AI replies to OTA guests

The assistant that answers guests on your Haven sites can also answer the guests who never visit them. When someone who booked on Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com writes in their booking thread, the message reaches Haven through your PMS, the assistant reads it against that listing, and a reply goes back the same way, usually inside a minute.

Nothing is switched on for you. Each connected PMS starts at Off, and an account-wide switch has to allow it as well.

What it answers from

It draws on the listing, its guidebook, and your AI knowledge: the same sources as the chat on your site, so a guest hears one answer wherever they ask. Replies are written in the language the guest used.

Arrival details follow the rules your guidebook already applies. A guest who has not booked is told nothing about the address, entry codes or Wi-Fi, and is never given a phone number, an email address or a link, because the booking platforms forbid contact details before a reservation. A booked guest receives door codes and Wi-Fi only once the listing's reveal window has opened and any pre-arrival steps you require are complete.

Turn it on

Open Communication → Message automations and find AI replies to OTA guests at the top.
For each PMS, choose a mode:
- Off: the assistant stays out of those threads.
- Draft for approval: it writes a reply and leaves it in your inbox. Nothing reaches the guest until you press Send.
- Send automatically: it replies on its own and hands the conversation to you when it should not answer.
Open Settings → Account & Profile → Account → Guest communications and turn on AI replies. While that switch is off, nothing is drafted or sent, whatever the mode.

The same control appears on each PMS card under Settings → Integrations, in its Guest messages section. Changing it in one place changes it in the other.

Most hosts begin with Draft for approval. A week of reading the drafts shows where your AI knowledge is thin, and filling those gaps is what makes Send automatically dependable.

Choose which listings it answers for

Once a PMS is set to draft or send, its row in Message automations gains a listings control. Every listing starts included. Turn individual ones off there, or from the listing itself under Edit Listing → Arrival → OTA guests → AI replies to messages.

Which PMS supports what

PMS	AI replies
Hospitable	Replies land in the guest's booking thread. Connections made before messaging was added need to be reconnected.
Hostfully	Replies land in the booking thread for Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com guests.
Guesty	Airbnb replies land in the thread. Vrbo and Booking.com replies reach the guest by email.
Lodgify	Replies post to the booking's conversation.
OwnerRez	Not available. OwnerRez has not enabled messaging for Haven.
Airbnb connected directly	Not available. That connection only allows saved templates.
Hostex, Hostaway	Not available. These connect through Airbnb, which only allows saved templates.

A PMS the assistant cannot reply through is still listed, greyed, with the reason beside it.

What it hands to you

Some questions are yours to decide, and the assistant treats them that way however confident it is. It passes the conversation to you, without replying, when a guest:

asks for a refund, a cancellation, different dates or a different guest count, a discount, or anything about payment, deposits or damage;
asks for an exception to your rules, such as an early check-in you do not already offer;
reports a problem with the stay or is unhappy;
may be unsafe or locked out;
asks for you, or for a person;
asks something your listing, guidebook and AI knowledge do not cover.

After a hand-off it stops replying in that thread until you bring it back. You are told by email, and by text if the AI needs you alert is on under Settings → Account & Profile → Notifications.

Every reply is also checked before it goes out. One that reads as vague, or that contains something the guest should not receive yet, is held as a draft rather than sent.

In your inbox

Open Communication → Inbox.

Each thread from a PMS shows where the guest booked, for example Airbnb via Guesty, in the header and on its row in the list.
A message the assistant sent carries an AI reply tag beneath it. A draft you edited before sending is yours, and carries no tag.
Replies waiting on you appear in the conversation where they would have gone, outlined rather than filled. A draft offers Send, Edit and Dismiss. A hand-off shows why it was passed to you, what the guest needs, and a suggested reply when the assistant wrote one.
Needs you in the filter row narrows the list to threads with something waiting.
Pause AI in the thread header takes a conversation over. Resume AI returns it, including after a hand-off.

A reply you send from a draft goes to the guest through your PMS, exactly as the assistant's own replies do.

Teach it from what it missed

On a hand-off, Add context opens your AI knowledge with the guest's question and the missing fact already filled in. Save it, and the test that follows asks the assistant that same question again so you can see the new answer.

Every exchange is also recorded under Home → Site Analytics → Chats, in the OTA messages group. Each reply there is marked Sent to the guest, Draft, not sent, or Handed to you, and the same grading and insights that cover your site chats cover these. Open in inbox returns you to the thread.

Limits worth knowing

The assistant answers threads for stays that came from your PMS and for PMS inquiries. A booking made on your Haven site is answered on Haven.
It cannot change a booking, issue a refund, or send a code to a lock. It will not tell a guest that it has.
If a guest asks whether they are talking to a person, it says it is your automated assistant and that you read the conversation too.
A guest who sends several messages in quick succession receives one reply covering all of them.
To keep two automated senders from answering each other, it writes at most ten replies in one thread per day.