Pre-onboard your Airbnb account to Guesty tp explore powerful tools and features without disrupting your existing Property Management Software (PMS) setup. This process creates a view-only version of your Airbnb data, including listings, reservations, and guest messages, so you can preview Guesty’s capabilities and see if it’s the right fit for your business.
If you later choose to fully onboard, your listing data will already be in Guesty, making the switch smooth. Simply disconnect your PMS from Airbnb and start managing your operations through Guesty.
This guide walks you through the pre-onboarding steps to help you make the most of Guesty.
Limitations
- Pre-onboarding is only supported if the Airbnb account is connected to a single Guesty account.
- The ability to "Give Guesty full permissions" is disabled for listings in a “Pending” status.
- The pre-onboarding, view-only connection means data doesn't sync between platforms, except for automated messages, which sync automatically.
- Link or reconnecting listings during pre-onboarding isn't supported. An attempt will return a "You do not have permission to access this resource" error.
- Airbnb pre-onboarded listings connected to other Online Travel Agencies (OTA) or booking sites will receive reservations.
- A pre-onboarded listing becomes billable when connected to a non-Airbnb channel. Billing for Airbnb pre-onboarded listings are handled as follows:
- Airbnb pre-onboarded listings won’t be billed until they are fully connected.
- Airbnb pre-onboarded listings connected to the Guesty Booking Engine and/or Guesty Website won’t be billed.
- Airbnb pre-onboarded listings connected to other channels will be billed.
- Once the account is fully connected, you can't revert it to a pre-onboarding status, even if you disconnect the account. Pre-onboarding is a one-time process.
Note:
Airbnb offers a "Display exact location" setting to hide a listing's accurate address. Guesty doesn't support this feature. When you connect an Airbnb listing, Guesty overwrites this setting, making the exact location visible to guests.
To hide the exact location, wait until the listing is connected to Guesty. Then, sign in to your Airbnb account and update the "Display exact location" setting directly on Airbnb. Airbnb permits this change because the address is a 'locked attribute'..
Pre-onboard an Airbnb account to Guesty
Pre-onboarding lets you choose which listings to import, including multi-unit properties, before importing them to Guesty. Multi-unit structures and their associated sub-units are automatically detected and imported with the right configuration.
Tip:
Select only the listings you want to explore in Guesty, including any multi-unit properties. This helps you stay in control during pre-onboarding.
Watch our video and follow the instructions below to pre-onboard your Airbnb account to Guesty.
Before you begin
Before starting your pre-connection, ensure your listings have a unique nickname. Failure to do so results in the following:
- Guesty generates a nickname on your behalf with a
! prefix.
- If there are several listings using the same nickname, Guesty will generate a new nickname with a
! prefix, and differentiate each nickname by adding X at the end.
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the top navigation bar, click the mode selector, then select Operations mode.
- Click Distribution.
- Click Airbnb.
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At the top right of the integration page, click Add account. Then, click Set up a view-only connection.
- In the pop-up, click Set up a view-only connection. You’ll be redirected to Airbnb.
- Review the information Guesty will have access to and click Allow.
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Review which listings will be copied to Guesty, and click Set up a view-only connection to initiate the import process.
Your Airbnb listing data will be copied to Guesty, including multi-unit listings which are automatically detected in Guesty and created with the correct number of sub-units.
Note:
- Changes made to a pre-onboarded listing in Guesty won’t sync to Airbnb. Your listings will remain managed by your current PMS.
- If you cancel this process, you’ll need to import the listings one at a time.
- A pop-up message will appear when the account is pre-connected. Click Visit the Guesty dashboard to navigate to the integration page.
Your Airbnb account and listings will be added to the integration page, and their status will change to “Connected”. Refresh the page. The listing data, reservations, and associated guest messages will be added to Guesty in "view-only" mode.
To differentiate between single-unit and multi-unit listings, click on the listing to open the property details page.
View only connections will be indicated as follows:
- “View only connection” appears next to the account name
-
displays to the right of the pre-onboarded account and every pre-onboarded listing on the integration page
- The following message appears at the top of each pre-onboarded property page
When the account is in “View only connection”, Guesty pulls the listings' data from Airbnb to Guesty, including new reservations and guest messages, but updates to Airbnb won't sync until the account is fully connected. Thus, any actions performed in Guesty, including creating reservations, changing the listing's settings, or adding automation, will not sync to Airbnb.
When you’re ready to fully connect your account, follow the steps below.
Fully connect a pre-onboarded account to Guesty
Follow the steps below or watch our video to fully connect your pre-onboarded Airbnb account to Guesty.
Before you begin
Before you can fully connect your Airbnb account, do the following:
Step by step:
- Sign in to your Guesty account.
- In the top navigation bar, click the mode selector, then select Operations mode.
- Click Distribution.
- Click Airbnb.
- Select the pre-onboarded account.
- At the top right, click Give Guesty full permissions.
- Under step 1 in the pop-up, click Open Airbnb. A new window will redirect you to your Airbnb account settings.
- Under “Privacy”, scroll down to “Connected services” and click Remove below the name of your current PMS.
- In the pop-up, click Remove access to confirm.
- Return to the Guesty tab.
- Under step 2, click Open Airbnb.
- Review the information required for Guesty to manage your Airbnb account and click Allow.
- Optional: Set up Guesty's integration email to manage your communication with Airbnb support.
Your account will now be fully connected to Guesty, and the listings' data will be fully imported to Guesty. Once a listing is imported, changes to its data in Guesty will override your Airbnb settings.
Learn below how the import process affects your listing's data both in Guesty and Airbnb.
How the import affects your listing settings and data