Website Contact Form Messages

Guests who message you through your direct booking website's contact form are real guests with real questions. With Vanio AI, those messages no longer disappear into a separate inbox — they flow into your unified inbox, get matched to the guest's reservation, and are handled by Vanio AI exactly like a message from Airbnb or Booking.com.

Getting started

Your direct booking website needs to be connected to your Vanio AI inbox before contact-form messages can be routed automatically.

1. Go to Settings → Websites and confirm your direct booking website is listed.
2. Make sure your Vanio AI inbox is active under Settings → Inbox.
3. Once both are connected, contact-form submissions route automatically — there's nothing else to configure per property.

If you haven't connected your website yet, reach out to support or follow the setup guide for your direct booking site.

[Screenshot: Settings → Websites page showing a connected website with an active inbox indicator]

How it works

When a guest fills out the contact form on your booking website, Vanio AI does three things automatically:

1. Routes the message into your inbox — instead of landing in a separate email account that nobody checks, the message enters your Vanio AI inbox directly.
2. Matches it to the right reservation — Vanio AI looks for a booking confirmation code in the message first, then the guest's email address, then their name, and connects the message to the correct stay.
3. Drafts a reply — once matched, Vanio AI reads the full reservation context (dates, property, prior conversation) and prepares a response on the conversation timeline for that booking.

Your original contact email address still receives a copy of every submission as a BCC, so nothing is lost even as the message is processed through your inbox.

Note: This routing requires your Vanio AI inbox to be active. If your inbox is paused or not yet set up, contact-form submissions will still be delivered to your contact email address as before — they just won't be matched to reservations or processed by Vanio AI until the inbox is enabled.

[Screenshot: A contact-form message appearing on a reservation's conversation timeline alongside Airbnb messages]

Where the message appears

A matched contact-form message shows up on the guest's reservation, on the same conversation timeline as their other messages. You see it in your inbox, you get notified, and Vanio AI has everything it needs to help — no copy-pasting between accounts.

If a message can't be confidently matched to a booking (for example, an inquiry from someone who hasn't booked yet), Vanio AI still surfaces it as a clean inquiry in your inbox for you to triage. Nothing is ever silently dropped.

Key features

• Automatic routing — contact-form submissions go straight into your Vanio AI inbox, not a separate email account.
• Smart reservation matching — Vanio AI identifies the right booking using the confirmation code, guest email address, or guest name, in that order of confidence.
• Full conversation context — once matched, the message joins the existing reservation timeline so you and Vanio AI see the full picture in one place.
• Draft-first by default — Vanio AI prepares a draft reply for your review rather than sending automatically, so you stay in control of the first response to a new contact.
• Inbox copy preserved — your business email address is still BCC'd on every contact-form submission, giving you a backup copy alongside the inbox version.
• Unmatched messages are never dropped — if a message can't be tied to a reservation, it surfaces as an inquiry in your inbox so you can triage it manually.

Tips & best practices

• Keep your inbox active. Contact-form routing depends on your Vanio AI inbox being enabled. If the inbox is paused or disconnected, submissions fall back to your contact email only — check Settings → Inbox if you notice messages not appearing in your inbox.
• Include your booking confirmation code when asking guests to write. If you follow up with a guest asking them to use your contact form, mentioning their confirmation code in your message makes it even easier for Vanio AI to match their reply instantly.
• Review AI drafts before sending. For contact-form and inbound email, Vanio AI always prepares a draft rather than sending automatically. Open the conversation, review the suggested reply, and send it with one click when you're happy with it.
• Check the inquiry queue regularly. Pre-booking inquiries from people who haven't reserved yet won't match a reservation — they'll appear as new inquiries. A quick daily scan ensures no potential guest is left waiting.

Common questions

Do I need to do anything differently on my booking website? No. The routing happens on Vanio AI's side once your website and inbox are connected. Your contact form stays exactly as it is — guests fill it out the same way, and the new routing is invisible to them.

What if the same guest emails me directly instead of using the contact form? Vanio AI also handles emails that arrive directly in your ingested inbox. It uses the same matching logic — confirmation code, then guest email, then guest name — to connect the message to the right reservation and prepare a draft reply.

Will my team still get email notifications? Yes. Your contact email address receives a copy of every contact-form submission as a BCC, so your existing notification flow is preserved. The difference is that the message is now also processed through your Vanio AI inbox for matching and drafting.

What happens if my Vanio AI inbox isn't set up yet? Contact-form submissions will continue to be delivered to the contact email address you've configured — the same behavior as before. Once you activate your inbox under Settings → Inbox, future submissions will automatically begin routing through Vanio AI for matching and drafting. No form changes or guest-facing updates are needed.

Related: Sending a Held-Back AI Draft