Early access feature — Zapier integration is currently in early access for customers using the Growth plan.
Please reach out to support to enable it.
Automatically add new guests from Preno to a Mailchimp audience. This gives you a clean, up-to-date contact list you can use for transactional emails now, and marketing emails later once you've captured consent.
This Zap triggers whenever a new guest is added to Preno and creates (or updates) a matching contact in Mailchimp.
⚠️ Heads up! We're working on adding marketing consent to Preno guest profiles. Once that's available, this Zap will support automatically mapping consent through to Mailchimp's Subscribed / Transactional status, so you won't need to manage it manually. We'll update this article when it ships.
Why we recommend adding guests as transactional contacts
A guest booking with you isn't the same as a guest agreeing to receive marketing emails. Marketing laws in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK require explicit consent before sending marketing campaigns — Privacy Act 2020 (NZ), Spam Act 2003 (AU), and UK GDPR / PECR all apply.
That's why this guide sets the Mailchimp contact status to Transactional rather than Subscribed:
Guests are added to your Mailchimp audience but won't receive marketing campaigns
Transactional contacts don't count toward your Mailchimp billed contact limit
You can still send transactional and automated emails (booking confirmations, pre-arrival info, post-stay messages) via Mailchimp Customer Journeys
When a guest later opts in to marketing — via a signup form, post-stay opt-in email, or in-person sign-up — you can change their status to Subscribed
If you already have a documented consent process at booking, you can choose Subscribed instead in Step 4. Just make sure you can prove consent if a guest complains or unsubscribes.
Before you start
You'll need:
A Preno account with the Open API enabled and connected to Zapier — see Connect Preno to Zapier if you haven't already
A Mailchimp account with at least one audience created
A Zapier account — the free tier works for testing
How to create the Zap
1. Create a new Zap
Log in to Zapier and click Create Zap in the top-left
Give your Zap a name, e.g. "Preno → Mailchimp: New Guest"
2. Set up the Preno trigger
In the Trigger step, search for and select Preno
Under Event, choose New Guest
Click Continue
Under Account, select your connected Preno account. If you haven't connected Preno yet, follow the Zapier setup guide first
Click Continue, then Test trigger
Zapier will pull a recent guest from your Preno account so you can map their details in the next steps. If no guest appears, add a test guest in Preno and try again.
3. Add a filter to exclude OTA aliased emails
Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and other OTAs don't share guests' real email addresses with you. Instead, they pass through aliased addresses like [email protected] or [email protected]. These bounce, never engage, and clutter your Mailchimp audience.
We strongly recommend filtering these out before they reach Mailchimp.
Click the + between your trigger and action steps
Choose Filter by Zapier
Set up the filter with the conditions below (all set to Only continue if...):
Field | Condition | Value |
(Text) Does not contain |
| |
(Text) Does not contain |
| |
(Text) Does not contain |
| |
(Text) Does not contain |
| |
(Text) Does not contain |
|
Make sure the filter logic is set to AND (all conditions must be true) so guests only continue through if their email matches none of the above. Then click Continue.
Tip — OTAs occasionally change their aliased email formats. If you start seeing OTA addresses slip through to Mailchimp, check what alias they're using now and add it to the filter.
4. Set up the Mailchimp action
In the Action step, search for and select Mailchimp
Under Event, choose Add/Update Subscriber. Click Continue
Connect your Mailchimp account if you haven't already
Fill in the action fields:
Field | What to put |
Audience | Select the Mailchimp audience you want to add guests to |
Subscriber Email | Map to the Email field from Preno |
Subscriber Status | Choose Transactional (recommended — see explanation above) or Subscribed (only if you have documented consent) |
First Name | Map to First Name from Preno |
Last Name | Map to Last Name from Preno |
Address | Optional — map Preno's address fields if you want to use Mailchimp's geographic segmentation |
Phone Number | Optional — map Preno's phone field |
Update Existing | Set to Yes so repeat guests don't create duplicate records |
Click Continue, then Test action. Check your Mailchimp audience — your test guest should appear with a Transactional status.
5. Turn on your Zap
Once your test runs successfully:
Click Publish in the top-right
Your Zap is now live. Every new guest added to Preno (with a real, non-OTA email address) will appear in Mailchimp within a few minutes
Tips and good practice
Tag guests by source. Add a Mailchimp tag like
Prenoin the action so you can segment guests who came through your PMS vs other sources.Plan your consent capture. Transactional status is a holding state — to use these contacts for marketing, you'll need to collect consent and change their status to Subscribed. A simple post-stay email with a "join our mailing list" link works well.
Unsubscribes are honoured automatically. Mailchimp won't re-add someone who has previously unsubscribed, even if they book with you again.
Review your filter periodically. If you start working with new OTAs or channel managers, check what their guest email format looks like and add it to your filter if needed.
Troubleshooting
My Zap ran but the contact isn't in Mailchimp.
First, check the Zapier task history. If the run shows the filter step stopped it, the guest's email matched one of your OTA exclusions — that's the filter working as intended. If the filter passed but the Mailchimp step failed, the most common cause is a missing email address on the Preno guest record.
I'm getting "Member Exists" errors.
Make sure Update Existing is set to Yes in the Mailchimp action.
I want to send marketing emails to these guests.
Transactional contacts can't receive marketing campaigns. You'll need to either capture consent separately and change individual contacts to Subscribed in Mailchimp, or build a separate opt-in flow (e.g. a post-stay email with a signup link) that adds consenting guests as Subscribed.
The Zap isn't triggering for new guests.
Confirm in Preno that the guest was added cleanly. If issues persist, get in touch with our team.
Need a hand?
If you run into anything that doesn't match what's described here, or you'd like help setting up a more complex flow (multiple audiences, tagging by booking source, segmenting by property), get in touch with our team and we'll help you out.