I understand where you are coming from on this. I have battled this for a while myself. I use Webervations and at first had them automatically sent but found that many (most) were being sent to spam folders and never received.
Now, I do the following:
- Change the subject line to read: (Guest name) Reservation - My B&B. - reply requested
- Send the confirmation to ME
- I forward to guest, stripping the FW & any other info
This does not stop some email software from placing it in their spam folder, but I did find that the odds were more in my favor this way. I do request a quick reply agreeing to the reservation policies and retain this in my files..
I got a confirmation for the place I am staying. No identifying info as to where it was from, a generic subject line that probably means something to the innkeeper, but nothing to me. Because it looked like spam, I almost dumped it. But, because I was waiting for a confirmation, I checked it out.
I guess what I would like to make clear is that the confirmations we send should be clearly identifiable by the recipient. 'From' should by the name of the inn (or, your name @ the name of your inn); subject should reference in some way that this a confirmation or request for more info but not something generic (or something that sounds like spam).
A lot of my emails end up as spam. Or, at least I think they do as relatively few people email back that they received it, even tho that is a very prominent request on my part in the email. We've been over this before, tho, and I think my subject line is too pertinent. It clearly states this is your confirmation so I also think few people even open it!
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