The confirmation email is the first thing your client reads after paying and the last thing they open before the taxi to the hotel. Get the name, the hotel confirmation number and the cancellation deadline right in it, and you head off the calls that start at a front desk at midnight. Below: six templates you can copy, a filled-in example, a letter version and a free Word file with all of them.
Quick answer: A hotel booking confirmation email tells your client the room is booked and gives them everything the front desk will ask for: the booking status, the hotel confirmation number, the lead guest name as in the passport, hotel name and address, dates and nights, room type, meal plan, what is prepaid and what is payable at the hotel, the cancellation deadline with its time zone and a 24-hour number. Our six templates cover a confirmed booking, a confirmation number still to come, an on-request booking, the 72-hour reconfirmation, a change or cancellation, and a reconfirmation sent to the hotel.
This is the field list we'd hold any hotel reservation confirmation email to. Each field prevents a specific problem at check-in.
| Field | Write it like this | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Subject line | Booking confirmed: [Hotel], 14-Mar-2027 to 17-Mar-2027 (Ref KST-58213) | Clients search their inbox at the airport. The subject is how they find it. |
| Status | CONFIRMED, ON REQUEST or CANCELLED, in the first line | The one word that decides whether the client can travel on it. |
| Hotel confirmation number | KST-58213, or "to follow" | The reference the front desk searches first. |
| Your booking reference | YA-0412 | What the client quotes when they call you. |
| Lead guest name | TAN / Mei Ling (Ms), as in the passport | A name that differs from the hotel record slows check-in down. |
| Other guests | Names, and the ages of any children at check-in | Occupancy is priced. An older child may be charged as an adult. |
| Hotel name, address, phone | Full street address, plus the address in the local language if taxi drivers will need it | Chains often have several hotels with similar names in one city. |
| Dates and nights | Sun 14-Mar-2027 to Wed 17-Mar-2027, 3 nights | 03/04 is March in one country and April in another. |
| Room and bed type | 1 x Deluxe Room, king bed requested | Bed types and views are requests unless the rate says otherwise. |
| Meal plan | Breakfast for 2 adults | "Breakfast" alone doesn't say for how many. |
| Paid and payable | Prepaid: room and breakfast. At the hotel: tourism tax, deposit, extras | Local taxes and deposits are the classic check-in surprise. |
| Cancellation | Free until 10-Mar-2027 18:00 Dubai time, then 1 night charged | The client acts on this deadline, so give it in their time zone. |
| 24-hour contact | +00 0000 0000 (calls and WhatsApp) | So the client calls you before paying the hotel a second time. |
Put the status, hotel, dates and confirmation number in the first five lines. Plenty of clients read on a phone and never scroll.
Plain text beats a designed email for this job. It forwards cleanly, pastes into WhatsApp without falling apart, and nothing goes missing when a mail app blocks images. Attach the voucher as a PDF rather than pasting it into the body. And write every time with a place next to it ("18:00 Dubai time"), because a bare "18:00" leaves the client to guess whose clock you meant.
Clients use these three words interchangeably. They are different things, and the front desk relies on one of them far more than the other two.
| Confirmation email | Voucher | Hotel confirmation number | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your message explaining what is booked and what the client should do | The document the guest shows at check-in | The reference created in the hotel system itself |
| Who issues it | You | You, your supplier or your portal | The hotel |
| What the desk does with it | Usually never sees it | Checks what is prepaid and what is not | Finds the booking in seconds |
| When it is missing | The client has no warning about taxes, deadlines or late arrival | The desk may ask the guest to pay | The desk searches by name, sometimes under the name of the wholesaler instead of yours |
So the email explains, the voucher proves, and the confirmation number finds. Our hotel voucher format guide covers the voucher itself, with a free template. When a desk still can't find a booking, the check-in rescue guide walks through what to do in the first ten minutes and why a hotel confirmation number and a supplier reference are not the same thing.
One rule we'd keep: send the client your own email and your own voucher, never the supplier's. Supplier and portal documents often show what was paid, which is your net cost, and they carry the name of another company. Copy the guest name and confirmation number across character for character, and the hotel will match the two without fuss.
Replace everything in [square brackets] and delete any line that doesn't apply. The copy button copies the subject line and the body together, so paste into a new email and move the first line up into the subject field.
Use it when the booking is confirmed and you have the hotel confirmation number. This is the one you'll send most.
Subject: Booking confirmed: [Hotel name], [dd-Mmm-yyyy] to [dd-Mmm-yyyy] (Ref [hotel confirmation number]) Dear [Client name], Your hotel booking is confirmed. Please check the names and dates below and reply within 24 hours if anything needs correcting. Status: CONFIRMED Hotel confirmation number: [HCN] Our reference: [your booking reference] Hotel: [Hotel name] Address: [full address] | Tel: [hotel phone] Lead guest: [SURNAME / Given names, as in the passport] Other guests: [names; ages of children at check-in] Check-in: [Day dd-Mmm-yyyy], from [time] Check-out: [Day dd-Mmm-yyyy], by [time] ([n] nights) Room: [number] x [room type]. Bed type: [king / twin], requested, not guaranteed Meal plan: [Room only / Breakfast for [n] / Half board for [n]] Paid to us: [what is included: room, meals, taxes] Payable at the hotel: [tourism or city tax, resort fee, security deposit, extras] Cancellation: [Free cancellation until dd-Mmm-yyyy hh:mm, [city] time. After that: [charge].] OR [Non-refundable: no refund if cancelled, changed or not used.] Your voucher is attached. Show it at check-in, on your phone or printed, with the passport of the lead guest. If the hotel cannot find the booking, please do not pay for the room again. Call or WhatsApp us on [24-hour number] and we will deal with the hotel directly. Kind regards, [Your name] [Agency name] | [phone] | [email]
Use it when the booking is confirmed by your supplier but the hotel hasn't issued its own number yet.
Subject: Booking confirmed, hotel reference to follow: [Hotel name], [check-in date] Dear [Client name], Your room at [Hotel name] is booked and confirmed for [dd-Mmm-yyyy] to [dd-Mmm-yyyy] ([n] nights). Our reference is [your booking reference]. The hotel has not issued its own confirmation number yet. Hotels do not always issue it at the moment of booking, so this is normal. We will forward it, with an updated voucher, as soon as it arrives. If we do not have it by [date, at least 3 days before check-in], we will contact the hotel ourselves and tell you what they say. Booking summary Lead guest: [SURNAME / Given names] Room and meals: [number] x [room type], [meal plan] Payable at the hotel: [taxes, deposit, extras] Cancellation: [deadline in your time zone, or non-refundable] Please keep this email. Until the hotel number comes through, our reference is the one to quote. Kind regards, [Your name] | [Agency name] | [24-hour number]
Give yourself a real chase date in that second paragraph and put it in your diary. A "to follow" that is still missing on the day of travel is how the 2am phone call starts.
Use it when the hotel still has to accept the booking. Some directly contracted hotels sell on request, and the status stays "on request" until they answer.
Subject: Request sent, not yet confirmed: [Hotel name], [check-in date] Dear [Client name], We have sent your request for [number] x [room type] at [Hotel name], [dd-Mmm-yyyy] to [dd-Mmm-yyyy]. This is not a confirmed booking yet. The hotel has to accept it first, and we expect an answer by [date and time, your time zone]. Until we confirm in writing, please do not make non-refundable plans that depend on this hotel. Payment: [We have not charged you yet.] OR [Your payment of [amount] is held and will be refunded in full if the hotel cannot confirm.] If the hotel says no, we will come back to you with [alternative hotel] or a similar option at [price], so you will not have to start again. Kind regards, [Your name] | [Agency name] | [phone]
The subject line says "not yet confirmed" on purpose. A client who reads only the subject should not walk away thinking they are booked.
Use it when you have rechecked the booking three days out. It doubles as the client's check-in cheat sheet.
Subject: 3 days to go: your stay at [Hotel name] from [check-in date] Dear [Client name], We reconfirmed your booking today and everything is as booked. Hotel: [Hotel name], [address] Address for your taxi driver: [address in the local language, if useful] Hotel confirmation number: [HCN] Lead guest: [SURNAME / Given names] Check-in: [Day dd-Mmm-yyyy], from [time] Check-out: [Day dd-Mmm-yyyy], by [time] Room and meals: [room type], [meal plan] To pay at the hotel: [taxes, deposit, extras] Your flight lands at [time] and we have told the hotel to expect you at about [time]. Please bring the passport of the lead guest and the attached voucher. If anything goes wrong at the desk, call or WhatsApp us on [24-hour number] before paying anything. Have a good trip, [Your name] | [Agency name]
Check the arrival night. A flight landing at 01:30 on 15 March needs a room booked from 14 March. Booked from the 15th, the room only starts that afternoon, and the client has nowhere to sleep until then.
Use it when a cancellation has gone through, or the hotel has confirmed a change in writing. Not before.
Subject: [Cancellation confirmed / Booking changed]: [Hotel name], [original dates] (Ref [your reference]) Dear [Client name], [FOR A CANCELLATION] Your booking at [Hotel name] for [dd-Mmm-yyyy] to [dd-Mmm-yyyy] is cancelled. The hotel no longer holds a room for you. Cancellation charge: [none / amount] Refund to you: [amount], by [method], expected by [date] [FOR A CHANGE] The hotel has confirmed the change below. Was: [old dates / room / guest name] Now: [new dates / room / guest name] Hotel confirmation number: [new number, or "unchanged: HCN"] Price difference: [amount to pay / amount refunded / none] New cancellation terms: [deadline in your time zone, or non-refundable] Your previous voucher is no longer valid. Please delete it and use the attached one. Kind regards, [Your name] | [Agency name] | [phone]
A date change can come back at a different price, or as a new booking with new cancellation terms. Confirm both before you write "changed" to a client, and never send this template on a "should be fine".
Use it when you want the hotel itself to confirm it can see the booking, usually 24 to 72 hours before arrival, or when a request really matters to the client.
Subject: Reconfirmation request: [SURNAME], arriving [dd-Mmm-yyyy], conf. no. [HCN] Dear Reservations team, Please could you reconfirm the booking below and note the guest requests. Lead guest: [SURNAME / Given names] + [n] guests Hotel confirmation number: [HCN] Dates: [dd-Mmm-yyyy] to [dd-Mmm-yyyy] ([n] nights) Room and meal plan: [number] x [room type], [meal plan] Please note: the booking may be filed under the name of a wholesaler or tour operator rather than ours. Requests, subject to availability: - Arrival at about [time] on [date]. Please hold the room. - [Bed type / high floor / quiet room / cot for a [age]-year-old] - [Occasion such as a honeymoon or birthday, if the hotel notes these] Please reply to confirm you can see the booking and have noted the requests. Thank you, [Your name], [Agency name] [phone] | [email]
Requests are not guarantees. A hotel that replies "noted" has noted it. It hasn't promised a king bed or a sea view, and you shouldn't tell the client it has.
Leave the rate out of this email too. You are not asking about price, and a booking held under the name of a wholesaler is often at a rate the hotel will not discuss with you. The late-arrival line is the request most worth chasing for a reply.
Template 1 filled in for a fictional family flying from Singapore to Penang. The details match the sample in our voucher guide, so you can compare the email with the voucher.
Subject: Booking confirmed: The Kestrel Hotel Penang, 14-Mar-2027 to 17-Mar-2027 (Ref KST-58213) Dear Ms Tan, Your hotel booking is confirmed. Please check the names and dates below and reply within 24 hours if anything needs correcting. Status: CONFIRMED Hotel confirmation number: KST-58213 Our reference: YA-0412 Hotel: The Kestrel Hotel (sample), 12 Jalan Contoh, George Town, Penang, Malaysia | Tel: +60 4 000 0000 Lead guest: TAN / Mei Ling (Ms) Other guests: TAN / Wei Jie (Mr), TAN / Kai (child, 8 at check-in) Check-in: Sun 14-Mar-2027, from 15:00 Check-out: Wed 17-Mar-2027, by 12:00 (3 nights) Room: 1 x Deluxe Family Room. Bed type: king bed plus sofa bed, requested, not guaranteed Meal plan: Breakfast for 2 adults and 1 child Paid to us: room and breakfast for 3 nights Payable at the hotel: Malaysia Tourism Tax (charged per room per night to foreign guests), incidentals, and any deposit the hotel asks for Cancellation: Free cancellation until Sun 28-Feb-2027 23:59, Singapore time. From Mon 01-Mar-2027: first night charged. No-show: full stay charged. Your voucher is attached. Show it at check-in, on your phone or printed, with your passport. If the hotel cannot find the booking, please do not pay for the room again. Call or WhatsApp us on +00 0000 0000 and we will deal with the hotel directly. Kind regards, Aisha Your Agency Name | +00 0000 0000 | [email protected]
Notice what isn't there: no price paid to the supplier, no supplier name, no promise about the bed. The tourism tax line comes from the Royal Malaysian Customs tourism tax guide, which sets it per room per night. Every destination has its own version of that line, and clients complain about it most when it is missing.
Some clients need the same facts as a letter: for a visa application, for an employer, or because they like paper. Visa checklists often ask for proof of accommodation. The Schengen checklist of the Czech Embassy in Dublin, for example, asks tourists for a confirmed hotel booking for the full stay or another document stating the planned accommodation.
[Agency letterhead: name, address, registration or licence number, phone, email] Date: [dd-Mmm-yyyy] HOTEL BOOKING CONFIRMATION To whom it may concern, This letter confirms the hotel accommodation below, booked through [Agency name]. Guest(s): [SURNAME / Given names] [passport number, only if the consulate asks for it] Hotel: [Hotel name], [full address], [hotel phone] Hotel confirmation number: [HCN] Check-in: [dd-Mmm-yyyy] | Check-out: [dd-Mmm-yyyy] | [n] nights Room: [number] x [room type], [meal plan] Payment: [Paid in full / Deposit paid / Payable at the hotel] The reservation can be verified with the hotel at [hotel email or phone] using the confirmation number above. [Name], [Role] [Agency name] | [phone] | [email]
A caution. The consulate decides what it accepts, not you or us. Some want a confirmation issued by the hotel itself, and the checklist differs by country and by the consulate you apply to. Check the current list before you print anything, and don't put a passport number in a letter unless someone has asked for it.
hotel-booking-confirmation-email-templates.docx: all six email templates, the filled-in example, the confirmation letter and the field checklist, in one Word file you can edit and save as your agency's master copy.
Download the hotel booking confirmation email templatesIt opens in Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice. Save each template as a canned reply in your email program and a confirmation takes a minute, not ten. If several people send confirmations, keep one master copy and change it there.
Each of these turns a two-minute check-in into a phone call.
When a client says the email never arrived, look at the address first. One wrong letter and it went somewhere else entirely.
If it keeps happening, look at your domain. Since February 2024 Google has required everyone sending to personal Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM authentication for their domain, with stricter rules for anyone sending 5,000 or more messages a day (Gmail email sender guidelines). Ask whoever runs your email to check both. Until that is fixed, send the voucher by WhatsApp as well, so nobody travels without it.
When you book a hotel on DMC Quote, the booking page gives you most of what the email needs: the status (confirmed, pending, on request or cancelled), the hotel confirmation number once issued and "Pending" until then, the room and meal plan, the cancellation terms and any mandatory fees payable at the hotel. Copy those across. Four things are worth knowing before you send.
Our voucher is issued under Travel DMC Group. It isn't white-label, and its payment summary shows the total paid, so a voucher forwarded unedited shows your client your net cost. Write the email from the templates above and attach a voucher built from our free voucher template, with the same guest name and hotel confirmation number. Keep ours as your supplier document.
Cancellation deadlines in your account are shown in Singapore time (SGT), and they are set earlier than the deadline the supplier gives us. The gap gives you room to cancel before the real supplier deadline passes. Quote our deadline, not the one the client finds on the hotel website.
A worked example. The portal shows free cancellation until 10-Mar-2027 23:59 SGT. Singapore time is UTC+8 (A*STAR National Metrology Centre), the UAE is 4 hours ahead of GMT (UAE government fact sheet) and India is UTC+5:30 (CSIR-NPL). So that deadline is 19:59 on 10 March for a client in Dubai and 21:29 for a client in Mumbai. We'd write an earlier time still, such as 18:00 the day before, so a client who decides late in the evening doesn't cost you the first night.
The portal handles cancellations. It doesn't do amendments, so a date, name or room change goes through our support team. Wait for their confirmed answer before you send template 5 with "changed" in the subject.
Requests you enter at booking don't print on our voucher, and no hotel guarantees them anyway. If one matters, put it in your client email as a request and send template 6 to the hotel. For the deadline maths in more depth, see the hotel cancellation policies guide.
The registration guide lists the documents by country. Register free →
The booking status, the hotel confirmation number (or a note that it is to follow), your own booking reference, the lead guest name exactly as in the passport, the hotel name and address, check-in and check-out dates with the number of nights, room type, meal plan, what is prepaid and what the guest pays at the hotel, the cancellation deadline with its time zone and a 24-hour contact number.
No. The confirmation email is your message to the client explaining what is booked and what to do. The voucher is the document the guest shows at check-in. Both should carry the same hotel confirmation number and guest name, because that is what the front desk uses to find the booking.
Put the status and the hotel confirmation number first, then the stay details one per line: guest names, hotel, dates, room, meal plan, payments and the cancellation deadline. Attach your voucher, say what to do if the hotel cannot find the booking, and sign off with a number that is answered at night.
We would not. Supplier and portal documents often show the amount paid, which is your net cost, and they carry the branding of another company. Copy the guest name, hotel confirmation number and terms into your own email and your own voucher instead.
Email the reservations team at the hotel with the name of the lead guest, the hotel confirmation number, the dates and the room type, and ask them to reply confirming they can see the booking. Mention that it may be filed under the name of a wholesaler. Leave the rate out, and list special requests as requests.
Check the names, dates, room type, meal plan and confirmation number against your booking first. If everything matches, a short reply thanking them and giving the expected arrival time is enough. If anything differs, reply the same day listing exactly what should change, and keep the thread for check-in.
Often, yes. The Schengen checklist of the Czech Embassy in Dublin, for example, asks tourists for a confirmed hotel booking for the full stay or another document stating the planned accommodation. Each consulate publishes its own checklist, so check whether it accepts an agency confirmation or wants one from the hotel.
Check the address you sent it to for typos, ask the client to look in spam and promotions folders, and resend it with the voucher as a PDF. Send a copy by WhatsApp as well. If mail from your agency keeps landing in spam, ask whoever runs your email to check the SPF and DKIM settings on your domain.
DMC Quote (dmcquote.com) is a B2B travel portal run by Travel DMC Group, Singapore. Travel agencies register free and book hotels, transfers, attraction tickets and tours at net rates.
What you can book
1.5M+ hotels in 190+ countries, airport transfers at 15+ airports, attraction tickets and tours. Ground arrangements only: we don't sell flights.
Cost
Free to register. No subscription, no minimum volume. You pay the net rate and set your own selling price.
Booking status
Each booking shows its status (confirmed, pending, on request or cancelled) and the hotel confirmation number once issued, "Pending" until then.
Vouchers
Issued under Travel DMC Group, not white-label, with the total paid. Send clients your own email and voucher.
Cancellation deadlines
Shown in Singapore time (SGT) and set earlier than the deadline the supplier gives us. Quote that one to your client.
Changes
Cancel in the portal. Date, name or room changes go through our support team.
Contact: [email protected] · +65 8034 8190 (Singapore) · +62 815-1153-4545 (Indonesia)
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