Guide level data mapping with Host Tools

The Host Tools integration allows you to connect data fields from the listing record in Host Tools to Touch Stay and have that data automatically update. This allows you to store data, such as the WiFi password or cleaning instructions, in Host Tools and have that sync to Touch Stay for the relevant guides. Depending on the type of information that you wish to sync, there are 2 different ways to connect your Host Tools data to your Touch Stay content.

Firstly, you can connect Host Tools data to a Touch Stay custom field, this is perfect for things such as the Listing Check-out Time, where you will want this on all of your guides and as part of a larger topic. You then add the custom field into your topic content and the Listing Check-out time will show in the relevant guide correctly. You can learn more about using field codes in this article.

The second option is to connect Host Tools data to a Touch Stay topic and automatically create a customisation for that topic for the relevant guide. This can be combined with setting a visibility rule to only have that topic show on guides where there is data present. This option is more suitable for longer form content in Host Tools and especially if that data is not present on every listing, such as a specific pets policy or house rules.

Setting up new data mappings

You create new data mappings from the Map data tab of the Integrations page, click on the "+ Add new mapping" button. From here, choose the data in Host Tools that you would like to map to Touch Stay.

Next, choose the mapping type that you would like to make for this data, the options are "Guide custom field" or "Topic customisation".

If you select Guide custom field - from here you can choose an existing custom field code or create a new one by using the "+ New custom field" button, giving it a name and any substitute value. Substitute values are used in the case of data missing when the field code is used, see this article for more detail about field codes.

If you select Topic customisation - from here you can then select the topic to map this data to (the dropdown allows searching too, just type the topic name). This will then create a customisation for that topic on each guide with the relevant content from each listing in Host Tools. The final option is to set any visibility override rule required for this data. This option allows you to have a topic show on a guide, depending on whether it has some content for that data point in Host Tools. There are 3 options for the visibility override rule, and the choice depends on whether this content is present on every listing in Host Tools and your preferred tag set up:

None - the simplest option and the sync process will not make any changes to the visibility rule and this topic will show on each guide based on its active tags. Use this option if the data will always be present in Host Tools or you have a generic version of the content for that topic added to Content Hub which you would like to show in the absence of listing specific content in Host Tools.
Hide topic if content is blank - this option is best if the content for this data point is not always present in Host Tools and you want the topic to be hidden on those guides with no content. During the sync process, if a Host Tools listing has no data for the mapped topic, then the visibility override rule will be set to Always Hide and the topic will not show on that guide.
Show topic if content is not blank - very similar to the above option, but it works the opposite way and sets Always Show on topics for a guide if they have some content in Host Tools. Use this option if you set your optional topics to have no tag in Content Hub, then when data syncs from Host Tools the topic will always show on that guide.

Syncing the guide data

The listing data will sync between Host Tools and Touch Stay automatically once every 24 hours, but you can also manually trigger the sync to run at any time.

There is a "Resync guide data" button on the Map data tab (just under the Host Tools logo) which will sync data for all guides and all data. This may take some time if you have many guides and many data points mapped. If you need to just update a single guide with some changes to data in Host Tools then this can be done from the Guide Details tab for that guide within the Guide Custom Fields section. Use the "Edit" button and then "Resync Host Tools data".

Data sources in Host Tools

Note that you need to choose a listing level data field in Host Tools to be able to map to guide data in Touch Stay. If you select a reservation level field (such as "Lock Code") then you will only be able to map that to a custom field linked to your invitations.

Listing data maps to Touch Stay guide data (guide custom field or topics)
Reservation data maps to Touch Stay invitation data (user/guest custom field)

The listing level data that can be mapped from Host Tools is as follows:

Listing check-in time
Listing check-out time
Listing description
Listing short description
House rules
Neighbourhood overview
Check-in method
Check-in how
Check-in when
Has internet access
Has parking access
Pets policy