If you manage your properties with Host Tools (Hosttools), you can connect it to BetterSTR to sync your properties and reservations automatically. Every booking then gets its own personalised digital guidebook, with no manual data entry.
What you’ll need
- A BetterSTR account
- Your Host Tools login (or, if you prefer, your Host Tools auth token)
BetterSTR connects to one property management system at a time, and each Host Tools account can only be linked to one BetterSTR account.
Steps to Connect Host Tools with BetterSTR
Open Integrations
Log in to BetterSTR and click Integrations at the top of the page.Open the Hosttools integration
Find Hosttools in the list (you can type “host tools” in the search box) and click Connect.Connect your account
Choose one of the two ways to connect:- (1) Connect with Host Tools (recommended): you sign in to Host Tools, approve access for BetterSTR, and land back on BetterSTR. There is no token to copy.
- (2) Paste an auth token: click Prefer to paste an auth token instead?, paste your token into Hosttools Auth Token and click Connect with Auth Token. BetterSTR checks the token with Host Tools straight away and tells you if it isn’t accepted.
Where to find your auth token
You only need this if you connect with a token. In Host Tools, open your Settings page (app.hosttools.com/settings) and copy your auth token. If you can’t find it, Host Tools support can help.
Choose which properties get guidebooks
As soon as you connect, BetterSTR imports your Host Tools listings and starts importing their upcoming reservations (up to two years ahead) in the background. This usually takes a minute or two.
(1) Every imported property starts switched on. Switch off any property you don’t want guidebooks for.
(2) Click Update Selected to save. When you switch a property back on, its reservations are synced again.
(3) The Sync panel lets you run a sync yourself:
- Sync Properties re-reads your listings from Host Tools. Properties no longer in Host Tools are switched off, and BetterSTR asks whether you want to delete them.
- Sync Reservations re-imports current and upcoming reservations for the properties that are switched on.
- Sync All History imports past reservations too, back to 2015. It runs in the background and can be requested once an hour.
Each property row also has an eye icon to view the property’s guidebook, and two small sync icons to re-sync just that property or just its reservations.
What happens after you connect
- New, changed and cancelled bookings arrive on their own. Host Tools tells BetterSTR about reservation changes as they happen, and BetterSTR double-checks your switched-on properties every hour, so a missed update is picked up automatically.
- New properties appear automatically. Your Host Tools listings are re-read once a day, so new listings and changes to names, addresses, time zones and photos come through without you doing anything. Click Sync Properties if you want them sooner.
- Each guest gets their own guide link in Host Tools. When a new reservation comes in, BetterSTR saves that guest’s personal guidebook link on the reservation in Host Tools, ready to include in your Host Tools guest messages.
- Each guidebook shows the guest’s name and their actual check-in and check-out dates and times.
- Create reusable guide templates and apply them across your portfolio to keep every property consistent (see default guide template).
- Generate shareable links and QR codes for specific guidebook pages, such as appliance instructions, to place on fridges, remotes or welcome cards (see links and QR codes).
If syncing stops
If you connected with Connect with Host Tools and the sign-in expires, the Hosttools page shows a yellow banner. Click Reconnect with Host Tools, or Use Auth Token to switch to a token instead.
You can switch between the two connection methods at any time from the Integration section of the Sync panel (Reconnect Host Tools / Use Auth Token). Your properties and guides stay as they are.