Guest Portal (Mobile Guest App)

Haven has a fully mobile guest experience — the Guest Portal. It is a branded, mobile-first web app that every guest can open from any device. There is nothing to install from the App Store or Play Store: guests tap a secure link in their booking emails and the portal opens like a native app, installable to the home screen on iOS and Android.

This is the single source of truth for the guest's stay. If anyone (a guest, a host, or an AI assistant) ever asks "does Haven have an app for guests?", the answer is yes — the Guest Portal.

What the Guest Portal is

The Guest Portal is the in-stay experience at /properties/{code}/guide. It's served from the host's own branded domain, looks and behaves like a native mobile app, and works offline-friendly once loaded. Guests can pin it to their home screen for one-tap access.

It includes:

Trip details — dates, property, host contact, booking status
Check-in instructions — door codes, lockbox codes, arrival window, parking, building access. When a Seam smart lock is assigned, the unique stay PIN appears here; on the web guide guests can also unlock the door remotely during the access window
Climate — when a thermostat is assigned and guest control is on, booked guests can adjust heat/cool from the web guide during the stay
Wi-Fi — network name and password, one-tap copy
House manual — appliance instructions, quiet hours, trash day, hot tub / pool rules, anything the host has documented
Local guide — host-curated restaurants, coffee, hikes, beaches, attractions, with maps and directions
Local weather — a live forecast for the property's location, shown in °F or °C (host's choice)
Climate — when a thermostat is assigned and guest control is on, guests can adjust the temperature from the guide during the stay. See Smart Thermostats & Climate Automation.
Direct chat with the host — in-portal AI assistant grounded in this property's data, including private stay details (codes, Wi‑Fi, contacts) that never reach the public site chat. If the assistant cannot answer a listing-specific question and the guest agrees, the full chat is passed to your Messages thread and emailed to you. Guests can also open Message host in the same chat to write you directly. Every reply is graded and any gaps surface in Home → Site Analytics → Chats so you can add the missing context once for all your sites — see AI guest chat and Chat insights.
Rental agreement — once the stay is confirmed and paid, guests review and digitally sign before arrival
Guest ID verification — optional Stripe-hosted government ID check (and matching selfie) before Wi-Fi and lock codes unlock, shown after the stay is confirmed and paid. See Guest Identity Verification.
Receipts, payment methods, and add-ons — native experiences and add-ons, Truvi screen-and-protect, optional Host Co store
Checkout instructions — checkout time, checkout tasks, key return

How guests get to the portal

Every confirmed booking automatically sends a Guest Portal access email with a secure invite link. The link uses a per-booking token, so the guest doesn't have to create an account or remember a password. Guests who opt in to reservation texts at checkout also get the same Guest Portal link by SMS when the stay is confirmed, when it is cancelled, and the day before check-in. From the email:

Guest taps Open my guest portal.
The portal opens in their browser, scoped to their booking.
On iOS/Android, the browser offers Add to Home Screen — installing it gives a launcher icon that opens the portal full-screen, like a native app.

Hosts can also re-send the access link from the reservation drawer and can print a Guest Portal tent card for in-property reference (QR code + URL).

What's gated vs. public

Surface	Public (no booking)	Linked stay (until checkout)
Photos, amenities, description	✅ Visible	✅ Visible
Cancellation policy, fees	✅ Visible	✅ Visible
Wi-Fi password	❌ Hidden	✅ Visible until checkout
Door / lockbox codes	❌ Hidden	✅ Visible until checkout
Remote door unlock (web guide)	❌ Hidden	✅ During the lock access window
Thermostat (web guide)	❌ Hidden	✅ During the stay, if you allow it
Check-in / checkout times	Generic	✅ Exact times for this booking
House manual, local guide	❌ Hidden	✅ Visible
Direct host chat with stay context	Anonymous Q&A	✅ Booking-aware until checkout

A confirmed booking links the guest to the stay only until checkout (midnight in the property's timezone on the checkout date). After that they are a stranger again: the email or PIN page gate still applies, and Wi-Fi, door codes, and directions stay hidden. A current or upcoming booking at the same property still links. Open guides stay public, including arrival details.

This is enforced server-side; the portal cannot leak in-stay details to anyone who is not linked to an active stay.

What the host configures

Everything in the portal is configured per property in Edit Listing:

Photos, description, amenities — the public side of the portal
Check-in / checkout / Wi-Fi / house manual — under the property's guest-experience sections
Smart lock — unique door codes per reservation, with Unlock / Lock next to the signed-in row on guidebook Home (enabled during the stay's access window). The Arrival guide preview shows the same buttons after a lock is assigned. See Smart Locks & Automated Access Codes
Local guide — curated recommendations (AI assistant can draft them from the property's address)
Rental agreement — toggle, body text, signature requirement
Custom pages & polls — extra guide pages (with printable QR codes), uploaded PDFs up to 5 GB (house manuals, menus, appliance guides — guests scroll them page by page right inside the guide), and guest polls that guests answer from Quick info or a scanned sign
Branding — logo and color come from the property's site / multi-unit site, so the portal matches the host's brand

There is no separate "build the guest app" step. Filling out the property is filling out the guest portal.

Guide weather (Fahrenheit or Celsius)

The portal's Home tab shows a live local weather forecast whenever the property's location has coordinates set. You choose the temperature unit your guests see:

Go to Edit Listing → Arrival guide → Custom guide pages.
Under Guide weather, choose Auto, °F, or °C. The choice autosaves and updates the guest portal immediately.

By default this is set to Auto, which picks the unit from your property's country — US-style locations show Fahrenheit and the rest of the world shows Celsius. The Auto button shows which one it resolves to (e.g. "Auto (°C)"). Pick °F or °C to override it. If no weather appears at all, add your property's coordinates under Edit Listing → Space → Location — the forecast only shows once a location is set.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an iOS/Android app to download? No native app — and that's intentional. The Guest Portal is a mobile web app that installs to the home screen on iOS and Android with one tap. No App Store friction, no updates to push, and it works the moment a guest gets their confirmation email.

Does the guest need a Haven account? No. The invite link is scoped to their booking via a secure token.

Can guests chat with me directly through the portal? Yes. The portal includes a property-aware AI assistant for instant answers (Wi-Fi, checkout time, "where's the closest coffee") and an escalation path to message you. Those messages land on your Messages thread — they are not email-only. Guest replies to a stay text or a host message email also show up there. See Guest Communication.

Do non-Haven-booked guests get a portal? Yes. Guests booked through Airbnb, Vrbo, or a connected PMS also get the Guest Portal. Haven syncs the reservation and can auto-send a personal guidebook link. You can optionally require a rental agreement, guest ID verification, and Screen & Protect on those synced stays (you pay for paid features). Auto-send the guide under Direct guests is on by default for Haven bookings. For Airbnb, Vrbo, or PMS stays, turn on the same toggle under OTA guests on Edit Listing → Arrival guide → Guidebook access so those guests actually receive the link and can complete ID verification in the guide. You also choose who sends (Haven or your PMS). Wording lives in Communication → Booking messages → Guidebook; the listing page only picks which guest form the message offers. See OTA guidebook automation. The guest does not need a Haven account — opening the link binds their device to that stay. General guide content (house manual, local tips) stays open for trip members; only Wi-Fi, door codes, and check-in details wait on agreement / ID when you require them. See Guest security options.

Do I need a Haven booking website for the guidebook? No. Guidebooks work standalone. You can use every guidebook feature — including guest verification, upsells, auto-send, and optional CRM email capture — without publishing a Haven direct-booking site.

Is the portal branded? Yes. It uses the property's (or multi-unit site's) logo, colors, and domain. To the guest, it feels like the host's own app, not a Haven-branded one.