Managing calendar-based tasks

• A calendar-based task, either a one-time or a recurring, applied to a property or a specific reservation. You can prepare a description, checklist, or attachment, and schedule its delivery timing. You can assign it to a specific member or a group.
• An automated task ("Auto Task"), configured at the listing level, is initiated by an event in the reservation's life cycle. Once the conditions you set are fulfilled, the Auto Task will cause the listing's cleaning status to be updated and/or the dispatch of a message to a guest or team member. For example, you can set an Auto Task for cleaning a property one hour after check-out and meet with the guest or property owner for their scheduled arrival time.

See the instructions below or watch our video to create a calendar-based task.

Create a task

Follow the steps below to create a calendar-based task.

Step by step:

1. Sign in to your Guesty account.
2. In the top-right corner, click the plus icon. Then, select New task.
3. Fill in the relevant information:

   Name

   Name the task: This will help you and your team identify it.

   "Name" is the only field required to create an non-repeating task. "Timing" and "Recurrence" are required to create a recurring task. All other fields are optional.

   Task type

   Classifying your tasks allows you to create better and more pinpointed reports and review analytics to understand how your operations perform.

   Choose the task type from the following options: Cleaning, maintenance, inspection, mid-stay, runner, sanitation, check-in, issue, inventory, administration.

   Timing

   Provide a timeframe for the task.

   • Specific time: You decide for the assignee of the task when to begin the task - at the "Start date" and "Start time" set by you.
   • Flexible time frame: The assignee of the task decides for themselves when to begin and complete the task - anytime between the "Can start from" date and time and the "Must finish before" date and time that you set.

   You can also add the "Planned duration" of the task to schedule and prioritize tasks more efficiently based on the estimated task length and set expectations with the assignee regarding task length

   Recurrence

   Decide how often you want the task to repeat itself.

   • Does not repeat
   • Daily
   • Weekly on Wednesday (for example)
   • Monthly on the second Wednesday (for example)
   • Monthly on the last Wednesday (for example)
   • Custom...

   When you create a recurring task, a series of recurring instances of the task are created. The series is created six months into the future and is updated daily. At any given moment, the latest instance you see will be up to six months from the current date.

   Tip:

   Depending on the month, a fourth Wednesday of the month may also be the last Wednesday of that month (for example). Thus, be sure to choose the correct recurrence based on your needs. Do you want the task to repeat on the last Wednesday of every month, even if it turns out to be the fifth Wednesday in some months?

   Task Details

   Add free text to provide your team with more information about the task.

   Checklist

   You can create a task to-do list. Click Add Item to start creating the list. Re-reorder individual items as needed by clicking and dragging the item to a different spot on the list.

   Expenses (Accounting users only)

   Click Add expense to provide context to an expense by linking it to the information provided on the task. Learn more.

   Documents & Instructions

   Add files to provide your team with important information about the task. Click Upload and select the relevant files or drag and drop files from a folder on your computer. You can upload up to 50 files per task with a maximum size of 25MB per file.

   Priority

   Set the priority of the task in the dropdown menu at the right sidebar. Select Low priority, Medium priority, or High priority

   Assignee

   Under "Assignee" at the right sidebar, select Member to assign the task to a specific person, or Group to assign the task to a group of users. A member of the group can then assign the task to themselves. Select the relevant option from the dropdown menu.

   Supervisor

   Assign a supervisor to the task by selecting the relevant option from the dropdown menu.

   Applies to

   Specify whether the task relates to a reservation or a property.

   To apply the task to a reservation, click Reservation under "Applies to" at the right sidebar, and select the relevant option from the dropdown menu.

   To apply the task to a property, click Property under "Applies to" at the right sidebar, and choose one of the following options:

   • All will apply the task to all existing and future properties. If needed, you can exclude specific properties.
   • By rule will apply the task to existing and future properties that match one of the cities you select and at least one of the tags. If needed, you can exclude specific properties that would otherwise match this combination of cities and tags.
   • Specific will apply the task to specific properties.

   You can assign up to 150 properties to a task. Applying a task to multiple properties will automatically create a series of task instances, such that each instance is associated with one property. 

   Pro users: Account users with access to limited properties can’t view tasks not associated with those properties, including tasks that are not assigned to any property. To enable access to these tasks, either assign them to the user’s properties or associate them with all properties.

4. Click Save.

Edit a series of tasks or an instance

You can edit a series of tasks or specific instances of it.

If you edit a field in a single instance within a series, that instance will not be overridden if you later edit that field for the entire series. For example, if you change the title of an instance to "A" and then you change the title of the series to "B", the title of the altered instance will remain "A".

If you edit the timing of a series of tasks, all upcoming tasks that have not yet started will be deleted and new tasks will be created based on the new timing.