On the early morning hours of January 9, 2026, two updates were deployed to PonoRez’s production system:
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TARP Signup Form: A CAPTCHA enhancement was added. The form is now back online.
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Customer Texting: Progress toward two-way texting (reply-enabled messaging)
Two-way texting update
This second item is the first visible step in our transition to a new texting service that supports two-way messaging. It enables customer replies and helps ensure our texting program aligns with applicable regulations and industry guidelines.
Please note: we also implemented several backend improvements that are not yet visible in your interface. As a result, reservations created before this release may display different texting statuses than newly created bookings.
Here are some of the different Text Message Statuses that you might see, and what they mean:
| Can you Text/Bulk Text | Text Message Status | What it Means |
| YES |  | This is a “new” booking via the web, in which the customer checked the opt-in box on your checkout page. |
| NO |  | This is a booking where the opt-in box was not checked. |
| YES |  | This is an existing booking (Legacy Opt-In) that was marked Yes but was not authenticated via two-way communication. |
| NO |  | Booking made over the phone. Where the reservationist checked opt-in, the customer MUST approve by responding YES to the text. |
| YES |  | This is where a text was sent to the customer asking them to approve text messaging – they replied YES. |
| NO |  | This Customer texted STOP to your company’s text message. |
Looking ahead, you will soon have access to a new report, “View Customer Text Activity”, including read/unread status and replies. These threads will also be included in the texting log under each reservation. Texting is often the fastest and most effective channel for communication with vacationing guests, and we are actively enhancing it to support two-way engagement.
Ultimately, we believe the strongest operators will balance high-tech efficiency with high-touch service as a core part of their customer experience. We want to provide you with the tools to do just this! Why because of our name.
The action item from this update is to train reservationist taking phone orders to communicate with customers that:
“Thank you for enabling text messaging. To be compliant with FCC rules, you will need to text back ‘YES’ to the text sent as the reservation is completed.”
HERE IS THE EXACT TEXT MESSAGE AUTO SENT TO A PHONE ORDER CUSTOMER IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CREATION OF A RESERVATION:
Reply START or YES to start receiving text updates for your reservation
with [YOUR Company Name]. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for
help, STOP to unsubscribe.
Privacy policy: https://[companyname.com]/privacy-terms.
A phone is not “authenticated”; the only way opt-in is truly “authenticated” is when the customer does it.
When a customer books themself online, it is an “authenticated” opt-in.
When a customer replies to the auto phone order text (which is sent when the “enable texting” checkbox is checked by a reservationist) with YES, it is an “authenticated” opt-in.