Template
Pre-arrival email template that actually gets opened
A scaffold for the four-touch pre-arrival sequence Autumn customers use to push direct ancillary revenue without burning the inbox.
- Author
- Wilson Weng
- Published
- Reading time
- 2 min read
- email-marketing
- templates
- guest-communications
Most pre-arrival sequences underperform because they treat every guest the same. This template shows the four touches Autumn customers use, the trigger conditions for each, and the copy variants that lift open rate without nagging.
Pair this with the booking-engine ancillary upsell flow — the two systems share the same guest record, so the email can reference the booked rate code by name.
The four-touch sequence
The cadence below is the version that worked best across the cohort. Run it as written for the first 60 days; adjust trigger windows by ±12 hours per property after that based on the open-rate distribution.
1. Confirmation +0h
Job: Confirm the booking. Introduce one ancillary. Resist the temptation to upsell a second.
Trigger: Reservation confirmed event from the PMS.
Subject template: You're booked at <PropertyName> for <ArrivalDate>
Copy guidance: Keep the body short. The guest just paid; they want a receipt feel, not a sales pitch. The single ancillary should be the highest-margin one available for the booked room category. Reference the rate plan by name — "you booked our King Suite Bed-and-Breakfast rate" — to anchor the relationship.
2. Check-in -7d
Job: Soft-pitch one ancillary. Surface neighborhood detail the OTA didn't.
Trigger: 7 days before check-in window.
Subject template: <FirstName>, a few things to plan before <PropertyName>
Copy guidance: This is the lowest-conversion send of the four. Treat it as a brand-equity touch, not a revenue pull. One paragraph of neighborhood detail (a restaurant the guest might book, a route from the airport, a seasonal note) plus one ancillary line — usually a spa or experience booking. Open rate matters more than click-through here.
3. Check-in -36h
Job: Time-of-day pitch. This send drives the majority of the revenue.
Trigger: 36 hours before check-in window.
Subject template: <FirstName>, ready for <ArrivalDayOfWeek>?
Copy guidance: This is the money send. The guest is mentally arriving; they will book the suite upgrade, the early check-in, the airport transfer, the dinner reservation. Lead with one named ancillary — the named ancillary that maps to the room category. Include a one-click confirm link. The shortest, most action-oriented send of the four.
Name the ancillary against the rate plan
"Add a spa treatment" performs at the cohort average. "Add the 60-minute deep-tissue at the river-view spa" performs 2.2× better. The booking record already has the room category; the email should already know which ancillary makes sense for it.
4. Check-in -2h
Job: Logistics only. No ancillary.
Trigger: 2 hours before check-in window.
Subject template: <FirstName>, your check-in details
Copy guidance: Address, parking, Wi-Fi, contact number for the front desk. Nothing else. Ancillary fatigue is a real signal past this point — adding a fifth pitch in this send measurably lowers the open rate of the next stay's confirmation send. Keep it logistics.
What to measure
- Open rate at the -36h send. Should run 45–55% in the cohort. Below 40% is a trigger window or subject line problem; above 60% is unusual and probably indicates a small or biased segment.
- Revenue per pre-arrival sequence. The compounding number. Should run 2–4× the per-stay ancillary baseline after 60 days.
- Unsubscribe rate at the -7d send. The early warning indicator. Above 0.5% means the cadence is too aggressive for the cohort; cut the -7d send to bi-monthly.
2.2×revenue lift: named ancillary vs. generic