Automations

Automations help you run consistent, scalable hospitality operations by triggering messages and workflows automatically based on events in the guest journey (like check-in, check-out, or status changes).

Instead of remembering “what to send / what to do / when”, you set it up once, and Guestway takes care of the rest.

What you can automate

Automations are designed to cover the full guest journey, from booking to post-checkout.

Typical things teams automate:

• Pre-arrival instructions

• Sending the link to the guest app

• Check-in reminders

• Checkout messages

• Review requests

How Automations work (conceptually)

Most automations follow the same structure:

1) Trigger

A trigger is the event that starts the automation.

Examples:

• Reservation created / confirmed

• X days/hours before check-in

• Check-in day / check-out day

• Reservation status changes

2) Conditions (optional)

Conditions decide when it should run (or not run).

Examples:

• Only for certain listings or buildings

• Only for guests with a high satisfaction score

• Only for stays longer than X nights

• Only if a field is present (e.g., phone number, language, upsell purchased)

3) Actions

Actions are what Guestway should do automatically.

Examples:

• Send a message (template-based)

Common automation recipes

Pre-arrival message (48h before check-in)

Trigger: 2 days before check-in Conditions: Only for listings where self check-in is enabled Actions: Send check-in instructions + link to guest app

Checkout instructions (night before)

Trigger: 1 day before check-out Actions: Send checkout steps + key return details + late checkout upsell (optional)

Review request (day after checkout)

Trigger: 1 day after check-out Conditions: Only if Guest Satisfaction score is equal to 5 out of 5, "very satisfied". Actions: Send review request message

Best practices (so automations help instead of annoy)

• Start simple: build 3–5 automations that cover 80% of cases (pre-arrival, check-in, checkout, post-stay).

• Keep messages short: guests skim. Keep messages to the point.

• Avoid duplicates: ensure only one automation sends “check-in info” to a given guest.

• Use conditions to prevent mistakes: especially for listing-specific instructions.

• Add a human escape hatch: always leave room for the team to step in when needed.

Goal: consistent execution at scale, fewer manual steps, fewer mistakes.

Roles & permissions (who can set this up?)

In practice:

• Admins / Super Admins are best suited to configure organization-wide setup and governance. They can set up automations.

• Operators can run day-to-day operations and use the platform features that automations act on (messaging, tasks, reservations, etc.). They can not set up automations.

Recommendation: give Admin or Super Admin to 1–2 owners of “automation logic”, and let Operators focus

Troubleshooting checklist

If an automation didn’t run as expected:

• Was the trigger actually triggered?

• Did any conditions filter it out (listing, channel, length of stay, missing data)?

• Did the message/action require info that wasn’t available yet (e.g., contact details)?

• Was there a conflicting automation that already performed the same action?