Hostfully Assist,
from first click to daily use

Behind the scenes

HostBuddy is the engine. It does all the AI work: it reads every guest message, writes the replies, knows each property, checks the host’s past conversations and spots what needs a person.

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What the host sees

Hostfully is everything on screen: its colors, its style and its branding, inside the Hostfully platform hosts already know and use every day.

=AssistThe AI from HostBuddy, the experience from Hostfully.

What changes for a host

For a host, this is a big change. Hostfully now has its own AI that takes guest messaging off their plate: it answers for them, day and night, and only brings them in when something truly needs a person. And it all happens inside Hostfully, the platform they already know: no new login, nothing to install, no other product to learn.

How it works

Go to my Properties, at the end of the guided onboarding, opens AI Setup: the Hostfully Assist page, the one place where Assist is set up for every property. Until the first property is set up, ✦ AI Setup in the Inbox starts the guided setup. After that, it opens the Hostfully Assist page.

The Hostfully Assist page

It has four tabs. Properties is about each property. Conversation preferences (chapter 6), Notifications (chapter 11) and Plan (chapter 3) apply to all of them.

Properties lists every property switched on in Integrations, and shows when Assist last pulled their information from Hostfully. Groupings organize properties (for example “Miami Beach Collection”), and filters narrow the list by AI status, country or city. Each property has:

• Its Active / Off switch, which turns Assist on for its guests (chapter 8).
• Property Setup: everything Assist knows about the property.
• Test Property: a private chat to try Assist as a guest (chapter 7).

Property Setup

Property Setup is everything Assist knows about one property. This is where the host reviews the information Assist pulled in, fills in what’s missing and adds their own processes. It has six sections:

The first three come from the Hostfully listing. The host can’t edit them in Assist but can choose who sees each answer. The last three are where the host teaches Assist.

Basics

Where the property is: property type, street address, city, state and country, pulled from the Hostfully listing.

Who sees each answer

Answers from the listing can’t be edited in Assist, but the host chooses which reservation stages see each one: Future, Inquiry & Past and Current. Example: the street address and door instructions should only go to upcoming and current guests, never to someone still asking about dates.

Reservation stages across Assist

A guest is always in one of four reservation stages. Each screen labels them a little differently:

Property Setup uses one setting for Inquiry and Past: neither guest has a stay coming up or in progress, so they usually need the same answers. In the Inbox, guests arriving or leaving that day show Check-in today or Check-out today instead, and canceled reservations show Canceled.

Listing Details

Everything about booking and staying, also from Hostfully, in three groups:

Amenities

The amenities on the Hostfully listing, in four groups: Indoor (Wi‑Fi, TV, heating, washer…), Outdoor (pool, hot tub, parking, EV charger…), Family and More (accessibility, lake or beach access…). A tick means the property has it; the ✎ on a ticked amenity shows its details, like the Wi‑Fi password or how the hot tub works, and who can see them.

SOPs

SOPs (standard operating procedures) are step-by-step instructions Assist follows for a situation. They are grouped as Check-In & Check-Out, Guest Requests, Rules, Guest Issues, Emergencies and Other, with common questions ready to fill in, like “How to handle early check-in requests” or “How to handle utility outages”. SOPs written during onboarding are saved here too.

• Add item creates a new SOP with a title and instructions.
• Copy to other properties reuses an SOP across the portfolio.
• Each SOP can be limited to certain reservation stages, like every other answer.

Topics to Avoid

Subjects Assist should never resolve on its own, such as pets, discounts or refunds. Each topic is described by when it applies (“If a guest asks to bring a pet…”). When a guest raises one, Assist replies according to Defer Behavior (chapter 6), or sends nothing if that’s set to Do not respond, and creates an Action Item for the host. Copy to other properties reuses a topic across the portfolio, like SOPs and the Schedule.

Schedule

The hours Assist replies to guests for this property. By default it is 24/7. The host can set time windows for each day, for example only evenings and weekends, and copy the schedule to other properties. Outside the schedule, messages are left for the team.

All of Property Setup, in one video

Preferences live in Hostfully Assist → Conversation preferences. The Default configuration applies to every property, so most hosts set them once, on the onboarding call.

Decide these with the host

Defer Behavior: when Assist can’t help

The most important setting. It decides what Assist tells a guest when it can’t resolve their issue. It also decides what Assist says when a guest raises a Topic to Avoid.

SuggestedPick the option that matches who really follows up. If one person handles issues, use Defer to… with their name or role, written exactly as Assist should say it.

Good starting points

“Suggested” values are our recommendations for a first setup, not product defaults.

Different rules for different properties

When some properties need different rules, create a named configuration (+ New configuration…) and pick the properties it applies to. Every other property keeps the Default. Example: a more relaxed tone and a local co-host for the beach houses.

Every property has a private Test Property chat. Open it from Properties → Test Property in AI Setup. It is the safest way to see how Assist will behave before turning a property on, and after any change.

• Pick a reservation stage: Inquiry, Upcoming stay, Currently staying or Past guest. These are the same four stages as in Property Setup (see the table in chapter 5). Answers change by stage, just like with real guests.
• Write as a guest, or pick one of the example messages.
• Conversation Analysis shows, for each answer, exactly where it came from: which part of Property Setup or which SOP.
• Restricted topic detected appears when the question is on Topics to Avoid. With a real guest, Assist would send the Defer Behavior reply (or nothing, with Do not respond) and create an Action Item.

Fixing an answer on the spot

Properties are switched on in the Properties tab of AI Setup. Each property has an Active / Off switch.

• Active means Assist replies to that property’s guests. Off stops automatic replies; the property stays connected to Assist either way.
• A covered property is billed even when it’s Off in AI Setup. To stop billing, switch it off in Integrations → Hostfully Assist.
• If no schedule is set, turning a property on makes it reply 24/7 for every reservation stage. An existing Schedule is kept. The host can change it any time in Schedule.
• A property with setup in progress shows Continue setup and can’t be turned on until setup is finished.

The ✦ AI Response button in the message box gives two ways to write with Assist. Whatever it writes lands in the message box; a person always reviews and sends it.

✨ Suggest AI reply

Writes the reply Assist would send to the guest’s last message. It works when the guest sent the last message, which makes it ideal while a host is still testing Assist before turning it on.

✏️ Write with AI

The host writes a draft, or just an instruction like “Politely decline the dog and suggest the boarding place in town”, then presses Generate. Assist writes the message in the host’s tone, using the conversation and the property details.

Three columns

The Inbox has three columns: the conversations on the left, the conversation in the center, and the reservation with the AI panel on the right. Inbox and Action Items (chapter 11) sit side by side at the top of the list. The message box has the ✦ AI Response button (chapter 9), and ✦ AI Setup, in the right column, opens AI Setup (chapter 5). New guest messages appear on their own, without refreshing the page.

platform.hostfully.com

Finding the right conversation

Every conversation shows its guest’s reservation stage (Check-in today In Stay Future…, see chapter 5). Filters adds new AI filters to find the conversations that need attention first: Needs attention, Upset guests, Happy guests, AI replied last, Checking in today and Checking out today.

Thread, Open issues and Notes

Above every conversation there are three tabs:

AI messages

Every reply Assist sends reads “Sent by Hostfully AI”. On a computer, pointing at the conversation reveals two buttons under each AI message:

Where did this come from? shows which part of Property Setup or which SOP the reply used.

Improve this answer has four options. Three are the same ways to teach Assist as in Test Property: how to handle the situation, a topic it shouldn’t answer, or the tone. The fourth, Report a problem, sends feedback to the Hostfully team only and changes nothing about the replies.

When Assist doesn’t answer

When Assist sends nothing in reply to a guest message, a banner appears under it: “Hostfully AI chose not to respond to this message. Check here why?” That happens, for example, when Defer Behavior is Do not respond (including a Topic to Avoid with Do not respond), when the negative-sentiment stop has paused the chat, or when the message is outside the Schedule. Check here why? shows the reason.

AI status and pausing

When a property isn’t covered by Hostfully Assist, the panel shows Unlock AI responses instead. Turn on for this property opens the integration page.

Guest sentiment

Assist reads every conversation and tags it Positive Neutral or Negative, with a one-line reason. It adapts its tone to the guest’s mood, and it can stop replying when a guest turns negative (chapter 6). The conversation stays Paused until someone sets it back to Active. The team can change the sentiment and add context; Assist then re-checks the conversation.

What an Action Item is

An Action Item is something in a guest conversation that needs a person: a broken hot tub, a pet request, an emergency. Assist creates them automatically, and the team can add their own with Add Item.

• Where: in Action Items, next to the Inbox, and in each conversation under Open issues.
• Each item has a guest, a property, a description, a category and a priority (High, Medium, Low or No priority).
• Status moves from To do to In progress to Completed.
• Open the guest conversation from any item to answer the guest straight away. Filter by status, property or category, or group items by any of them.

How it works

1. Detect

   A guest message matches a built-in rule or one of the host’s Detection Rules.

2. Sort

   Assist picks the category that fits best, with its priority.

3. Notify

   The item appears in Action Items and Open issues, and the team is alerted.

4. Resolve

   The team handles it and marks it Completed.

Detection Rules: what gets flagged

In Hostfully Assist → Notifications → Detection Rules. Three built-in rules are always active:

Hosts add custom rules to flag more, or less. A rule is written in plain language, the way you’d explain it to a team member, with an optional name, a priority, and the properties it applies to (all or specific).

Categories: how items are sorted

Each category has a name, a priority and a description that answers “When should this category be assigned?” Assist uses that description to choose the category for each item, so the more specific it is, the better the sorting. Categories marked Default come ready to use.

Notifications: who hears about it

There are no recipients or channels to set up. Every Action Item does two things on its own:

• It appears in the Hostfully Inbox, linked to the conversation.
• The agency’s Hostfully users are alerted automatically.

The Notifications tab explains this, and holds the Detection Rules and Categories tabs.

Insights: spotting patterns

Insights, next to the list, sums up the last 7, 30 or 90 days, for all properties or one property or grouping: open items, new this week, properties affected and the top category, plus resolution rate, average time to resolve and items over time.

platform.hostfully.com

Presenting Assist to a host

Start from the host’s day, not from the technology. Most hosts feel the pain of repetitive questions, late-night messages and slow replies.

Common objections

Running an onboarding call

1. Before the call

   Confirm the host’s properties have complete listings in Hostfully: check-in and access, cancellation policy, sleeping arrangements and amenities with details (Wi‑Fi, parking, hot tub…). Assist reads them from there.

2. Switch on and confirm

   Integrations → Hostfully Assist, pick the properties, review Pricing & Setup together, start the trial.

3. Tour and starter property

   Let the host click through the tour, then choose their busiest property as the starter.

4. The five scenarios

   Spend the most time here. Help the host write real SOPs in their own words, and add sensitive topics (pets, refunds, discounts) to Topics to Avoid.

5. Test together

   Ask three or four real guest questions in Test Property, at different reservation stages. Fix anything that looks off on the spot.

6. Preferences and schedule

   Set Defer Behavior, Direct contact info and the negative sentiment stop, then tone and signature. Agree on 24/7 or after-hours only.

7. Choose how to go live

   Let the host decide: switch the property to Active now, or start with Suggest AI reply for a few days and go Active once they’re comfortable. Either way, show the AI panel, sentiment, Open issues and Action Items.

Support playbook

The questions support hears most, and what to check first.

Glossary

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