Digital Guidebooks for Hospitable
Add BetterSTR from the Hospitable App Marketplace and send every guest their guide with %guidebook%
INTEGRATION
Add BetterSTR from the Hospitable App Marketplace and send every guest their guide with %guidebook%
Hospitable hosts already let automated messages do most of the talking, usually across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and direct bookings at once. BetterSTR was the first PMS integration we built, and it fits into that routine with one placeholder: write %guidebook% in a Hospitable message template and each guest receives the link to their own guide. Listings, WiFi, house rules and photos come from Hospitable, so most guides are close to finished the moment you connect.
Everything below comes through Hospitable's own API, for every channel Hospitable manages for you.
| Data | Synced? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Properties | Yes | Name, address, map pin, bedrooms, beds, bathrooms, capacity, amenities, currency and time zone. |
| Reservations | Yes | New bookings, changes and cancellations. Airbnb holds made while a guest is being verified are left out until they become real bookings. |
| Guest name and phone | Yes | Phone numbers come through for nearly every booking, including Airbnb. |
| Guest email | Partial | Present for Booking.com, Vrbo and direct bookings. Airbnb rarely shares it. |
| Party size and channel | Yes | Total guest count and the platform the booking came from. |
| Door codes | No | Hospitable doesn't expose lock codes through its API. Write entry steps into the guide instead. |
| Check-in and check-out times | Yes | From each Hospitable property. |
| Photos, descriptions and WiFi | Yes | Listing photos, summary, house rules, guest access, neighbourhood notes, and WiFi name and password where you've filled them in. |
| Booking links | Yes | Airbnb, Vrbo and your Hospitable direct booking site, unless you set your own in BetterSTR. |
| Reviews | Yes | New guest reviews and your responses. |
In Hospitable, click Apps in the left menu, then Guestbook under Integrations, and choose BetterSTR.
Approve access. If you don't have a BetterSTR account yet, one is created for you with no signup form.
Properties import first, then upcoming reservations for the next two years. You can also start from Connect on BetterSTR's Integrations page.
Hospitable notifies BetterSTR by webhook when a reservation is created or changed and when a property is added or edited, so new bookings are stored within moments of arriving in Hospitable. Once a week BetterSTR also re-reads each account's full property list, which tidies up anything a webhook missed. Access tokens are refreshed automatically in the background.
Hospitable doesn't add its own shortcodes to the BetterSTR guide builder. Its data fills the standard ones, such as {{wifi_ssid}}, {{check_in_time}} and {{booking_links}}. The Hospitable-specific part works in the other direction:
%guidebook% in any Hospitable automated message and Hospitable swaps in that guest's link when it sends.%guidebook%? Turn the placeholder off for all properties, or per property, under Property Defaults while you migrate.The guide can also run on an Android TV in the property.
"The team at BetterSTR have been great to deal with, and whenever we had suggestions they were actioned straight away — brilliant support as we rolled it out."
Jade, Ready Set Stay"The combination of Hospitable's automation and BetterSTR's digital guides means we literally never get check-in calls anymore. It's amazing!"
Urban Stays Co."Smart lock codes in the guestbook plus automated messaging means truly contactless hosting. We manage 75 properties with just 2 people!"
Modern Hosting SolutionsA handful of clicks inside Hospitable and your guides are set up.
In your Hospitable messages
That Hospitable manages
Guidebook and sync
Text message credits and the other add-ons are optional.
In Hospitable, click Apps in the left menu, choose Guestbook under Integrations, pick BetterSTR and press Get Started. A BetterSTR account is created for you if you don't have one, and your listings and reservations start syncing.
Add %guidebook% to a Hospitable automated message. BetterSTR stores each guest's personal guide link against their reservation, and Hospitable puts it in place of the placeholder when the message goes out.
It can, because TouchStay uses the same placeholder. Before connecting, or straight after, open Property Defaults in BetterSTR and disable the shortcode for all properties, then switch it back on per property as each new guide is ready.
No. Hospitable doesn't make lock codes available through its API, so they can't appear in the guide. Keep sending codes through your lock integration's Hospitable messages and use the guide for the rest of the arrival steps.
BetterSTR follows the merge: the merged-away properties are removed, their reservations move to the property that remains, and a full re-sync runs so the remaining property is up to date.