Booking.com stopped sending guest phone numbers. Here is what a hostel does now.
Since 28 September 2026 the phone field on Booking.com reservations arrives empty. Where the number still is, what breaks at a hostel desk, and three messages to send instead.
Published: 6 October 2026 - 9-minute read
Since 28 September 2026, Booking.com no longer includes the guest's phone number in the reservations it sends to a PMS or channel manager, for every property in the world. You can still read the number in the Booking.com extranet and the Pulse app, and you can still message the guest through Booking.com.
So the blank field isn't a bug. It does break a few things a hostel desk relies on: the WhatsApp welcome, the door code by text, the call to the guest who said they'd be in by ten and isn't. This page goes through what changed, where the number still is, and what to do instead, starting tonight.
What exactly changed?
Booking.com's developer documentation puts it in one line: the Reservations API no longer includes guests' phone numbers, globally, from 28 September 2026. Here's what that means for each kind of booking.
| Situation | What you get | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A new reservation | No phone number. The OTA format leaves the telephone element out; the B.XML format sends it empty | Booking.com developer documentation |
| A change or cancellation, including past-dated bookings | The same: no phone number | Booking.com developer documentation |
| A reservation you received before 28 September | The number you already have stays; it isn't taken away afterwards | Reported by Smoobu, Amenitiz and Revenue Hub |
| Name, dates, rate, room and the masked @guest.booking.com email | Unchanged | Reported by the same vendors |
Why did Booking.com do it?
The reason partners relay from Booking.com is fraud: a rise in WhatsApp and text messages that quote real reservation details, pass themselves off as the property, and push guests to pay again or hand over card details. Fewer copies of a guest's number in fewer systems means fewer places it can leak from.
Separately, in April 2026 Booking.com confirmed that unauthorised third parties had accessed guests' booking information, including names, email addresses and phone numbers (its statement, as quoted by Fox News on 22 April 2026). No source we could read links the two, so we're not saying one caused the other.
Why is the phone number blank on my Booking.com reservations?
Because Booking.com no longer sends it. It's not your PMS, not your channel manager and not a setting you can switch back on. Every property on Booking.com gets the same empty field.
Tell the team it's expected, so nobody spends an evening reconnecting the channel. And don't build anything on placeholder numbers like 0000000000: some systems show those for other platforms, but Booking.com's documentation says this field is simply absent or empty.
Where can I still find the guest's phone number?
In Booking.com itself. In the extranet, go to Reservations, open the booking, and click "Show phone number" under the reservation details. In the Pulse app, it's on the booking in the Bookings tab. Booking.com's own partner help describes the same step.
It's there when you need it, but it's a lookup, one booking at a time. That's fine for tonight's two late arrivals and hopeless for a welcome message to every guest.
What breaks at a hostel desk, and what to do instead
Go through what your desk used the phone number for. Most of it has a replacement; one or two jobs need a new habit.
| What you used it for | Does it still work? | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp welcome or pre-arrival message | Not on its own: there's no number to send to | Send it through Booking.com messaging, and ask for the guest's WhatsApp number in it |
| Door or key code by text | Not for new Booking.com guests | Send it by Booking.com message or email, or hand it over at online check-in |
| Calling a late arrival at 1am | Only if you looked the number up first | Each afternoon, pull the numbers for tonight's late arrivals from the extranet |
| Coordinating with a group or tour leader | Only if the leader gives you a number | Ask for it in your first reply to the group booking |
| Chasing a possible no-show | Slower | Message through Booking.com first; look the number up if you need to call |
| Guest registration or ID records that ask for a phone | Not from Booking.com | Collect it at check-in. Rules differ by country, and this isn't legal advice |
| Messages with a link to your website | Riskier inside Booking.com chat | Keep links out of the chat; Booking.com now hides content it flags as phishing |
How do I contact a Booking.com guest without a phone number?
Four ways, in the order most hostels will use them.
- Booking.com messaging. It works for every guest and keeps a record on the booking. With a shared inbox, the team answers from the same screen as the calendar, without logging in to the extranet. The limit: Booking.com may hide parts of a message it flags as phishing, so keep links and payment requests out of it.
- The masked email. Every guest has an address ending in @guest.booking.com that forwards to them. Fine for the confirmation and directions; not much use at 1am.
- Ask for their number. Put one line in the pre-arrival message: what time will you arrive, and what's the best WhatsApp number to reach you on? Most guests answer, and then it's a number they chose to give you.
- Collect it at check-in. With online check-in, the guest fills in their details before arrival, phone number included, so it's on the booking before they reach the door.
A 10-minute fix for the desk
Do this once, today.
- 1. Tell the team. A blank phone field on a Booking.com booking is normal from now on.
- 2. Put Booking.com messaging where the team works. If it lives in your PMS inbox, nobody needs the extranet password for it.
- 3. Rewrite the pre-arrival message. Ask for an arrival time and a WhatsApp number. The message is below.
- 4. Add an afternoon check. List tonight's Booking.com arrivals and pull the numbers for anyone arriving late from the extranet.
- 5. Switch off automations that assume a number. Any text or WhatsApp rule that fires from the reservation now fires at nothing.
- 6. Add the anti-scam line to every message, so guests know what a real message from you looks like.
Three messages you can copy
Plain enough to send as they are; change the bits in brackets. Send them through Booking.com messaging, where every guest gets them. There are more in our guest message templates, and once a guest gives you a number, WhatsApp messages can take it from there.
Pre-arrival: arrival time and a number
2 to 3 days before arrival
Hi [name], we're looking forward to having you at [hostel] on [date]! Two quick things so we can look after you on the night: 1. Roughly what time do you think you'll arrive? 2. What's the best WhatsApp number to reach you on, in case your plans change? Check-in is from [time] and reception is open until [time]. If you'll be later than that, tell us and we'll sort out how you get in. See you soon, [your name]
The anti-scam line
At the end of every message
We'll only ever message you through Booking.com or from [your email]. We will never ask for card details on WhatsApp or by text. If anyone does, it isn't us.
The late-arrival nudge
On the day, mid-afternoon
Hi [name], just checking in about tonight. Are you still on track to arrive around [time]? Reply here or on WhatsApp at [your number] and we'll be ready for you.
Is it fine to collect the number myself?
Usually, yes, as long as there's a reason tied to the stay, like reaching the guest on the night they arrive, and you keep it to that. Ask, say why, and use it for the stay.
WhatsApp has its own rule: under its business messaging policy, a guest has to opt in before a business messages them there. A guest who sends you their number in answer to your question has done that. This isn't legal advice; data rules differ by country.
This is the second time
Booking.com made guest email addresses anonymous years ago, replacing them with the @guest.booking.com addresses that still forward today. Operators talked it through on the hostelmanagement.com forum at the time, and the practical answer then was the same as now: collect the guest's contact details yourself, at check-in or with a form.
The hostels that kept that habit have barely noticed this change.
How HostelMate handles it
A Booking.com reservation with no phone number comes into HostelMate like any other booking; the phone field is simply empty. If you look the number up in the extranet, staff can add it to the guest and it's saved. Online check-in asks every guest for a phone number, and the check-in link goes out by email, so Booking.com's message filtering doesn't touch it.
In practice the routine is short: the number arrives from the guest at online check-in, and for tonight's late arrivals the desk copies it from the extranet.
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Questions hostels are asking
Because Booking.com stopped sending guest phone numbers to every PMS and channel manager on 28 September 2026. It's the same for every property, and it isn't a fault in your system.
Yes. Booking.com's developer changelog (opens in a new tab) says the Reservations API no longer includes guests' phone numbers, globally, from 28 September 2026.
Yes, in the extranet: open the reservation and click "Show phone number" under the reservation details. It's also on the booking in the Pulse app. Booking.com's partner help on contacting guests (opens in a new tab) describes the same steps.
Numbers you received before 28 September stay where they are; vendors including Smoobu and Amenitiz report that they aren't removed. New bookings, changes and cancellations arrive without one.
Message them through Booking.com, which works for every guest, or use their @guest.booking.com email. Then ask for their own number in the pre-arrival message, or collect it at online check-in.
Yes, once the guest gives you their number. Ask for it through Booking.com messaging or at online check-in; a guest who sends it to you has opted in to hear from you there.
No. Every connected system gets the same empty field from Booking.com. In HostelMate the booking comes in as normal and you can add the number later. More on how our Booking.com connection works.
Message through Booking.com first and look the number up only if you need to call. If unpaid bookings are the ones that don't turn up, how Rovers stopped no-shows holding beds is worth a read.
Booking.com will keep changing what it shares. The number a guest gives you themselves is the one that doesn't go away.