The Unified Inbox just got even better! Get ready to welcome Vrbo messaging into the fold, where all your guest communication is streamlined into one interface.

The purpose of the Unified Inbox is to centralize various guest communication touch-points in one interface.

Information about the pertaining unit, reservation, and guest is accessible in real time. There's no need to go digging through different menus en route to answering an important question from a guest; it's all right there in the Unified Inbox interface.

The following functionality is still deep in the works and will be added to the next phases of Unified Inbox to be released:

To access the Unified Inbox, go to:

The interface is divided into two sections:

Each component is separated by a drag bar, so you can easily expand or contract the table to show more information or apply additional sorting and filtering.

The message list includes two views to toggle between:

Guest Messages include the following:

Website inquiries are a one-way sync meaning you can respond to the guest from the inbox which will send an email to the guest's email address. If the guest responds, the messaging will be handled externally outside of the Unified Inbox. Whereas Airbnb and Vrbo messages are stored and threaded within the Unified Inbox.

Unread messages are bold and the checkbox within the 'New?' column is checked:

Below the grid, cycle through pages, if applicable. Use the "Refresh" icon above the grid to load new messages

At a quick glance the grid displays unread messages, the source, the date of the last message, the guest name and the listing name. Hover over the middle section until the arrow appears to drag the grid to make it wider to show more details:

Like with any grid in CiiRUS, it can be sorted or filtered.

The message thread area is where messages can be responded to. It's divided into three sections:

The heading area shows a snapshot of information about the thread including:

Messages from the guest are displayed in a blue background and left justified, whereas responses from the responding agent are pink and right justified. Above and next to the message, see the date, time sent/received and the source/guest/agent name. Also see the method used to send or receive the message such as Airbnb Message, email, SMS or internal note.

To respond to the guest, type a message in the 'Write a Message' box. For Airbnb Messaging, use the new 'Advanced Editor' to format the message, add snippets and templates, add smart tags (tokens) and choose the response message.

Responses to the guest from CiiRUS are delivered directly to the portal rather than the direct email address of the guest. To save time, respond to messages from Airbnb and Vrbo guests in the Unified Inbox.

Respond to a guest by typing the message into the free-format message box.

Use the Advanced Editor to send messages from pre-configured templates or snippets and use smart tags (tokens) from the Template Editor to deeply customize the message.

The Advanced Message Editor is split into three sections:

Show or hide the message thread in the editor to quickly reference the message from the guest:

Similar to the Template Builder, create personalized messages using tokens or smart-tags. For example, instead of manually typing the arrival and departure dates, insert the 'Arrival Date' token to automatically populate it when the message is sent. Double-click on a token to insert it into the message:

To save even more time when answering frequently asked questions from guests, create pre-configured automation templates using the Template Builder. These can be treated like snippets or macros that can easily be inserted to a response. Some examples of these pre-configured templates that can be created include:

After creating the template in the Template Builder they will load into the 'Templates' tab within the editor. Just like with the tokens, double-click on the template to load the content into the message box:

Only templates using the 'Automation' category and that have an 'Airbnb' version of the template are supported here.

Before sending the message, click "Preview" to see how the message will look with the tokens or template populated. When you are ready to send, click "Send Message."

When a guest responds back via Airbnb, the message will automatically load into the same guest thread in the CiiRUS inbox.

In some cases, you may want to leave a note for another responding agent inside your organization without making it visible to the guest. Follow the steps above to write the message in the free-format box and change the "send via" type to 'Internal Message.' The message will display in the thread with a yellow background.

Currently for website and GuestPass inquiries, it's a one-way messaging system and the entire conversation is not stored in the inbox. Responses can be sent to the guest email address from the inbox.

To respond to an inquiry, enter text in the free-format text box. If the guest email address and phone number is on file, choose to send via email or SMS and then click the blue arrow to send the message.

Please note, when responding to a website inquiry, only the free-format messaging is available. This message will be sent via email or SMS to the guest. If the guest responds back, it will not appear in the messaging thread and instead communication will be handled externally via your email provider (Outlook, Gmail, etc).

Switch between guest messages and internal system alerts by toggling the tabs above the grid:

System alerts display new booking notifications, new inquires and any other important booking notifications. Unread alerts will be bold. Click on an alert to load the information on the right-hand side:

Remember, CiiRUS Unified Inbox phase 1 is in continuous development. While this phase combines existing functionality into an improved interface, the following will be added in upcoming phases that are already under development: