbo (the quickest way)
- Open the reservation in your Vrbo account and copy the traveler’s phone number (and email address, if Nowistay does not have it).
- In Nowistay, open the booking in Bookings and click the pencil (Edit) next to the guest details.
- Paste the number in Phone, with the international prefix, add the email in Email if it was missing, and save.
Adding the email address is worth it too: your automated messages can then reach the guest. Details entered this way are kept when Vrbo later sends an update of the reservation.
Let Nowistay collect the number automatically
When a Vrbo reservation comes with the guest’s email address, you can ask for the number once by email and let the AI assistant handle the answer:
- A message sent by email asks the guest to reply with the mobile number to reach them on.
- The guest replies to that email. The reply comes back into the booking’s conversation in Nowistay.
- The AI assistant recognises the number in the guest’s own words, formats it with the right country code and saves it on the booking. From then on, WhatsApp works, and the AI assistant can answer the guest there too.
Step 1: create the request message
- Open Automations, then Guest Messages: the Guest Message Templates panel lists your templates.
- Click Add message to create a dedicated message.
- Set Apply to bookings from to Vrbo. If you already ask Booking.com guests for their number, you can add Vrbo to that same template instead: the setting accepts several platforms. Never add Airbnb (see below).
- Keep Send via on Auto: for Vrbo reservations, the message goes by email.
- Choose when it goes out: right after the booking (Booking Confirmed), or a few days before arrival (Check-in with a Timing (hours) of 72 Before the event, for example).
- Click Save.
The AI assistant must be active on the property: it reads the guest’s reply and saves the number. If you are new to message templates, start with how to set up automated guest messages.
Step 2: the guest replies, the AI saves the number
When the guest replies, the assistant checks that the number is the guest’s own (not a driver’s, not an emergency contact’s, not the reservation number), stores it in international format and confirms briefly to the guest. Open the booking in Bookings: the number now appears under Phone.
- A guest who writes a local number without the country code is understood: the assistant uses the guest’s country from the reservation, or the country of your property, to add the right prefix.
- If the number cannot be read, the assistant asks the guest to send it again with the international prefix.
- A number already on the booking is never replaced. The assistant only fills in what is missing.
- The saved number stays on the booking even when Vrbo later sends an update of the reservation.
How to word the request
The message reaches the guest by email, outside the Vrbo inbox, so ask for a reply to the email. Keep it short, say why you need the number, ask for the country code, and never ask the guest to pay or book outside Vrbo. An example you can paste into the template:
Hello {{guest_first_name}}, your stay at {{property_name}} starts on {{arrival_date}}. So that we can send you the arrival instructions and reach you if anything comes up on the day, could you reply to this email with the mobile number we can contact you on, including the country code (for example +44 7911 123456)? Thanks, and see you soon!
What about Airbnb?
Airbnb works differently: the guest’s number is on Airbnb, and Airbnb’s rules forbid asking guests for their contact details. See Airbnb guest phone number missing. For Booking.com, see Booking.com guest phone number missing.
