New workspaces can't send customer-facing emails until they've connected a live payment gateway. It's a one-time step, and it happens automatically — there's nothing to request or wait on.
What you'll see
Until you connect one, your dashboard shows a banner asking you to connect a payment gateway, and messaging actions (like Message customer on bookings, customers, and departures) are disabled with a tooltip explaining why.
How to turn it on
Connect a live Stripe account from Settings → Connect Stripe. As soon as it's connected, messaging switches on automatically — the banner disappears and the disabled actions become available. A test-mode Stripe account doesn't count; it needs to be live.
See Connecting your Stripe account for how to set that up.
Good to know
This only affects customer-facing emails (booking confirmations, messages to travelers, and their portal login links). It doesn't affect your own team's access to Samba.
Once unlocked, it stays unlocked — even if you later disconnect Stripe.
A customer without a real email on file (which can happen with some channel bookings) won't receive emails either way, regardless of this setting.
If your dashboard says your account is under review instead of asking you to connect a gateway, contact Samba support.
While messaging is off, a booking's Sent Emails tab explains why nothing has gone out yet instead of just showing an empty list.