Smart Guidebook (Conditional Guide)

You can create different guides and set conditions that determine when each guide becomes available to the guest.

For example, you may want to:

This allows you to provide guests with the right information at the right time without manually sending instructions for every reservation.

Smart Guidebook gives you greater control over what your guests see and when they see it.

Instead of sending every instruction at once, you can automatically release information based on the guest's booking and completion status.

🔐 Protect access information
Keep door codes and entry instructions hidden until they're needed.

💳 Control access based on payment
Require payment before releasing specific information.

🛡️ Use security-deposit conditions
Keep certain information hidden until the deposit requirement is satisfied.

🪪 Build a smoother check-in process
Guide guests through the required steps before providing access information.

🤖 Reduce manual work
Let ChargeAutomation automatically display the appropriate information when the conditions are met.

Once the required conditions are met, the guide becomes available to the guest through their Guest Portal.

Smart Guidebook is particularly useful for information that you don't want guests to access too early.

You can use conditional guides for:

💡 Best practice: Keep sensitive information, such as door codes and detailed entry instructions, behind appropriate conditions so guests only receive it when they're ready to check in.

Let's say you require a security deposit for your Booking.com reservations.

You can set the guide condition to: Security Deposit Authorized = Yes

The guide will remain hidden until the security deposit has been authorized.

Guest opens Guest Portal → Security deposit is authorized → Conditional guide becomes available

This can be useful for protecting information such as access codes or detailed check-in instructions.

The way the Security Deposit Authorized condition works depends on whether ChargeAutomation is collecting the security deposit for that particular booking source.

For example, if ChargeAutomation is configured to collect the security deposit for Booking.com reservations and your guide requires:

Security Deposit Authorized = Yes

The guide will remain hidden until the security deposit has been authorized.

For example, if ChargeAutomation is not configured to collect a security deposit for Airbnb reservations, the system assumes the deposit has already been handled through another process.

In this case, if your guide requires:

Security Deposit Authorized = Yes

the guide can be displayed to the guest.

This is important to keep in mind when using the same guide conditions across different booking sources.

One of the most useful applications of conditional guides is controlling when guests can see their door or smart-lock access code.

You can use dynamic variables to display access-code information in your Guidebook.

For example: {Booking_Access_Code}

This allows the appropriate booking-specific access code to be displayed to the guest.

You can then use guide conditions to control when that information becomes visible.

Your guide could say:

Your Door Code: {Booking_Access_Code}

You can then restrict this guide so the guest only sees the code after the required conditions have been met.

This helps prevent guests from receiving property access information before they're supposed to.

If a guest opens their Guest Portal before the required conditions have been satisfied, the restricted guide or information will not be displayed.

Once the conditions are satisfied, the information becomes available automatically according to your guide settings.

This means you don't have to manually send sensitive information to every guest.

If a security deposit requirement is preventing a guest from accessing the Guidebook and you want to waive the requirement for that specific booking, you can do so from the booking.

Not every piece of information needs to be available immediately.

Consider organizing your Guidebook information based on when the guest needs it.

Provide general information such as:

Provide:

Provide sensitive information such as:

This creates a more organized guest experience while reducing repetitive manual communication.

Your Guidebook is part of the Guest Portal, where guests can access information related to their stay.

Depending on your setup, guests can use the portal to access:

The Guest Portal provides guests with a centralized place to find the information they need during their stay.

If a guest says they can't see a particular guide, check the following:

Check which conditions you've configured and determine which one hasn't been satisfied.

If payment is one of your conditions, verify that the required payment has been completed.

If your guide requires Security Deposit Authorized = Yes, check whether the deposit has been authorized.

Remember that security-deposit and payment conditions can behave differently depending on whether ChargeAutomation is collecting those items for that booking source.

Make sure the guide isn't configured to become available only at a later time.

Preview your Guidebook to confirm that the information is displayed as expected.