We've released a lot of great improvements around Direct, rental agreements, AI messaging, our mobile app, and more!

Direct

"Guest portal" section in the conversation sidebar

• All check-in and guest portal-related items are now grouped under a new "Guest portal" section in the sidebar⁠⁠​
• This includes guest verification, rental agreements, and upsells
• The Guest portal section is visible across all channels and platforms, with quick access to the Guest portal URL⁠⁠​
• You can learn more about the Guest Portal in this thorough help article

Improved custom site large property lists

• Hosts with many properties (hundreds) could not view the Direct Custom Sites screen because the request would time out
• Now we've pushed a fix and hosts can view the page without it timing out

Don't show 'extend grace period' banner for payments that have been partially refunded

• We were showing the 'extend grace period' banner for payments that were captured and then partially refunded
• We stored the payment status as Refunded, causing the "Extend Grace Period" banner to show for payments that were already captured
• Now we capture partial refunds as a status that stops the banner from showing after a payment has been captured

Request rental agreements and view statuses

• Direct hosts can now see rental agreement status directly in the Inbox conversation view⁠⁠​
• Hosts can also request rental agreements on-demand for Direct booking reservations⁠⁠​

• A "Rental agreements" section has been added to the sidebar, showing agreement status, previews, and signed PDF downloads⁠⁠​

AI and Messaging

Historical messages included for new accounts

• Previously, newly connected accounts would not have historical messaging context for AI to use
• Now, this context is automatically added so that the Suggest with AI results are more accurate
• We're only generating messages for new bookings and messages for existing bookings

Refresh translated messages automatically

• When the translation toggle button was clicked, the user still needed to refresh the page to see the translated message
• We now refresh the messages automatically when the translation is toggled

We're translating guest messages from all OTAs

• Previously, we were only translating messages that came through Airbnb
• Now, all messages can be translated regardless of the channel they come through
• You can read a more thorough explanation of how we translate messages in this help article

Mobile App

Notification counts on the Hospitable Apple app

• We've added badge counts to the iOS app
• Like the Android app, the number reflects the amount of push notifications you’ve been sent
• This will get cleared automatically the next time you open the app
• You do not need to update the app to start getting these badge counts⁠

Integrations

More detailed VRBO financials

• Previously, VRBO refunds were marked as “adjustments” as it wasn't specified when the refund happened
• We are now more detailed in differentiating payments, payment status, and refunds
• We're also parsing the payments, including their status, just like we do for Direct bookings
• These changes give a better overview of the payment status for VRBO reservations

We've released some great features for Direct, Upsells, and our Touch Stay integration!

Direct

Simplifying the guest booking experience 📆

• Guests will have an easier time booking their stay on Direct sites
• A "Done" button was added to the guest picker, making it clearer how to confirm their selection
• We've also made it easier for guests to scroll and select which properties they want to book on their mobile devices

Smoother guest check-in flow 🔑

• We disrupted the booking flow by asking guests to enter a one-time code sent to their email
• Guests will now skip the one-time code process if they proceed straight to check-in tasks right after booking
• If they do not proceed to complete tasks right away, they will be asked to complete the one-time code when accessing the guest portal later
• This will reduce friction and help guests quickly complete their check-in tasks, like guest verification and rental agreements

Upsells

Upsell smart codes can now be previewed 📝

• Now, calendar restrictions on upsells don't apply when viewing the message in preview mode
• Before it was likely that the upsell wouldn't show in the preview given all the timing interactions

Pricing and Calendar

Airbnb Nightly and Weekend Rate Sync 🗓

• Nightly and Weekend Rates are now default pricing fields in Hospitable that sync with Airbnb
• Once manually edited in Hospitable, updates are pushed to Airbnb, and syncing stops⁠⁠​
• Prices are affected by markups: they're marked down when syncing from Airbnb to Hospitable and marked up when syncing from Hospitable to Airbnb⁠⁠​
• Nightly Rate is a required field, while Weekend Rate is optional⁠

Smart Devices

Temperature setting on individual thermostats 🌡

• For thermostats that support two set points, we now have two temperature fields for heating and cooling
• Added help text to understand the options better and made the buttons more intuitive

Integrations

Touch Stay and Hospitable integration is live 📒

• Import your Touch Stay guidebooks into our knowledge hub and better train the messenger to answer property-specific questions
• Learn more about the integration in the post below and in this thorough help article

Touch Stay and Hospitable Integration

Connect Touch Stay with Knowledge Hub 💡

• Every 5 minutes we'll check Touch Stay for guidebooks connected to Hospitable
• If we find any, we'll match them to the properties, and pull in the guidebooks
• Just like with uploading PDFs, our Suggest with AI will learn from the Knowledge Hub content imported from Touch Stay
• Guests will receive more specific answers based on the guidebook's text

• Knowledge Hub will now show Touch Stay as the source of the content
• We've also updated the Touch Stay Apps integration page to reflect the new functionality and added a supporting help article

Users on all plans will love these feature updates!
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Owner Statements 📊

• Owner Statements are available for all plans!
• Whether you're on a host, professional, or legacy plan, you can create an owner statement for a property
• Create your first owner statement here or test it out in an interactive demo

Upsells 🔑

• Upsells are available for all Direct Premium users
• A full description of the feature and how guests can purchase your offerings through the guest portal can be seen here

Metrics

Metrics are faster 🚀

• There's a speed boost that has shown speed increases of 80x, allowing users with up to 100+ properties to export reservations within seconds
• As a bonus, the dashboard for heavy users now loads within seconds for the past 30 days
• Soon, we'll improve the user experience for our enterprise Mogul customers

Upcoming filter in Metrics 🔮

• See the future with the data, without needing to select ‘Custom’ or pick dates manually

Smart Devices

Smart Thermostats private pilot now live 🌡

• Hosts can connect their Ecobee & Honeywell thermostats directly to Hospitable
• You can view temperatures, configure, and manually edit these settings
• Learn why to use smart thermotstists
• Learn which thermostats we support

General

Users can now resync unlinked properties 🏠

• Hosts have an option to checkbox the property details that will allow them to resync

Updates to the office hours page ⏳

• We’ve added some glorious new faces to the office hours page
• You can now find time with the product manager responsible for the feedback you're providing

Upsells

Available to all Direct Premium hosts!

• Upsells allow hosts to make each listing as profitable as possible
• Offer products and services that the guest can self-serve and purchase in the Guest Portal
• Hosts configure their upsell products within Hospitable's Guest Experience section

Who has access?

• Users on Direct Premium
• Direct Basic and other channels coming soon

How do guests see and purchase upsells?

• Upsells are available in the Guest Portal
• Hosts can add the Smart Upsell short code to their messaging rules, which will automatically offer upsells to the guest when available
• Every conversation has a link to the Guest Portal to view and purchase offerings

What happens after upsells are purchased?

• Early check-in and late check-out upsells automatically adjust the time of the booking in our system
• All automated messaging and logic will automatically pick this up and reschedule messages, smart locks, etc.
• Purchased upsells are displayed in the inbox conversation
• The host also gets a push notification about the purchase

How do payments work?

• The payment used for the booking will be the default for upsells for express checkout
• More payment options are coming soon

Resources

• 📺 Interactive Tour
• Upsells support article
• Smart Code support article

Exciting updates across the board, especially for Direct and Owner Statement users!
​

Direct

Reviews on Direct sites 🪄

• We are now showing reviews from Airbnb on Direct sites helping you convert more bookings
• It's currently only for sites using the City and Clean templates (more to come)
• A maximum of 2 reviews are shown on the home or property page
• Sorting is chronological, so the most recent reviews are shown, and we'll only pull your 5-star reviews
• You can explore this interactive guide to see how guests will see reviews on your Direct site

Dynamic payout route calculation 🏦

• We used to hardcode bank routing based on country code, which would sometimes fail with cross-border payouts
• We've now improved how we route cross-border payouts to get you paid faster and more reliably

Hosts can create custom quotes on blocked days 📅

• We used to prevent hosts from creating custom quotes if the dates were blocked
• We will now differentiate between hard blocks (e.g. reservations, unpriced dates) and soft blocks (e.g. closed for check-in/check-out, blocked dates)
• You'll be warned when dates are blocked but will still be allowed to create the custom quote, as long as there isn’t a conflicting reservation

Owner Statements

Transactions can now handle credits to the owner 💳

• When a host adds a transaction, they can now select Expense (default) or Credit
• If Credit is selected, the category option becomes Reimbursement, and the amount of the credit will be owed to the owner
• Hosts can do this if they owe money to the Owner for any reason (e.g. damages were covered by AirCover for a booking)
• Expenses and Credits both show as transactions on the statement and are summed to get a total

API and Integrations

New connected apps page 🔌

• Users reported certain apps still pushing data through to Hospitable, even though they stopped using the other third-party app
• We now have a page where you can see all your apps that are connected to Hospitable
• We've implemented the ability to disconnect an app that you no longer need
• This new page can be found under the Apps section in Hospitable

Check In Check Out restriction in the API 🔑

• We now support the ability to update the calendar check-in and check-out restrictions using the API
• We are also returning this information in the get calendar API as well

General

Updated how we display property tags 🏷

• We've truncated the list of tags that are shown in the properties list and the thread header
• If there are more than 5 tags, the user will see a "+ # more tags" link
• When clicked, it will display all of the tags associated in alphabetical order

Owner Statements

We received fantastic feedback from users about Owner Statements, specifically on our Transactions feature. Our product team synced and was able to quickly push an update!

Now you can add credits to your monthly owner statements! This is important when money needs to be reimbursed back from a booking and passed on to the property owners.

You'll see expenses and credits both show as transactions on the statement and are summed to get a total.

• If the total is positive, that means the owner owes the property manager, and the statement summary will say 'Expenses due to PM'
• If the total is negative, that means the property manager owes the owner, and the statement summary will say 'Reimbursements due to Owner'

An example of when this would be used is if any damages are protected by Airbnb's AirCover service and need to be reimbursed to the property owner.

Simply go into Operations > Owner Statements > Transactions and choose the credit option at the top of the screen. You can then add the details below and will see it reflected in your next statement!

These features are available for users on our Mogul plan, but you can test out Owner Statements and this new Transactions functionality in this interactive tour!

Here are some product improvements that will make your guests happy they booked with you!

Direct

Google Pay is now available for guests at checkout 💳

• Direct Premium customers can now offer an express checkout for guests who'd like to pay with Google Pay and Apple Pay
• This will increase conversion by letting guests quickly and conveniently complete their booking

Improved sorting for multi-property search 🏘

• Previously, guests searching for properties would be suggested ones based only on availability and distance
• Now, the properties will be sorted in a much smarter way, with results ranked by availability, distance, and capacity of the property
• This will ensure guests who are comparing multiple properties will see the ones that are a perfect fit first

Improved multi-property search performance 🚅

• For sites that have multiple properties listed, the speed at which they show has dramatically been improved
• This will cut the loading speed of the site, making it more professional and reliable for guests to complete bookings

Guest Experience

A visually stunning Guest Portal redesign is live 🌅

• We've redesigned what the guest interacts with to make it more intuitive and professional-looking
• Guests will now easily be able to find booking details, complete pre-check-in tasks, and explore upsells you offer, like late check-out

Guests can add their stay to their calendar in the Guest Portal 📆

• It's now easy for guests to keep their schedule on track by quickly adding their stay to their preferred calendar
• We currently support Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft calendars, but they can be added to any application using the provided file

General

Copy and paste phone numbers on Safari 🖥

• Customers using the Safari browser were unable to copy and paste guests' phone numbers
• This has been resolved so you can quickly share phone numbers where you need them

Huge feature releases this week for Direct, Owner Statements, Booking.com, and more!

Direct

We've revamped the booking flow by enabling Apple Pay for Direct Premium users 🫰

• We've implemented a solution that will make it easier for us to add more payment methods to the checkout flow
• To use Apple Pay, guests must be using a supported browser (Safari on iOS or MacOS)
• We are working on adding Google Pay as a payment method option as well, but need to finish testing

Direct Premium guest verification now happens in the guest portal, using our guest verification screens ✅

• We recently released Ad-Hoc Guest Verification that's powered by Authohost and allows guests to complete the verification in a guest portal
• Direct Premium reservations used a different method, which redirected guests to an Autohost-owned flow
• We've merged these experiences so that Direct Premium reservations will now complete their verification in the new Hospitable hosted guest portal
• These updates will make it easier for our team to quickly improve the guest verification process based on hosts' feedback

Abandoned booking reminders 💸

• We want to help hosts convert more Direct visitors to completed bookings
• There is an opportunity to do so with visitors to Direct sites abandon their booking, meaning they never finish making the reservation
• Now we'll send emails to guests who have abandoned their Direct booking, to help reclaim a percentage of those bookings that would otherwise have been lost

Owner Statements

A new and improved version of Owner Statements has landed 📈

• We now have full control and ownership of statements, which means we can move faster and easily make improvements
• Commissions and fee ownerships are now fully customizable, allowing property managers to set up any kind of agreement they have with their owners
• The statement template has been overhauled, making it easier to cross-check payout calculations
• You can now apply an Agreement (commissions plus earnings from fees) to a future date, helping property managers who are renewing and updating agreements in the future

Delete commission period 🗓️

• We can now delete individual reservation agreements per property
• It needs to be a period without a predefined end date (so the last one that was added)
• It cannot overlap with a statement that is already published
• If there is a previously active agreement, that end date will be unset and will apply indefinitely.

Metrics

Secondary users: fixed primary host switching from the Metrics navigation bar 📊

• When in Metrics, it is now possible to switch user context for secondary users

Booking.com

Introducing Booking.com's "Request to Book" support 📘

• Hospitable will fetch and display Request to Book in the app, which will be practically identical to Airbnb's inquiries
• The only major difference is hosts are not yet allowed to send replies to inquiries, but this has been added to the roadmap

Inbox

Display expected payout for inquiries in one of the sidebars 💰

• We are now displaying the expected payout for inquiries on the left-hand sidebar before they get accepted

Guest Experience

Suggest with AI now uses the host's preferred name 🤖

• If the host's preferred name is set on Airbnb, that name will be given as the host's name to the Suggest with AI prompt

API / Connect

V2 webhooks for hosts as a private pilot ✋

• Since the launch of the V2 API, we've had many requests to make the new webhook formats available for both hosts and vendors
• This has now been launched to all hosts who requested in Featurebase for a short pilot, with the aim of a full release next week
• This is the final release for us to set a date for the deprecation of our V1 API

API source for calendar data 📅

• We now show which vendor is the source for calendar updates (rather than just API)
• This is another win now PriceLabs has migrated to the V2 API
• These are not back-dated but should start populating when vendors sync calendar data again

Calendar restriction on the API 🔒

• If an Airbnb channel is considered calendar-restricted because of its scopes, we now return an error when someone tries to update that property's calendar via the API

General

Format guests' telephone numbers 📞

• We'll try to convert the number to the international format with a + and the country code based on the guest's country and given phone number
• This will make clicking them easier to take action

The time picker now rolls over in 12 hour-mode 🕰️

• For people who have 12-hour mode enabled and trying to use the time picker, the rollover from AM to PM was unclear and now it's easier to use

We are currently in-progress with upgrades to how Hospitable connects to your Airbnb accounts. If you have not yet, please review our main help center article that goes into detail on the topic.

Please also look out for emails from us. We are in the process of sending out personalized communication and instructions based on the nature of your Airbnb listings.