Send a one-off marketing campaign

Written By Bram Haenraets

Last updated 13 days ago

A campaign is a single message sent to a group of guests at one moment in time. Use it for anything timely: a weekend promotion, an event invite, a seasonal offer, or an announcement. This article explains when to use a campaign and how to create one.

Campaign or Guest Journey?

These two tools look similar but do opposite jobs, so it helps to be clear:

  • A Guest Journey message is scheduled and continuous. It sends automatically to every guest at the same relative moment in their stay, for example a welcome message the minute anyone books. You set it up once and it runs forever, per guest.

  • A Campaign is a one-off blast. It goes to a group of people you choose, at one moment you choose. It does not repeat per guest. Think of it as a broadcast, not an automation.

Rule of thumb: if it should happen for every guest at a certain point in their stay, use the Guest Journey. If it is a specific message you want to send to a specific group right now or at a set date, use a Campaign.

Create a campaign

  1. In the left menu, open Automation, then Campaigns.

  2. Click New campaign in the top right.

  3. Give it a name you will recognise later, for example "Weekend flash sale", and click Continue.

You are now in the campaign builder, which has four steps.

1. What will you send?

Pick an approved template. This is the message your guests receive, for example a plain message, a photo, or a carousel of offers with buttons. The preview on the right shows exactly how it will look on WhatsApp.

2. Who receives it?

This is where a campaign differs most from the Guest Journey: you choose the exact group. Target by guest status and PMS fields, such as:

  • Guest details: guest status (booked, in-house, checked out), room, number of nights, check-in date, guest type, language.

  • PMS fields: room type, rate plan, booking source, market segment, VIP status, returning guest, and more.

Combine filters with AND to narrow the group, or add an OR group to include more than one set of guests. As you build the filters, Viqal shows a live estimate of how many recipients match, so you know the size of your send before you commit.

3. When should it send?

  • Send now fires the campaign as soon as you hit send.

  • Schedule for later lets you pick a date and time, so you can line up a promotion in advance.

4. How long to track results?

Choose how long the campaign keeps measuring results after it sends, for example 30 days. This sets the window for the campaign's reporting.

When everything looks right, click Send now (or Schedule send if you picked a date). You can also Save draft to finish later, or Save and pause.

Good uses for a campaign

  • A limited-time offer or flash sale to in-house guests.

  • An event or activity invite to guests staying on certain dates.

  • A seasonal message, for example a festive offer.

  • Re-engaging past guests with a come-back deal (target returning guests or checked-out guests).

  • Promoting a new service to a specific room type or rate plan.