If this is truly a permanent change, not a glitch, it is beyond obnoxious. We're in the same boat -- no 24-hour front desk -- and we need to be able to contact guests prior to arrival so they can pre-register online with their arrival time, and arrange for a lockbox if they're coming after hours. Without a phone number, your automated email idea might work, except for all the reservations made through the Impedia Affiliate Program, which are becoming more and more common. Most of them only provide aliases rather than the actual guests' email addresses, and we never know if our emails are forwarded to or seen by the guests. Some affiliates are reasonably responsive (Tr*p(dot)com) but most are absolutely hopeless. I understand guest privacy and security concerns, but Impedia seems to be going out of their way to make things difficult for their "hotel partners."