Guidebooks
Guidebooks are digital, mobile-friendly mini-sites you create per property and surface to guests in the Guest Portal. Use them to bundle everything a guest might need — local tips, house rules, check-in steps, Wi-Fi, parking — into one branded place that cuts down repetitive questions and lifts the stay experience.
Creating a guidebook:
Guidebooks are managed from Properties → Guidebooks. Inside the Unified AI Inbox you can also click the + button on the Guidebooks card to spin up a new one in the context of the active reservation.
Content types
A guidebook holds one piece of content. Pick the type that matches what you have:
Website
A link to an external page — parking provider site, neighbourhood guide, restaurant booking.
An uploaded PDF document — house rules, check-in instructions, floor plans.
Rich Text
Formatted text written in Guestway. Supports images, tables and template variables that fill in per guest — see Personalising rich-text guidebooks below.
Image
A single image — a map, a Wi-Fi card, a building entrance photo.
Video
An uploaded video — door tour, appliance walkthrough, neighbourhood orientation.
Identifying the guidebook
Every guidebook carries:
Main title (required) — the internal nickname your team sees in lists. Not shown to guests.
Guest title (required) — the title guests see for the guidebook in the Guest Portal.
Description — a short line of context shown beneath the title.
Thumbnail image — optional. If absent, the type icon is shown instead. After uploading, adjust the image to frame the part you want as the thumbnail, so the crop is yours rather than automatic.
Image and icon previews in the editor render the same way guests see them in the Guest Portal, so what you approve while editing is what ships.
Where the guidebook attaches
The guidebook's audience is set with two fields:
Linked to (required) — choose the property level: Listing, Multi-Unit, or Complex.
Target Listings / Target Multi-Units / Target Complexes — the specific properties at that level the guidebook applies to. The label updates to match what you picked in Linked to, and you can select multiple items.
Use this when one document covers several units — a building handbook applied at the Complex level, for example, or a Wi-Fi card that's identical across a multi-unit.
Visibility and access controls
Document access — toggle between INTERNAL and GUEST. Internal guidebooks never appear in the Guest Portal and don't expose a shareable link — useful for staff handover notes, supplier docs, or anything that shouldn't reach the guest. Internal guidebooks display an Internal badge in the inbox listing.
Visibility — controls when the guidebook appears in the Guest Portal. Pick any combination of:
Before Check-In
During Stay
After Check-Out
Used by AI — checkbox that controls whether the AI can read the guidebook's content when generating replies, summaries, or suggestions in the inbox. Tick this for Wi-Fi, check-in, and FAQ-style guidebooks so the AI can answer those questions confidently.
Personalising rich-text guidebooks
The Rich text content editor accepts the same template variables you use in Saved Replies, so one guidebook can greet each guest by name, quote their check-in date or show their door code.
Insert a variable in two ways:
Type @ in the editor and pick from the list.
Use the variables panel on the right — browse by category (Guest, Reservation, Reservation financials, Property, Listing, Multi unit, Branding) or type in Search variables..., then click to insert. Hover a variable for its Aliases, an Example value and which Integrations supply it.
Variables render as {{guest.firstName}}-style placeholders in the editor and are replaced with the reservation's real values when a guest opens the guidebook.
Previewing what a guest will see
From the reservation's Guidebooks card in the Unified AI Inbox, click a rich-text guidebook to open it rendered for that reservation — every placeholder filled with that guest's details. Previewing from a screen with no reservation isn't possible (A reservation is required to preview this guidebook), because there's nothing to fill the variables with.
A placeholder Guestway can't resolve for a reservation falls back to its default (usually blank). Keep a generic phrasing around optional values — "Your code is {{…}}" reads badly when empty.
What guidebooks are good for
Local recommendations — curated lists of restaurants, cafés, bars, and attractions nearby.
House rules — custom-written guidelines specific to each property.
Check-in / check-out instructions — clear directions, including smart-lock access codes when those integrations are configured.
Practical info — Wi-Fi password, parking details, waste sorting, or anything else relevant to the stay.
All guidebooks are mobile-friendly, fully branded, and accessible anytime by your guests — so they always have the right information at their fingertips.
Viewing guidebooks from the Unified AI Inbox
Guidebooks attached to the active reservation's listing surface in the Unified AI Inbox, so you can grab the right document without leaving the conversation.
From the Guest Portal
Click the Guest Portal icon next to the reservation status (right side of the screen) to open the personal Guest Portal for the guest on this reservation. Every guidebook configured for the listing — except those flagged Internal — is available there exactly as the guest sees it.
From the Listing tab
The Listing tab in the inbox right panel sits between Reservation and Guests. Scroll to the bottom of the Listing tab to see every guidebook attached to the listing — Internal ones included — each with its thumbnail (or type icon), title, and description. Click a row to open it.
Sharing a guidebook with a guest
Every guidebook with Document access set to GUEST carries a short URL. Click the share icon (tooltip: Copy link) next to the guidebook in the Listing tab to copy that link to your clipboard, then paste it into the conversation to send it to the guest. The link surfaces the same content the Guest Portal shows.
Internal guidebooks don't expose this share button — they stay inside Guestway.
Links to guidebooks that contain variables are personalised per reservation, so always copy the link from within the reservation's conversation rather than reusing one link across guests.
Tips
Pick a clear nickname. It's what shows in lists, so make it scannable — Parking, Wi-Fi, House rules.
Use Internal for staff-only docs. Onboarding notes, vendor contracts, and handover info stay in Guestway without leaking into the guest's view.
Mark FAQ guidebooks as AI-usable. A well-tagged Wi-Fi or check-in guidebook lets the AI answer those questions in suggested replies.
Use the Visibility window for time-sensitive content. Check-in instructions only need to show Before Check-In; check-out instructions are most relevant After Check-Out.
Attach at the highest sensible level. One handbook applied at the complex level beats updating it on every listing in the building.
Personalise the check-in guidebook. A door code or arrival time pulled from the reservation removes the last reason guests message you on arrival day.
Add a thumbnail when the type icon won't do. A photo of the building entrance is far more useful in the Guest Portal than a generic PDF icon — and adjust the framing so the entrance is actually in the crop, not cut off at the edge.
Use the search box at the top of the guidebooks list to filter by title.
Related pages
Properties — the hub for listing-level configuration.
General (Listings Details) — the listing settings shown alongside guidebooks.
Guest Portal — where guidebooks surface for guests.
Unified AI Inbox — where you preview and share guidebooks during a conversation.
Saved Replies — pre-written response templates for the inbox.
Smart Locks — generate the access codes referenced in check-in guidebooks.
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