Every Touch Stay guidebook consists of a 3 level structure to help you organise your guide into sections that make it easy for your guests to find the information they need about your property. The three levels are of Categories, Subcategories and Topics which can be managed in Content Hub. This article will help you understand how to use these 3 levels as you build your guide. Article content:

To add a brand new Category, use the “+ Add Category” button at the top left of Content Hub.

Categories have an icon paired with them in the guest/user view menu, see the following examples. To update the icon for a Category use the edit pencil next to the Category name in Content Hub. Then click the “Select icon” button and make your choice from the icon options available.

To reorder any Categories, Subcategories or Topics in Content Hub use the drag and drop icons on the left hand side. Click/tap and hold the drag and drop icons for the item you want to move and then drag to the new location before releasing. Sections will collapse to help you navigate around your content easier whilst dragging. Watch the video below to see the process in action. A few things to note:

The local area entries with address, phone number, website and opening hours are from Google Places. You can’t edit these since the information comes from Google, if something is wrong then you need to contact the owner of the place and ask them to update their Google listing with the correct details.

PDFs, Word documents and other fixed format types don’t play very nicely with dynamic web content such as Touch Stay meaning you can’t embed them directly. However, if you save the file into a document storage service such as Dropbox or Google Drive then you can link to that file, just the same as any other web link, as described here. Dropbox and Google Docs are very easy to use but if you need any help then contact us at support@touchstay.

To change the name of a Category or Subcategory in Content Hub use the edit pencil next to the title you want to change. A box will then pop out where you can make the change before saving.

Google Places can have their name changed the same as any other Topic. Either use the edit pencil next to the title of the Google Place you want to change, or use the “Edit Topic” option in the 3 dots menu for that Topic.

To update the content of a topic, such as its name or the text or the media attached to it, either use the edit pencil next to the title of the Topic you want to change or use the “Edit Topic” option in the 3 dots menu for that Topic. A box will then appear where you can update the title and content, don’t forget to Save once you’ve finished making changes.

Topics can be created based on places that can be found on Google maps. If you choose to add these to your guide (and we recommend that you do!) then we will pull some information about the place from Google maps into the topic for you. Details of the place will usually include a photo, the address, phone number, review stars, opening hours and website link. We will also automatically add a location pin to your Map tab.

You can add a link to any webpage such as local attractions, festivals, local regulations, PDFs and other documents, or anything your guests might find useful. To do this: First write the text you want to become the link, for example “this link” Next, highlight that text and click the link button in the text editing toolbar (it looks like a little chain link – see image below). Then enter the URL of the webpage you want to link to (just copy and paste everything from the bar at the top of the target page, see image below).

Topics hold the main content of your guide book in Touch Stay. Topics can be created manually or be based on Google Places and there is also a special Weather Widget topic. You can add formatted text, including inline images, a main image or video and a TripAdvisor review badge to every standard topic. Google Place topics will automatically include the address, contact details, website, opening hours and review stars (subject to availability of Google Place data) and a location pin to your map tab.

Go to Google Maps and enter the from and to destinations, this could be for example from the airport to your property. Then assuming you are happy that the route is correct (drag way points to adjust the route if needed), click the “DETAILS” link underneath the route description. Click the Share icon and then “COPY LINK”. You then paste this into the URL box for adding a link in the Touch Stay edit Topic text box.

Any of your topics can have a Tripadvisor badge linking to reviews for a place that you’re recommending (or your own property/business). To use this feature, simply copy and paste the URL for the Tripadvisor review into the Tripadvisor Link box on the Add/Edit Topic screen. If you leave the box blank then no badge will display.

There are several places to open a preview of your guide from, look for the “Preview Guide” buttons to be found on the Guides list page, Content Hub and the individual Guide Details/Content tabs:

You may want to hide topics from your guest view but not delete them. For example, you have a seasonal rental with skiing activities in the winter and walking/mountain biking in the summer, or maybe you have a draft topic that’s not finished yet so you don’t want it to display. You can prevent topics from showing in your welcome book guest view by deactivating any tags for that topic in Content Hub.

** If you have any trouble creating clickable links then please reach out using the support contact form** You can create clickable links within the text body of a topic that will open a mobile device’s email, phone, messaging app or WhatsApp. To do so, start by creating a link in the normal way, by highlighting the text to become the link and then clicking the little chain link icon on the text box tool bar.

On the cover page (Home tab) of your guide, above the “Get Started” button, is a free text area. By default it displays your guide address. This can be removed / deleted, or replaced by any text you want, up to 100 characters. On each Guide Details tab, the second section from the top is called “Guide Cover Details”, click the Edit button on the right hand side. Here you will find options to update different elements of the Home tab, uncheck the “Display address” option and a text box will appear where you can enter your alternative text or simply leave blank to show nothing in its place.

On each Guide Details tab (click on your guide name from the Guides list page), the second section from the top is called “Guide Cover Details”, click the Edit button on the right hand side. Here you will find options to update different elements of the Home tab, uncheck the “Use account level logo and icon” option and you will be able to upload a logo and/or an icon that will be used for this guide only.

You can include a topic within your welcome book to show the current and forecast weather for your property location. The default Weather Widget includes the current weather and an hourly forecast for the next 12 hours, you can also opt to have a 5-day forecast included in your Weather Widget. The topic is added in Content Hub, the same as for any other topic, by using the Add topic option in the subcategory where you want the topic to be included.

The weather data is provided by AccuWeather and based on the lat/lon location of the home pin on your map. To check the exact location AccuWeather is using, click the AccuWeather icon at the bottom right of your weather widget. This will take you to the AccuWeather main site and reveal the location being used on your forecast.  

Tags are used to group elements of content together into templates. Every Topic can be given Tags (in Content Hub) and then every guide can be given Tags (on the Guide specific content tab). When the Tags match between a Topic and a Guide then that topic shows on that specific guide. If you only have a single guide then you will only need a single Tag and likely won’t need to do anything else as this will be automatically set up for you.

There are two methods. Method 1 is to use an existing topic and simply add different content for any individual guide. Method 2 is to create a brand new topic just for one guide. Method 1: Customise Text or Photo/Video for an existing Topic You can add custom content to an existing topic from two different screens. Both end with the same result. Add custom content from the Content Hub From Content Hub, open the Edit Topic screen and then scroll down to the Customisations section.

Have you ever wondered how to better communicate to your guests how you’re making a difference to society? Perhaps you’re helping your local community by donating a % of your bookings to community projects, or you’re using solar energy to power your accommodation business, or you’re helping clean up plastic from the local beach. We’ve added a “Making a Difference” section to your guidebook template, allowing you to communicate to your guests what you’re doing.

You can include a QR code for your Touch Stay guide on the cover page of the PDF version. Go to the Settings tab on the Account page and then scroll down to the “Include QR Code on PDF” option and set this to “Yes”. When you next generate a PDF of your guide, a QR code will appear underneath the main cover photo. For more information about QR codes see this article.

You can make internal links to Categories, Subcategories or Topics within your guide. These are created in a similar way to any other hyperlinks and must be added to some text within one of your topics. There are two possible methods: Whilst typing your content into the Topic text entry box, use the “Internal Link” option found in the toolbar. Type the name of the section that you want to link to in the search box and matching results will appear below.

Images used on the web can hold a text description (alt-text) for use by screen readers for the visually impaired. In Touch Stay, images use the Photo Name field for the alt-text. To update the Photo Name field, find the image you want to edit in either the Content Hub Media or Guide Media tabs (see this article for an explanation of the difference). Use the edit pencil in the bottom right of the image thumbnail to open the Edit Photo screen.

Each topic has a main media frame which sits above the text in the final guide. In addition to this, you can add images within the text body using the image icon on the text entry box toolbar. Either select an existing image or upload a new one, then choose the size from the dropdown and click Save. To change the size of an image displayed in the text box you must delete the current image using the regular delete key (just as if you were deleting some text) and then add the image again and choose a different size.

The guide name can be updated from the Guide Details tab (click on the guide name on the Guides list page). Then in the Guide Cover Details section (just under the cover photos) use the “Edit” button and from there you can update the guide name.

You can include a topic within your welcome book to show the upcoming tides for the nearest tide station to your property location. The Tide Times Widget includes the time and height of the next tide and then the following 7 days of high and low tides. If there are additional tide stations near your property location then your guests can change the tide station from a drop down list.