Summary: How to maximise your monthly SMS allowance
Keep SMS templates under 160 characters whenever possible.
Avoid emojis and special characters unless they're essential.
Allow extra space for field codes that expand when messages are sent.
Review whether every automated SMS is necessary.
Enable "Don't send message if the scheduled send date/time will be in the past" for scheduled SMS.
Use email templates whenever SMS isn't required.
Keep messages under 160 characters
Mobile networks count SMS in 160-character segments. If your message is longer than 160 characters, it's automatically split into multiple segments — and each segment counts as one SMS, so a single long message may consume 2 or more SMS credits.
Example:
Message length | SMS segments used |
155 characters | 1 SMS |
180 characters | 2 SMS |
340 characters | 3 SMS |
Keeping your messages short is the easiest way to reduce SMS consumption.
Avoid emojis when possible
SMS messages containing emojis or certain special characters use Unicode encoding, which reduces the size of each segment from 160 characters to around 70 characters. This means even a relatively short message can split into multiple SMS segments simply because it contains an emoji.
Example:
Message | Length | SMS segments used |
No emoji | 120 characters | 1 SMS (fits within the 160-character segment) |
With emoji | 120 characters | 2 SMS (Unicode segments are limited to ~70 characters, so 120 characters no longer fits in one) |
If your message doesn't require emojis, removing them can help stretch your monthly allowance.
Remember that field codes become real text
When you're editing an SMS template, field codes such as {{invitation_link}} appear as short placeholders. When the SMS is actually sent, those placeholders are replaced with their real values — which are often much longer.
Example:
Template as written: Hi {{guest_name}}, your door code is {{door_code}}. See you soon! — 68 characters as typed
Template as sent: Hi Alexandra Thompson, your door code is 4471#. See you soon! — 63 characters once the field codes are filled in
Some field codes expand by much more than this. For example:
{{invitation_link}}becomes a unique guest URL of around 50 charactersGuest names, property names, or other dynamic fields may also be longer than their placeholders
Because of this, the character counter shown while editing your template does not include the final length after field codes are replaced. A template that appears to be under 160 characters may exceed the limit once real values are inserted, causing the SMS to split into multiple segments.
Whenever possible, leave some extra room in your message to account for field code replacements.
Review how many SMS templates you send
Take a look at your automated SMS schedule and ask whether every message is necessary. Consider reserving SMS for:
Check-in instructions
Door codes
Time-sensitive reminders
Urgent guest communications
Less critical information can often be delivered by email instead, helping you conserve your SMS allowance.
Prevent outdated SMS from being sent
For SMS templates scheduled before check-in, enable:
"Don't send message if the scheduled send date/time will be in the past."
This is especially useful for last-minute reservations. Without this setting, if a booking is imported after the scheduled send time has already passed, multiple queued SMS messages may be sent immediately after the booking sync.
Enabling this option prevents outdated messages from being delivered, improving the guest experience while also saving SMS credits.
Use email whenever possible
Email templates are:
Unlimited
Free
Not counted against your SMS allowance
If a message doesn't need the immediacy of SMS, consider sending it by email instead. Reserve SMS for communications that guests need to receive quickly or are most likely to see immediately.