Does HostPal support SMS for guest messaging?

Short answer: the AI concierge replies on WhatsApp and Telegram, not SMS. If a guest texts your HostPal number, HostPal handles it differently depending on your number type — and the guest never gets silence.

Why no AI replies on SMS:

• WhatsApp has a 24-hour conversation window that makes back-and-forth replies essentially free. SMS bills every single message individually, which makes chatty in-stay support uneconomical.
• A2P 10DLC compliance (US carrier rules) treats automated SMS replies as a regulated category that would require per-host campaign registration and carrier approval.
• International SMS is 10–20× the cost of WhatsApp in most non-US markets, where AI replies would compress margins below sustainable levels.

What happens to inbound SMS — dedicated-number accounts:

A forward arrives on your host channel containing the guest's phone number, the SMS text, and (when we can match the phone to an active reservation) the property the guest is staying at. You reply to the guest directly from your phone — the AI stays out of the SMS thread.

What happens to inbound SMS — shared-bucket numbers (the default):

Because one number serves up to 50 host accounts and SMS messages rarely include identifying information, we can't reliably forward to the right host. Instead, HostPal sends the guest a single transactional auto-reply pointing them to WhatsApp and their booking-platform message thread:

"Hi! HostPal's concierge replies on WhatsApp / Telegram only. Please use the WhatsApp link from your host's welcome message, or contact your host through your Airbnb / Booking message thread. (Automated reply.)"

The auto-reply is throttled to once per guest phone per 24 hours, so even a chatty guest sees it once and isn't spammed. The original SMS is then dropped (you don't receive it on your host channel — same identification problem), but the guest knows the message landed somewhere and is told how to reach you.

What about voice calls?

If a guest dials your HostPal number, Twilio plays a brief recorded message — "This number is for text messages only. Please open the WhatsApp link from your host's welcome message, or contact your host directly through the booking platform you used." — and hangs up. This avoids the otherwise-confusing default behaviour (silence or carrier error tone) for callers on a text-only number.

What to tell SMS-only guests:

Point them to the WhatsApp link for the property (QR code or short URL — both are on the property page in the dashboard). One click installs the conversation in WhatsApp, and the AI concierge takes over from there. For lockout-style emergencies where the guest can't reach WhatsApp, configure your Emergency contact in the property settings — when you set the Access-code policy to "Off" the concierge shares your personal number, so the guest can call you directly without HostPal in the path.