If you run your calendar and rates through Channex, this one's for you. As of today, BetterSTR connects directly to the Channex channel manager, and like every BetterSTR integration, it's included in the free plan.
Channex is a favourite with hosts who want serious channel management without a heavyweight PMS: one calendar synced across Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, Vrbo and dozens more. What Channex doesn't have is a guest-experience layer. No guidebooks, no in-property screens, no guest automation. That's exactly the gap BetterSTR fills, and now it runs straight off your Channex data.
Paste in one API key and BetterSTR pulls in your properties with their photos, address, description and check-in and check-out times, plus every booking from every connected channel, with guest details, party size, expected arrival time and which channel the booking came from.
What actually syncs
- Properties: photos, description, address, check-in and check-out times. Everything BetterSTR needs to build a guidebook that already knows your place.
- Bookings, from every channel: guest names and contact details, stay dates, party size, expected arrival time, and whether the booking came from Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia or anywhere else Channex syncs.
- Changes, as they happen: when a booking is created, modified or cancelled on any channel, Channex fires a webhook and it lands in BetterSTR within moments. An hourly sync runs as a backstop, so nothing slips through.
One thing worth saying clearly: BetterSTR is strictly read-only on the Channex side. It never touches your rates, your availability or your channel connections. Your distribution setup stays exactly as you left it.
The guidebook goes straight into the OTA chat
This is the part we're most excited about. Most OTA bookings come with a masked relay email and often no phone number, which makes it hard to get anything to the guest. Channex has a messaging relay into Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia conversations, and BetterSTR uses it.
Turn on message delivery and the moment a booking syncs, BetterSTR generates a unique guidebook link for that stay, personalised to that guest, that property and those dates, and sends it straight into the booking's conversation on the channel the guest actually booked through. No email address needed, no copy-paste. You control the wording with your own template, and it's off by default, so nothing gets sent until you say so.
Prefer to schedule it? The same delivery works through BetterSTR's notification rules, so you can send the guide into the OTA chat two days before check-in, alongside your SMS and email automations.
It's not just guidebooks
Once Channex is connected, the whole BetterSTR stack works off the same booking data:
- Digital guidebooks: branded, multi-language, no app download for guests.
- BetterSTR TV welcome screens: greet guests by name on the in-property TV (more on this below).
- WiFi QR codes: guests scan and they're online, no password hunting.
- Guest verification: confirm who's actually staying before check-in.
- SMS and email automation: timed messages keyed off the real check-in and check-out dates from Channex.
- Upsells: early check-in, late check-out and local extras, offered inside the guide.
The highlight: your TV becomes the guest experience
Here's the part no channel manager gives you. Channex has no in-property layer at all, no tablet companion and no TV service tied to the booking. With BetterSTR connected to Channex, the TV in your rental knows exactly who's staying and when, and turns itself into a five-star welcome:
- Personal welcome screen: greets each guest by name for the exact dates of their booking, automatically switching over between stays.
- Guidebook on the big screen: house manual, check-out instructions and local recommendations, browsable from the couch with the normal TV remote.
- WiFi QR on screen: guests point their phone at the TV and they're connected. No laminated cards, no password questions.
- Local activities, weather and upsells: things to do nearby, the forecast for their stay, and your extras (late check-out, mid-stay clean) right where guests are already looking.
- Runs on affordable hardware: any Android TV / Google TV device, or the plug-and-play BetterSTR TV stick from our shop.
Watch the Video
Turn your TV into a 5-star guest experience
See the full rundown on the BetterSTR TV page.
Who this is for
The Channex integration is for hosts who use Channex themselves, with their own Channex login and their own properties in it. That's typically hosts who wanted proper channel management without paying for a full PMS. If your property management system includes Channex under its own brand, connect that PMS to BetterSTR directly instead; you'll get the same data through the front door, and we probably already support it. Check the integrations page.
How to connect (about two minutes)
- Log in to Channex, open your user profile and find the API Keys section. Create a key; you can scope it to just the properties you want in BetterSTR.
- In BetterSTR, go to Integrations → Channex and paste the key in.
- That's it. Your properties and bookings sync straight away, and stay in sync from then on.
One thing to know on the Channex side: API keys can only be created by the billing account owner, so if you don't see the option, ask whoever set up your Channex account.
Common questions
Does this cost anything on the BetterSTR side?
No. All BetterSTR integrations, Channex included, are part of the free plan.
Will it touch my rates or availability?
Never. BetterSTR only reads from Channex. Rates, availability, restrictions and channel connections are yours alone, and we don't consume the booking feed your other systems might rely on either.
How fast do booking changes come through?
Near real-time. Channex fires a webhook when a booking is created, changed or cancelled on any channel, and BetterSTR picks it up within moments. An hourly sync catches anything a webhook might miss.
How do guests get their guidebook?
However you like. The stand-out option is message delivery: the unique guide link goes straight into the booking's Airbnb, Booking.com or Expedia conversation through Channex's messaging relay. It's opt-in, uses your own wording, and needs the Messages app enabled on the property in Channex. SMS, email and the in-property TV all work too.
Do guests need to download an app?
No. Guidebook links open in any browser, and the unique per-booking link is generated automatically for every booking that syncs from Channex.
Want the full feature rundown? See the Channex integration page, or browse all BetterSTR integrations.