Pre-Arrival Messages
A pre-arrival message goes out automatically before a customer's rental pickup or experience start. It sets expectations, reduces no-shows, and cuts down on the "where do I go?" calls at the counter by giving customers everything they need ahead of time.
What Gets Sent
The message is assembled from information already stored in your EquipDash account — nothing extra to type for each booking. It can include:
| Section | Where the content comes from |
|---|---|
| Directions & parking | The blurb you enter in Settings → Notifications → Pre-arrival messages |
| What to bring | The "What to bring" list on each product or experience in the booking |
| Pre-sign waiver | A direct /form/... link to any incomplete waivers on the booking; omitted when all waivers are already signed |
| Fit appointment heads-up | "Fitting takes around 9 minutes — arrive a little early" (only appears for products that require a fit, such as ski boots) |
| View booking link | The customer's personal self-service link — they can reschedule, view details, or cancel from there |
Customers receive the pre-arrival message by email and SMS (each channel controlled by its own toggle in Settings → SMS → Notifications).
Turning Pre-Arrival Messages On
- Go to Settings → Notifications.
- Scroll to the Customer Lifecycle card.
- Turn on Pre-arrival messages.
- Set Send (hours) before arrival — how far ahead of the pickup time the message fires. The default is 24 hours. Set this to match how long you want customers to have to read it and act (for example, sign their waiver) before they show up.
- Enter your Directions & parking text — the blurb about your location, parking, entrance, or anything else customers need to find you. Keep it concise: one to three short sentences works best.
- Click Save.
Adding "What to Bring" Lists to Products
The pre-arrival message automatically pulls the What to bring list from each product or experience in the booking.
To add or edit a product's list:
- Go to Rentals → Products and open the product.
- Scroll to the What to bring section.
- Add each item on a new line (for example: "Warm socks", "Photo ID", "Deposit payment").
- Click Save product.
For experiences, the same field is in the experience detail under What to bring.
Waivers in the Pre-Arrival Message
If the booking has at least one waiver that has not yet been signed, the pre-arrival message includes a direct link to the waiver form — the same link a customer would get from a manual waiver send. This is a convenient nudge: the customer can sign on their phone before arriving, reducing the queue at your counter.
If all waivers are already signed, the waiver link is simply left out of the message.
See Assigning Forms to Bookings and Sharing Waiver Links for more on waivers.
Fit Appointments (Ski & Boot Fitting)
For products that require a fitting appointment (ski boots, bike fitting, etc.), the pre-arrival message adds a short sentence: "Your booking includes a fitting, which takes around 9 minutes — arriving a few minutes early helps us get you on the slope or trail on time."
This message only appears for products where the fit requirement is configured. It is a per-product setting, not a global toggle. Contact support if you need help configuring fit requirements on a product.
Timing and Idempotency
Each booking receives the pre-arrival message exactly once — EquipDash records the send time and will not resend even if the scheduler runs multiple times. If you update your directions text or lead-hours setting, the new settings apply to upcoming sends only; bookings that already received the message are not re-notified.
Disabling Per-Channel
You can send the pre-arrival message by email only, SMS only, or both:
- Email: the pre-arrival message is always sent by email when the feature is enabled.
- SMS: toggle the Pre-arrival message event in Settings → SMS → Notifications to enable or disable SMS delivery independently.
Personalizing the Wording
The directions text comes from your settings, but you can also reword the rest of the email — the subject line, the opening message, and the closing message — to match your brand voice. Open Settings → Email templates, select the Pre-Arrival Message template, and edit the Subject, Intro Text, and Outro Text. You can drop in merge tags like {customer_name} and {booking_reference}. See Customizing Email Templates for the full walkthrough.