Overview
You must own a domain to use a custom From email address. Public email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or Microsoft addresses cannot be used.
When setting up a custom From email address (e.g., donotreply@reservations.mydirectbooking.com), you'll need to configure three essential security settings on your web domain server:
SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Authenticates that emails are sent from approved servers
DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail): Provides email signature verification to prevent spoofing
DMARC (Domain Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance): Defines handling policies for emails that fail authentication
Without these settings, your custom email address will automatically revert to your direct booking's default address:
APAC region: donotreply@book-directonline.com
EMEA region: donotreply@direct-book.com
If an email is flagged as spam, it could be rejected by the recipient's email provider, displayed with a security warning, or delivered to the spam folder.
Configuration instructions
Implementation steps may vary depending on your domain service provider. Allow 24-48 hours for changes to take effect after configuration.
If you need assistance configuring these records, please contact your web domain service provider directly. They can provide specific guidance for your hosting environment.
Configure SPF record
To allow Direct booking to send e-mails on your behalf, follow these steps to update the SPF record:
Log in to your domain service provider
Navigate to DNS (Domain Name System) configuration settings
For a new SPF record:
Create a TXT record for your email domain
Add: v=spf1 include:_spf.siteminder.com ~all
For existing SPF record:
Add: include: _spf.siteminder.com to your existing record
Example: v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:_spf.siteminder.com -all
Save changes
Configure DKIM record
Log in to your domain service provider
Navigate to DNS configuration settings
Create a TXT record with name: siteminder._domainkey
Add value: v=DKIM1; h=sha256; k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQC3J1Zn9R4OD2jKdpfPni85BQyAC/hf3qJqb9nKgMJhu+HuGUdu1uTOMjPkc5fLcXpeOMtGWu3C8N/2Wzq410yJRj6FxVVO37Ti2oXdu0DQPA+RiWJdPUPtKI/r2Sg3DycWbkg3PcyzgdVm/ZPCkxCeS9yCNty1J6t7T2kRNDON8QIDAQAB
Save changes
Configure DMARC record
To help the recipient’s server know what to do if a validation fails (for example, to either quarantine or reject the message), follow these steps to configure the DMARC record:
Log in to your domain service provider
Navigate to DNS configuration settings
Create a TXT record with name: _dmarc. followed by your domain name
Example: _dmarc.reservations.mydirectbooking.com
Add value: v=DMARC1; p=none
Save changes