Set up texting
Rex sends SMS confirmations, reminders, and staff messages through a dedicated Twilio number set up for your venue. You don't need your own Twilio account: Rex creates and manages that number for you as part of a short setup wizard, for venues in both the United States and Canada.
Open the Texting integration
On the Global Integrations page, find the Texting card and click Add to start the setup wizard. If texting is already connected, click Settings to reopen it.
Work through the setup wizard
The wizard has four steps: Business Info, Address, Representative, and Phone Number. Use Back and Next to move between them, then click Connect Twilio on the last step.
Enter your business information
Fill in the fields below, then click Next.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Legal Business Name | Your venue's registered business name. |
| Business Type | Your business structure, such as LLC or Corporation. |
| Company Status | Private or Public. Selecting Public reveals Stock Exchange and Stock Ticker fields. |
| EIN / Business Registration Number | Your business tax ID. Used for U.S. carrier registration; see the Canada note below. |
| Website | Your venue's website address. |
| Privacy Policy URL | A link to your venue's privacy policy. |
| Terms of Service URL | A link to your venue's terms of service. |
Enter your venue's address
Fill in your street address, city, state, and ZIP code, then select your Country.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Street Address | Your venue's street address. |
| City | Your venue's city. |
| State | Your two-letter state or province abbreviation, e.g. IL. |
| ZIP Code | Your venue's ZIP or postal code. |
| Country | United States or Canada. Twilio keeps a separate phone number inventory per country, so this choice decides which numbers the Phone Number step can find. |
Set Country to Canada before you reach the Phone Number step. Left on United States, the number search only finds U.S. numbers, even for a Canadian venue.
Enter an authorized representative
Add the name, email, phone number, title, and job position of the person authorized to act for your business. Twilio uses this to verify your account.
Search for a phone number
Type an area code into the search box. Rex searches Twilio's available numbers for the country you set on the Address step and lists any matches with their city and region.
If no numbers turn up, the screen tells you: "No numbers are available for that area code. Try another area code for the same region." Twilio's number coverage doesn't always line up with how phone companies split up an area, so a nearby area code for the same city can turn up numbers where the first one didn't.
For example, a venue in North Bay, Ontario should search area code 249. Twilio has no numbers under 705, even though 705 also serves North Bay.
Below the results, turn on Two-way texting in the host app if you want staff to text guests back from the Host App. It sets up a Twilio Conversations service; leave it off for one-way notifications only.
Click Connect Twilio to finish. Rex provisions your Twilio number and, for a U.S. venue, submits the required carrier registration automatically.
What happens for a Canadian venue
Canada has no equivalent to A2P 10DLC, the U.S. carrier registration program. Once Country is set to Canada, Rex skips the registration step entirely after you click Connect Twilio: there's no approval to wait for. The Texting card shows Connected as soon as setup finishes.
Canadian mobile carriers filter business texting more strictly than U.S. carriers. Twilio recommends a verified toll-free number or a short code for the best delivery on Canadian texts. A regular Canadian local number still sends with no registration required, it just may see more carrier filtering.
What a U.S. venue sees
A U.S. venue isn't affected by any of this. Rex still submits carrier registration (A2P 10DLC) after you click Connect Twilio, and the Texting card's status moves from Registration Not Submitted through Awaiting Brand Approval and Awaiting Campaign Approval before landing on Connected. This can take some time; you don't need to do anything else while it's pending.
Twilio can also reject the registration. If that happens, Rex emails the person named on the Representative step with what to change, and reopens this wizard so you can fix it and submit again. See Texting registration rejected for what each rejection reason means.
Choose which reservation events text guests
Once texting is connected, Rex can text a guest for three reservation events: a new reservation, a change to a reservation, and a cancellation. Each event has its own switch, and all three are off until you turn them on.
Open the venue's texting settings
Find the Texting card and click Settings.
Rex sends none of these texts unless Enable Twilio SMS chat is ON and Phone Number is set. Turn on the individual event switches only after both are in place.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Twilio SMS chat | The master switch for the venue. No text sends while this is off. |
| Enable Auto Confirmation Text | Texts the guest when a reservation is created. |
| Enable Modification Text | Texts the guest when a reservation is changed. This switch is independent of Enable Auto Confirmation Text; turning that switch on does not turn this one on. |
| Enable Cancellation Text | Texts the guest when a reservation is cancelled, whether the guest or the venue cancels it. |
| Phone Number | The venue's Twilio number. Required, or no text sends. |
| Confirmation Text | An optional custom message for the new-reservation text only. It has no effect on the modification or cancellation text; those always use the Rex wording. |
Each message names the venue, states the reservation date, start time, and guest count, and ends with a short link. The guest opens the link to view their own reservation, where they can change or cancel it without signing in. The link is the same for a given reservation across all three messages.
New reservation: "Preview Venue: reservation confirmed for Sep 7 7:00 PM, 4 guests. Manage: https://yourvenue.com/r/Ab3xK9q"
Changed reservation: "Preview Venue: reservation updated to Sep 7 8:30 PM, 4 guests. Manage: https://yourvenue.com/r/Ab3xK9q"
Cancelled reservation: "Preview Venue: your Sep 7 7:00 PM reservation for 4 guests is cancelled. Details: https://yourvenue.com/r/Ab3xK9q"
If Confirmation Text is empty, Rex sends the standard wording shown above. If you enter your own wording, Rex sends that wording and adds the short link to the end. Long custom wording can push the message past one SMS segment, which costs more to send. Clear the field to restore the shorter Rex wording.
The cancellation text links to the reservation so the guest can see that it is cancelled. The guest cannot use that link to make a new reservation.
Once texting shows Connected, set up Quick Texts so hosts can message guests with pre-written messages from the Host App.
Updated Sep 14, 2026
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