Booking no longer sends the guest phone number to your PMS
As of 28 September 2026 Booking.com stopped sending the guest phone number via API. What changed, why, and how to keep communicating with your guests.
What changed in the Booking.com API
As of 28 September 2026, Booking.com stopped sending the guest phone number to systems connected through its connectivity API, both PMSs and channel managers. The change is global and applies to all new reservations, as well as to modifications and cancellations made after that date.
This is not a bug in your software or a setting you can switch back on. It is a Booking.com decision that affects every connectivity provider equally. The rest of the reservation data (guest name, dates, rates and availability) keeps syncing exactly as before.
Why Booking is removing the phone number
The stated goal is to protect travellers from phishing. In recent months there has been a rise in scams where a third party uses real reservation data to message the guest via WhatsApp or SMS, pressuring them to pay again or verify their card. The fewer systems that store the phone number, the smaller the attack surface. In short:
- The phone number no longer circulates outside the platform, making fraud through unofficial messaging harder.
- The number is still available to the property, but only inside Booking's Extranet and the Pulse app.
- Phone numbers already stored in your system before the change are kept; only new or modified reservations arrive without it.
Which hotel tasks are affected
The phone number was used for very specific operational tasks. With that data no longer reaching the PMS, it is worth reviewing everything that relied on it:
- Automated SMS or WhatsApp messages sent using the number received from Booking.
- Sending access codes or self check-in instructions by phone.
- Confirming arrival times and coordinating late check-ins.
- Notices about add-ons such as a cot, extra bed or parking.
How to keep communicating with your guests
Booking now recommends its official messaging and the guest's masked email address, both of which continue to work normally. The key is to stop relying on the phone number for critical communications and to centralise conversations in the PMS.
At MisterPlan, our AI-powered WhatsApp (GuestMind) attends to the guest automatically through official messaging, summarises the conversation, translates into more than 30 languages and escalates to the front desk only when needed. It does not require the guest's phone number to work.
In addition, the remote precheckin in Checkin Tools lets the guest provide their own contact details before arrival, with their consent. This way you regain a direct channel to send access instructions or the invoice without breaching Booking's terms.
What to do this week
Four simple steps cover almost the entire impact of the change:
- Review the PMS automations that sent SMS or WhatsApp using the Booking phone number and move them to official messaging.
- Set up message templates in the Extranet for welcome notes, arrival instructions and reminders.
- Enable precheckin so the guest shares their contact details directly, with their permission.
- Remind guests that your property will never request payments via WhatsApp or SMS: one sentence that prevents scams and protects your reviews.
The advantage of having everything integrated
When the PMS, the booking engine and the channel manager form a single system, a change like this is absorbed without friction: the reservation still arrives complete, communication is routed through official messaging and automations do not break. There are no external modules relying on data that no longer arrives.
If you want to prepare your hotel for this change and stop depending on the OTAs' phone number, request a free demo and we will show you how to manage all guest communication from a single place.
Sources and references
This change has been documented by Booking.com and confirmed by other PMSs and channel managers in the industry. Expedia and Airbnb applied equivalent measures to hide the guest's contact details on earlier dates.