Automatically invites your direct-booking guests to leave a review after their stay, then lets you approve each submission before it goes live.
What it does #
Direct bookings are great for your bottom line, but they do not come with the automatic review prompts that the big channels send. Review Solicitation closes that gap.
A few days after a guest checks out from a confirmed direct booking, it emails them a friendly request to review their stay, with a secure personal link to a simple review form. If they have not responded, it can send one gentle reminder.
Every submission lands in an approval queue. Nothing appears on your property pages until you approve it, so you stay in full control of what is published. Approved reviews are written into your site and are protected from being overwritten by platform syncs.
How to turn it on #
1. Open the Toolkit hub #
Go to HomeRunner → Toolkit in your WordPress admin.
2. Enable Review Solicitation #
Switch on Review Solicitation and open its settings.
3. Configure and enable sending #
Tick Send review request emails for completed direct bookings, set your timing and sender details (below), and save.
Settings #
Timing #
- Days after checkout for first email (1 to 14). How long to wait before the first invitation.
- Days after first email for reminder (0 to 14). A follow-up nudge if the guest has not responded. Set to 0 to send no reminder.
Sender and branding #
- From name. The name guests see the email come from. Defaults to your site name.
- Reply-to email. Where guest replies go. Defaults to your admin email.
- Logo, Terms of Use link, and Privacy link to brand the email and form.
Approval queue #
The approval queue is a private page on your own site for reviewing submissions, protected so only your team can open it.
- Queue address (slug). The web address of the private queue page (defaults to
pending-reviews). - Queue password. A password that gates access to the queue.
In the queue you can approve, reject (with an optional reason), or revert an earlier decision. Approving publishes the review to the property page; rejecting keeps it off your site.
How guests qualify #
Invitations are sent only for confirmed direct bookings after checkout. Cancelled, closed, or non-direct reservations are skipped automatically. Personal review links expire after about two weeks, so old links cannot be reused.
Tips #
- Two to three days after checkout tends to land while the stay is still fresh but the guest is home and settled.
- Keep the reminder gentle and limit it to one. A single, well-timed nudge lifts response without feeling pushy.
- Set a recognizable From name and a real Reply-to so guests trust the email and can reach you.
- Bookmark your approval queue and check it regularly so good reviews go live quickly.
Related #
- Toolkit overview
- Review Importer to bring in past reviews
- Review Visibility to curate what shows
- Under the Hood