Automated booking reminders via email and SMS

Implementing Automatic Booking Reminders (Email/SMS)

Automatic reminders reduce no-show rates. Customers receive notifications 24 hours and 2 hours before their appointment — via email or SMS — with details and the ability to cancel or reschedule.

Reminder System Structure

Booking Created
    ↓
Schedule Reminders
    ├── 24h before → Reminder Job (queued)
    └── 2h before  → Reminder Job (queued)

Reminder Job runs at scheduled time
    ├── Check: booking still active?
    ├── Send Email (Mailgun / Postmark)
    └── Send SMS (Twilio / SMSAero)

Scheduling Reminders on Booking Creation

// Laravel Observer
class BookingObserver
{
    public function created(Booking $booking): void
    {
        $bookingTime = $booking->starts_at;

        // 24 hours before
        if ($bookingTime->diffInHours(now()) > 24) {
            SendBookingReminder::dispatch($booking->id, '24h')
                ->delay($bookingTime->subHours(24));
        }

        // 2 hours before
        if ($bookingTime->diffInHours(now()) > 2) {
            SendBookingReminder::dispatch($booking->id, '2h')
                ->delay($bookingTime->subHours(2));
        }
    }
}

Email Reminder

class SendBookingReminder implements ShouldQueue
{
    public function handle(): void
    {
        $booking = Booking::find($this->bookingId);

        // Check that booking is still active
        if (!$booking || $booking->status !== 'confirmed') {
            return;
        }

        Mail::to($booking->customer_email)->send(
            new BookingReminderMail($booking, $this->reminderType)
        );

        if ($booking->customer_phone && $booking->sms_opt_in) {
            $this->sendSms($booking);
        }
    }

    private function sendSms(Booking $booking): void
    {
        $message = "Reminder: your appointment " .
            $booking->starts_at->format('d.m at H:i') .
            ". Cancel: " . route('bookings.cancel', $booking->cancel_token);

        // Twilio
        $twilio = new TwilioClient(config('services.twilio.sid'), config('services.twilio.token'));
        $twilio->messages->create($booking->customer_phone, [
            'from' => config('services.twilio.from'),
            'body' => $message,
        ]);
    }
}

Cancelling Reminders

When a booking is cancelled, scheduled jobs must be removed from the queue. In Laravel, this is achieved through unique job IDs and status checks at the beginning of task execution (as in the code above).

SMS Providers for Russia

Timeline

Email + SMS reminders with cancellation on booking cancellation: 3–5 business days.