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Enable Chat History in Guest Portal

Feature requestsGuest Portal

Currently, the Guest Portal allows guests to send messages to the host, but host replies are delivered only via email. This creates a disconnected and unreliable communication channel for Direct Bookings, as host replies may end up in the guest's spam folder. This leads to significant guest frustration and a negative experience, as they often believe the host has not responded to their inquiries.

Implementing a persistent, threaded chat history within the guest portal, similar to major OTAs like Airbnb, would give guests a single, reliable place to view their entire conversation and send messages. This change would significantly improve the guest experience, prevent frustrations from lost emails, and lend greater professionalism to the entire booking process.

Status: Completed18 comments

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Comments18

  • Tim Parry

    Team•

    Oct 29, 2025

    Pinned

    Good news all!

    Will be focusing on adding a chat history in the guest portal in the coming weeks! Will post updates here with a more definitive timeline.

    • Lime Koala

      •

      Oct 31, 2025

      Literally a GAME CHANGER for direct guests.

  • Amaranth Shore

    •

    Feb 5

    Tbh I had assumed guests could read their messages in guest portal. Especially direct booking guests. This should be done ASAP. SMS would be great but my team members need to be able to read all message. Guest portal is the obvious place for this.

    I currently copy /repeat all communications into the hospitable messaging (including replies) so that other team members can read everything. Therefore I prefer keeping it all on the platform and in guest portal would be best

  • Lime Koala

    •

    Oct 6, 2025

    I found this while typing out the very same thing. @Tim Parry - this is my number one takeaway after our chat last week.

    This is ESSENTIAL for direct bookings.

    ««Fragmented/broken experiences is one of the largest threats to direct bookings.»»

  • Lime Koala

    •

    Oct 20, 2025

    The largest direct booking channel (Houfy) already has a decent experience for guests that allow for communication to be threaded in a web app. Having this in the Guest Portal would be ideal (and having email as a redundant fallback channel).

    @Petra Podobnik - Here’s more info for Feature Friday candidate

  • Amaranth Shore

    •

    Feb 5

    Can't guest portal also be an access point to make future bookings both with me and maybe other Hospitable direct sellers?

  • Lavender Glacier

    •

    Oct 23, 2025

    •

    Merged request

    •

    3 votes

    Guest Portal Upgrade

    • Include a chat room style experience on the guest portal for host and guest communication.

    • Include their proof of purchase if they booked a third party have a message saying check on there place of booking.

    • include door code and wifi details 3 days before.

    • Use the description and listing to create a guestbook utilizing AI and allow customizing instantly or later down the road.

    • Include the ability to extend there stay

    • Bronze Fries

      •

      Oct 12, 2025

      mainly the chat room experience would be extremely helpful

  • Copper Lamp

    •

    Oct 23, 2025

    •

    Merged request

    •

    7 votes

    Hospitable Guests Messaging App.

    To have an application that can be used by guests for messaging instead of using an email notification for Direct Reservations.

  • Lime Koala

    •

    Feb 4

    @Tim Parry - Will there be updates on this progress?

    • Tim Parry

      Team•

      Feb 5

      Hi @Anthony Rallo, Apologies for the delay here. We had the full intention to build this out, then we juggled the teams around, this one passed over and got pushed down the roadmap.

      What’s your main use case here? I remember we spoke specifically about wanting to avoid guests from having to search through their emails for a door code. We’re currently building out a Whatsapp / SMS integration and I wonder if that will solve the main challenge for you?

      • Lime Koala

        •

        Feb 5

        Hi @Tim Parry, appreciate the context and the transparency on how this slipped down the roadmap.

        To answer your question directly, my primary use case is consolidation and reliability of communication for Direct Bookings, not just delivery of a single message like a door code.

        Right now, Direct guests experience fragmentation:

        • They initiate messages in the Guest Portal

        • Host replies arrive via email (often filtered or missed)

        • Follow-ups happen through alias emails with static subject lines

        • Future WhatsApp/SMS would introduce yet another channel and phone number

        This is fundamentally different from how guests are trained to behave on OTAs.

        Guests expect one canonical thread.


        On Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, etc., everything lives in a single conversation that anchors the entire stay experience. I know @Pierre-Camille Hamana has heard this and is aligned.

        While door codes are one example (and to be clear, the Guest Portal does not currently surface them, though it should), the issue is much broader than any single data point.

        WhatsApp/SMS improves delivery (and I appreciate the area @David Thorpe has focus on), but it does not solve continuity, history, or trust. In practice, it increases fragmentation by splitting communication across platforms that are:

        • Not tied to the reservation record

        • Not persistent in a single, reviewable place

        • Not something guests intuitively return to

        What Direct guests need is a single location they can reliably come back to.

        The Houfy example I shared below shows what this looks like when done well:
        one link to a guest portal that includes reservation details, agreements, updates, and the full messaging thread, all in context.

        From a product perspective, this feels less like a new feature and more like finishing the Guest Portal’s core job. The portal already contains reservation information and transactional elements, but without the full message history, hosts cannot confidently position it as the single source of truth for guests. 4 months ago this was a Feature Friday that @Petra Podobnik posted.

        Given the ongoing investment in the Guest Portal, I would strongly encourage the team to reconsider prioritization here. If the goal is to make Direct Bookings feel first-class, communication consolidation should come before introducing additional outbound channels that further fragment the experience.

        Happy to walk through real guest confusion scenarios if helpful. This is showing up repeatedly in live stays, not just as a theoretical concern. I will post in community as well since I know many users that are focused on direct have the same thoughts.

        • Tim Parry

          Team•

          Feb 6

          Thanks for the detailed response here @Anthony Rallo,

          I’ve forwarded this on to Abby, who now controls the GP roadmap.

          Also in regard to this point:
          While door codes are one example (and to be clear, the Guest Portal does not currently surface them, though it should), the issue is much broader than any single data point.

          Also agree with this and something we’ve looked into (Not just showing the code, but adding an ‘unlock’ button into the GP), it’s possible, needs some figuring out but hopefully something we’ll get to

          • Lime Koala

            •

            Feb 7

            Thanks @Tim Parry, really appreciate you forwarding this to @Abby Grous.

            And fully agree on the door code and unlock concepts being interesting and valuable over time. I’d just want to be clear that I see those as additive capabilities, not the core issue I’m trying to solve here.

            For me, the foundational gap remains communication. Specifically, giving Direct guests a single, reliable place to see the full conversation tied to their reservation. Once that exists inside the Guest Portal, features like door codes, unlock actions, check-in context, and other dynamic elements become much more powerful because guests are already trained to return there.

            Without messaging living in the Guest Portal, it’s hard for hosts to confidently position it as the system of record, regardless of what other data or actions are added.

            Really appreciate the engagement here and the continued exploration of what the Guest Portal can become. Happy to provide additional real-world examples or walk through guest confusion scenarios if helpful for roadmap discussions.