Step 9 · Email notifications

SMTP, guest confirmations, templates and scheduled manager reports.

Harmony can email guests when their booking changes, and email managers a summary on a schedule. Everything is under Settings → Email.

Work in this order: connect SMTP and prove it, choose which events send mail, edit the wording, then set up reports.

Connect an SMTP server

Turn on Enable email notifications — the master switch. With it off, nothing is sent no matter what else is configured.

Field	What to enter
Host	The mail server, e.g. smtp.example.com
Port	Usually 587 with TLS. 465 and 25 also occur.
Username	The mailbox account, normally the full email address
Password	Its password — or an app password, see below
From address	What guests see. Use the display form: Grand Palace Hotel <[e-mail]>
Use TLS	Leave on for port 587

Gmail and Microsoft 365 will refuse your normal mailbox password. Create a 16-character app password (in Google, at myaccount.google.com/apppasswords) and paste that instead. Both providers require two-factor authentication on the account first.

Prove it before going further

Put an address in Send test email to, pick an event, click Send test. Do not continue until a real message arrives — everything below depends on this working. Then click Save SMTP settings.

Choose which events send mail

The Guest notification events table lists what can trigger an email — a booking confirmed, booked or cancelled — with the condition that fires it and a switch.

Turn on only what the hotel actually wants. A guest who receives five automated emails for one two-night stay stops reading all of them. Click Save event toggles.

Edit the templates

Under Email template, pick an event and edit its Subject and body. The body is a rich text editor, so headings, bold text and links all work.

• Preview renders the template with sample data — always use it before saving

• Reset to default restores the shipped wording if an edit goes wrong

• Save template stores your version

What makes a good confirmation email. Guests want four things: the dates, the room, the hotel's address and a phone number. Put those above the fold. Keep the subject short enough to read on a phone — "Your booking at Grand Palace Hotel is confirmed".

Scheduled reports

Under Scheduled reports, Harmony can email managers a summary on a timetable — arrivals, departures and housekeeping status, without anyone opening the app. A send shortly before the first shift starts works best.

If email is not arriving

Work through these in order

1. Is the master switch on?

2. Does Send test work? If not, the problem is SMTP, not Harmony.

3. Does the provider need an app password? Almost certainly yes for Gmail or Microsoft 365.

4. Is the specific event enabled? A working test plus a silent booking usually means the event toggle is off.

5. Check spam. A "from" address on a domain unrelated to the SMTP server is often filtered — use an address on the same domain as the mail account.

6. Check the port. Many networks block outbound 25. Use 587.

7. Read the Logs for the mail server's own reply.