To protect people from SPAM, nearly every country has a strict regulatory framework governing the sending of SMS messages by businesses. Breaching these rules can result in very harsh fines.
Many countries require that businesses pre-register their sender id (eg MYHOTEL) before sending any business to consumer SMS and sometimes there is a charge for registration. Other restrictions exist, for example:
Many, but not all, countries insist on an opt out message within the SMS, and each country has it's own format.
France. You cannot send SMS between 9pm - 8am, or on Sunday or on a French public holiday.
USA. You are required to estimate the volume of traffic you will send and supply exact examples of your messages for approval along with your application for registration. There are penalties for breaching these rules.
Additionally, where in the UK 1 short message less than 160 characters "costs" 1 credit, for some countries the cost can be 3.5 credits.
So we have taken the decision that SMS messages will only be sent to UK mobile numbers. For this reason, if you are using the SMS feature we suggest entering any overseas guest's mobile number in the regular Telephone field, rather than the Mobile phone field.
