Connect Touch Stay with Hostaway to automatically import your properties, sync reservations, personalise your guidebooks with Hostaway property and reservation data, and automatically share personalised guidebook links with your guests.
This guide explains how to set up the integration step by step.
Step 1. Get your Hostaway API credentials
To connect Hostaway with Touch Stay, you'll first need to generate an API key in your Hostaway account:
Log in to your Hostaway account.
Go to Settings → Hostaway API.
Click Create.
Enter a name for the API key (for example, Touch Stay).
Click Create again.
Copy your Account ID and API Key.
⚠️ Hostaway will only display the key once, so make sure to save it before closing the window!
You can find more information about Hostaway API keys in this Hostaway article.
Step 2. Connect Hostaway to Touch Stay
Once you have copied your Account ID and API Key from Hostaway, return to Touch Stay to complete the connection.
In Touch Stay, go to Integrations
Find Hostaway and click Connect.
Paste your Account ID and API Key into the relevant fields.
Click Save.
Step 3. Match Hostaway properties
If you already have guides in Touch Stay, you'll now match them to the correct properties in Hostaway.
Go to Integrations
Click the Match tab.
Use the dropdown next to each Touch Stay guide to select the matching Hostaway property.
Click Match Selected.
Take a moment to double-check your matches before continuing. This helps ensure the correct property information and reservations sync to the right guide.
Don't have any guides to match?
No problem. If you're creating new guides from your Hostaway properties, skip this step and move on to the Import tab
Step 4. Import Hostaway properties
If you have any Hostaway properties that haven't been matched to an existing Touch Stay guide, you can import them as new guides.
Go to Integrations
Click the Import tab.
Select the Hostaway properties you'd like to import.
Click Import Selected.
💡 Good to know
Only unmatched Hostaway properties will appear in the Import tab.
Once imported, a new Touch Stay guide will be created for each selected property and will appear on your Guides page.
Touch Stay will automatically import:
Property name
Property address
Cover photo (if the image size meets our requirements)
If a suitable cover photo isn't available, you can easily upload one later.See How to Set the Cover Photo for step-by-step instructions.
This helps you get started more quickly, with the basic property information already added to your guide.
Step 5. Complete guide creation (for new Touch Stay customers only)
Before enabling the sync, take a moment to review your guides and make sure everything is ready to share with guests. This includes checking your:
Guide content
Property information
Check-in instructions
Contact details
Images and branding
💡 New to Touch Stay?
Visit our Quick Start Video for helpful tips on the quickest way to build your digital welcome book
Step 6. Personalisation settings
Once the integration is connected, Hostaway automatically sends reservation data to Touch Stay, no extra setup needed. This means you can personalise your guides and guest messages with things like:
Guest names
Arrival and departure dates
Check-in and check-out times
Automatically Mapped Fields
The following fields are ready to use straight away:
Field | Mapping type | Data Type |
{{guest_first_name}} | User/guest custom field | Text |
{{guest_last_name}} | User/guest custom field | Text |
{{arrival_date}} | User/guest custom field | Number |
{{checkin_time}} | User/guest custom field | Time |
{{checkout_time}} | User/guest custom field | Time |
{{departure_date}} | User/guest custom field | Number |
{{guest_phone}} ⚠️ | User/guest custom field | Number |
{{guest_email}} ⚠️ | User/guest custom field | Text |
⚠️ Availability of phone number and email depends on the OTA's platform the guest used to book.
💡 Learn more in Field Codes Explained
Want to sync more property data?
You can also map additional fields from Hostaway, things like Wi-Fi details, door codes, parking info, and house rules, so each guide automatically pulls in the right property information.
If you'd like to bring even more property information into your guides for advanced personalisation, take a look at our article:
Step 7. Sync reservations
Sync Hostaway reservations with your Touch Stay account and complete the integration.
Go to Integrations
Open the Sync Reservations tab.
Under Sync Options, choose how you'd like reservations to be imported:
All reservations (recommended if you're new to Touch Stay)
Imports all future reservations from Hostaway.
Creates invitations for all imported reservations.
New reservations only (recommended if you're already using Message Hub invitations)
Only imports reservations created after the sync is enabled.
Helps prevent duplicate invitations.
Select the guide(s) you want to sync.
Use Select All to enable syncing for all guides.
Click Sync Selected.
Once the Sync Reservation is active, new confirmed reservations from Hostaway will automatically be imported into Touch Stay for the selected guides.
💡Good to know
The initial sync may take a few minutes, depending on the number of properties and reservations being imported.
You can continue using Touch Stay while the sync runs in the background.
⚠️ Whenever you add a new guide and connect it to a Hostaway property, you'll also need to enable Sync Reservation for that guide.
If Sync Reservation is not enabled, reservations will not be imported, and invitation links will not be created for guests staying at that property.
Step 8. Sharing guide links through Hostaway
Once reservation syncing is enabled, Touch Stay automatically creates a custom reservation field in Hostaway containing a unique, trackable guidebook link for each reservation. The custom field is:
👉 {{reservation_touch_stay_guide_link}}
⚠️ Important
Do not delete the {{reservation_touch_stay_guide_link}} custom field from your Hostaway account.
If it's removed, please contact Touch Stay Support to have it restored.
Use the guide link in your Hostaway guest messages
Once the integration is set up, you can add the Touch Stay Guide Link custom field to your Hostaway message templates. This allows each guest to automatically receive their own personalised guidebook link.
Steps
Open the Hostaway message template you'd like to edit, or create a new one.
Place your cursor where you'd like the guidebook link to appear.
Click the { } icon in the top-right corner of the message editor.
Under Reservation custom fields, select {{reservation_touch_stay_guide_link}}.
The field will be inserted into your message template and automatically replaced with each guest's unique Touch Stay guidebook link when the message is sent.
A note about Hostaway message timing - Important
There may be a short delay between a booking being received in Hostaway and the Touch Stay Guide Link being generated and synced back to Hostaway.
⚠️ Important
Don't include the Touch Stay Guide Link in messages sent immediately after a booking is received.
Instead, send your guidebook message at least 1 hour later, or even the following day, to ensure the personalised guide link is ready.
Best Practices for Sharing Your Guidebook
We usually recommend this setup for the best guest experience:
After booking confirmation
When: Around 1 hour after the booking is confirmed.
Why: Gives Touch Stay time to generate the personalised guide link before it's sent.
Before arrival
When: A few days or weeks before arrival.
Why: Reminds guests to review important information and plan for their stay.
Day before arrival
When: 1 day before arrival.
Why: A final reminder with check-in instructions, access details and everything guests need before they arrive.
What happens if I’m already using Message Hub?
If you want to switch from Message Hub to Hostaway for sending guide links:
Archive your existing Message Hub message templates; this stops them from being added to new reservations.
Set up your new Hostaway message flow.
Archiving won’t affect any existing invitations.
To cancel messages already scheduled, delete the Message Hub template instead.
Step 9. What to expect in Message Hub
Once your reservations are syncing from Hostaway, head to Message Hub → Invitations to see everything in one place.
Every confirmed booking from Hostaway will automatically create an invitation record here. For each one you'll see:
Guide: the property the booking is for
Guest name, email and phone
Arrival date
Created date: when the invitation record was generated
Views: how many times they've opened it
Last viewed: the date they last opened the guide
If you're using Message Hub templates
Any active message templates will be attached to the invitation record automatically. You'll be able to see at a glance which messages are scheduled to go out and when.
If you're sharing the guide link through Hostaway (Step 8)
You'll still see an invitation record created for every booking, but no message templates will be attached. The guide link is being sent from Hostaway instead, so Message Hub is just keeping a record.
Tracking guest engagement
Once a guest opens their guide link, the invitation record updates to show:
Last viewed: the date they last opened the guide
Views: how many times they've opened it
This is a useful way to check whether guests have actually looked at the guide before they arrive.
Customising your columns
By default you'll see the most common columns, but you can add more to suit how you work. Click the ⋮ icon in the top-right corner of the Invitations table and select Choose Columns.
Booking Source
If you add the Booking Source column, you'll be able to see at a glance where each booking came from: Airbnb, Booking.com, direct, and so on.
💡 If you'd like to show or hide specific guide content based on where a guest booked from, take a look at our article:
Copying a guest's guide link
Need to share a guide link directly with a guest? Click the ⋮ icon on any invitation row and select Copy link. You can then paste it into any message or email.
FAQs
Why isn’t my new property sharing the guide link with bookings?
There are a couple of common reasons for this:
Matching not completed
Each time you add a new listing to your Hostaway account, you’ll need to complete the matching and sync steps in Touch Stay for it to share guide links automatically.
👉 Step 3. Match Hostaway properties
Sync Reservation not activated
If your guide link isn't being sent back to Hostaway, first check that Sync Reservations is enabled for the property.
Go to Integrations.
Open the Sync Reservations tab.
Check that the property is selected for syncing.
💬 Still not seeing the link?
If you’ve completed the steps above and the link is still missing, please email [email protected] with:
Your login email address
Guide name
Guest arrival date
Hostaway booking ID
This information helps our team investigate the issue quickly.
🤝 Need Help?
If you have any questions or need help setting things up, just get in touch.
Or send us a support ticket directly from your Touch Stay account.
