Feedback Request Static Links
Written By Chad McGuire (Sparrow Intel)
A static link is a single, reusable feedback request URL. Unlike a feedback request sent by a rule — which creates a one-time link for one specific guest and one specific stay — a static link is the same URL for everyone. Put it on a card in the unit, behind a QR code on the fridge, in your welcome book, or in your direct-booking confirmation email, and any guest can use it to leave you feedback.
Use feedback request rules whenever you can
Rules are the better tool, and static links are the fallback. When a rule sends the request, every guest gets their own unique link, so Sparrow Intel already knows exactly who they are, which property they stayed in, and which reservation the feedback belongs to. Nothing has to be guessed and nothing has to be matched.
A static link can't carry any of that, because the same URL is handed to every guest. Sparrow Intel has to work out who submitted it from what the guest types into the form — and that only works if the guest fills it in accurately.
Reach for a static link when there's no way to deliver a per-guest link — a printed card, a QR code in the unit, a page on your website, a guest who booked outside any connected channel. For everything else, build a rule. See How to Use Feedback Requests.
Creating a static link
- Go to Feedback Requests in the left navigation.
- Scroll to the Feedback Request Static Links card at the bottom of the page.
- Click Create Your First Feedback Request Static Link.
- Choose your settings (below), then click Save Feedback Request.
Your link appears in the Static Links card with a copy button next to it. Copy it and put it wherever your guests will see it. The link never expires and never gets used up — the same URL keeps working for every guest.
Configuring a static link
Click Configure next to your link to change what it collects and what happens afterwards.
Requested Fields. Overall Rating and the free-text comment box are always included and can't be turned off. On top of those you can add Accuracy, Value, Cleanliness, Communication, Location, and Check-In ratings — check the ones you want.
If a guest gives 5-star feedback, would you like to… Three options:
Sending happy guests to Google is the highest-value option for most operators — it grows the review count on the listing that increasingly drives discovery.
The "copy the feedback to an OTA review" option available on rule-driven requests is not offered for static links. Sparrow Intel can only post a review back to an OTA when it knows for certain which booking the feedback belongs to, and a static link can't guarantee that.
Static links are also excluded from the Sent Feedback Requests log, since they aren't sent by a rule. The feedback itself still lands in your review inbox like any other feedback.
What the guest sees
The form is branded with your logo and colors just like an emailed request (see How to Customize Your Feedback Requests). Because the link isn't tied to a booking, it asks the guest two extra questions first — both required:
- Guest First Name
- Departure Date — the date they checked out; it can't be in the future
Everything below that is the ratings and comment box you configured.
How Sparrow Intel matches the feedback to a stay
When the guest submits, Sparrow Intel pulls every reservation departing on the date they entered and compares the name they typed against the guest names on those reservations. Extra spaces, capitalization, and "Last, First" order are all handled, and a first-name-only entry will still match a full name on the reservation.
If exactly one reservation matches, the feedback is attached to it — and to the property that reservation belongs to, so the ratings count towards that property's scores.
If nothing matches, or if two or more guests departing that day share the name, Sparrow Intel deliberately leaves the feedback unattached rather than guessing. The review still arrives in your inbox, with the name the guest typed shown as the reviewer, but with no reservation and no property. That's when you link it by hand.
Manually linking a reservation
- Open the review from your Reviews inbox.
- Near the bottom of the review you'll see No Reservation Linked with a link icon (🔗) beside it.
- Click the link icon to open the Link Reservation dialog.
- Enter the guest's confirmation code from your PMS and click Link.
Sparrow Intel looks the code up live in your PMS and attaches that reservation to the review. The property comes with it — so a review that had no property before is now counted against the right listing, appears in that property's reports, and can be picked up by rules that filter on property or property group.
If several reservations share the code, the dialog lists them — guest name, code, arrival and departure dates, and channel — and links nothing. Use a more specific code from the correct booking.
To change or remove a link, click the same icon again (it becomes Change Reservation). The dialog shows the currently linked reservation, and you can either enter a different confirmation code or click Remove Reservation. Removing the reservation also removes the property that came with it, so the review goes back to being unattributed.
A few things worth knowing:
- Manual linking is available on feedback reviews and on Google Business Profile and Facebook reviews. Reviews that arrive from an OTA with a reservation already attached keep the booking the OTA reported — those can't be relinked by hand.
- The confirmation-code lookup runs against your primary PMS connection and needs a PMS that supports searching by confirmation code. Guesty, Track, Beds24, and OwnerRez do. If your primary connection is Hostaway, Hospitable, or Hostfully, Sparrow Intel will tell you the lookup isn't supported and you'll need to leave the review unattached.
Keeping manual work down
Every static-link submission that needs hand-linking is a small tax on your team. Two things reduce it:
- Label the link clearly wherever it appears. "Enter the first name on your booking and your checkout date" in the surrounding copy gets far more submissions matched on the first try than a bare link does.
- Cover as many stays as possible with rules. A rule-driven request needs no matching at all. Use static links for the gaps that rules genuinely can't reach, not as the default.