On the Free plan, each guidebook can be viewed a set number of times each month. This article explains how the limit works, what you and your guests see as a guidebook gets close to it and when it's reached, and how to get a paused guidebook going again.
Table of contents:
How the view limit works
Only the Free plan has a monthly view limit. Paid plans don't.
The limit is counted for each guidebook separately, so one busy guidebook doesn't use up the views of another. Each time a guest opens a guidebook, through its Quick Share link or an invitation link, that counts as one view of that guidebook. Views are counted a few minutes after they happen, so the numbers can lag slightly.
On the Free plan the limit is currently 20 views per guidebook each month. Your Billing page always shows the limit that applies to your account.
What happens as a guidebook nears its limit
The limit works in three steps. These are the numbers for a limit of 20 views:
At 75% (15 views): the guidebook is getting close to its limit. Nothing changes for your guests.
At 100% (20 views): the guidebook has used its monthly limit. It keeps working for your guests.
At 150% (30 views): the guidebook is paused for the rest of the month.
So a guidebook isn't paused the moment it reaches its limit. It keeps working until it has had one and a half times the limit.
Check your guidebooks' views
Open Billing: click your account name at the bottom-left of the sidebar, then Billing. (Legacy Hub: click the person icon at the top right, then Billing.)
In the Usage panel, find Guidebook views. It shows the limit for your plan, for example up to 20 guidebook views per guidebook each month.
Click Check. The Guidebook views window lists each guidebook with the views it has had this month (for example 12/20) and a bar showing how much of the limit it has used. Use the search box to find a guidebook by name.
The bar is full once a guidebook reaches its limit, and it turns red when the guidebook is paused. If a guidebook is paused when you sign in, the Guidebook views window opens by itself.
What your guests see when a guidebook is paused
When a guidebook reaches 150% of its limit, it's paused for the rest of the month. Only that guidebook is paused: your other guidebooks keep working. Every link to the paused guidebook is paused, including its Quick Share link and its invitation links.
Guests who open it are told that the guidebook is temporarily unavailable and asked to contact you. The message uses the contact email and phone number shown on the guidebook. If there are no contact details, it asks guests to contact the person who sent them the link.
The guidebook's PDF stays available as a fallback, so guests can still get a copy of your guidebook.
💡 Tip: check the contact email and phone number on your guidebooks now, so guests can reach you if one is ever paused.
When the count resets
On the Free plan, views are counted by calendar month. The count starts again from zero at the start of each month (midnight UTC on the 1st), and a paused guidebook is available again from then.
How to get a paused guidebook going again
You have two options:
Upgrade to a paid plan. Paid plans don't have a view limit, and your paused guidebooks are available again as soon as the new plan is active.
Wait for the reset. The guidebook comes back at the start of next month.
To upgrade:
Open Billing as described above. You can also click Upgrade now in the Guidebook views window.
Under Plans & pricing, pick a plan and click Choose plan.
Follow the steps to complete your payment.
If you can't find Billing, ask your account owner or an admin to upgrade the plan. For more about changing plan, see Managing Your Subscription.
The Notice to Upgrade
The Notice to Upgrade is a warning for Free accounts that keep reaching their limits. It applies only on the Free plan.
When it's issued. Touch Stay issues it when your account has reached a monthly limit (100%) in at least two of the last four billing months. The months don't have to be one after the other. It can be the same limit twice, for example guidebook views, or two different limits, for example views and scheduled emails. Reaching the limit is enough: a guidebook doesn't have to be paused. Touch Stay checks once a day.
What happens next. The Notice gives you 14 days to move to a paid plan. Reminders follow a week before the deadline and the day before it. If you haven't upgraded when the 14 days are up, your account is suspended:
All your guidebooks stop working for guests. They're told the guide is currently inactive and asked to contact the guide owner.
In the Hub, pages that need an active subscription take you to Billing, and you can't make changes until you upgrade.
How to clear it. Moving to a paid plan, at any point, stops the Notice, and it lifts a suspension straight away. The monthly reset doesn't lift a suspension. Only upgrading does.
Good to know
The Free plan limits views, not guidebooks: you can create as many guidebooks as you like. See Why can’t I add another guide/property?
Only the view limit pauses a guidebook. The other Free plan limits, on scheduled emails, self-managed Store orders and AI chatbot conversations, only stop the feature they cover. See Message statuses explained and The Store Explained.
Pausing your subscription is a separate thing. While a subscription is paused, guests also see a message that your guidebooks are temporarily unavailable. That isn't related to the view limit.
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