Optimize your daily operations with Hostaway’s advanced inbox management features, including bulk updates, team assignments, snoozing, message scheduling, formatting, AI suggestions, message translation, and Ask CoHost.
Inbox Options: Mark as Read/Unread
When importing listings, Hostaway generates message threads that are unread by default.
Bulk Updates
To mark these messages as read in bulk, follow these steps:
- Go to your Hostaway Dashboard > Inbox
- In the upper-right corner of the Inbox, click the settings icon and select Bulk update
- Choose the option to mark the message as Read / Archived.
- Select the date of the last message sent or received.
- Click on Confirm.
Bulk actions on the conversation list
You can also mark conversations as read or unread, escalate, snooze, and archive from the conversations list. Please follow the next steps:
- Go to your Hostaway Dashboard > Inbox
- Hover over a conversation in the list, and a checkbox appears; tick as many as you need
- Then select from the top bar the action you would like to perform
- Individual Updates: You can also mark threads as unread or archive them individually using the options provided on each conversation thread.
- Select Several Conversations: Hover over a conversation in the list and tick the checkbox that appears. Tick as many conversations as you need, then select an action: mark as read or unread, escalate, snooze, or archive. To select a range, click the first conversation, then Shift-click the last one. All the conversations in between are selected.
Important Notes on Status
- Read/Unread status is tracked per user, but Archiving affects the thread for all users on the account.
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Automations: When a message automation is sent, it will display as unread since you didn't manually write it yourself.
- External Replies: If you reply to a guest directly on the channel (e.g., inside the Airbnb app), the message will remain "Unread" in Hostaway as external "Read" statuses cannot be synced.
Archive Messages
Archiving helps you keep your active inbox clear of completed conversations.
For a detailed guide, please read more here on how to archive your messages.
Snooze Messages
You can snooze messages for a given time and automatically recover the message after the time has passed.
Assign Messages
You can assign a message thread to a specific Hostaway User on the same account to clarify ownership.
Note: You can filter by Unassigned thread in the inbox to quickly check messages that haven't been picked up by a user yet.
Schedule Manual Messages
You can schedule manual messages to be sent at a specific future time directly from the composer.
Format Messages
HTML formatting is available in the inbox to help format messages. This option is available only for direct channels, as other channels do not allow HTML. Formatting options include:
- Text formatting (Bold, Italic).
- Adding images and hyperlinks.
- Text alignment.
New Message Notification
You don't need to stay inside the Inbox to monitor activity:
- The Notification Badge: A circular counter on your Dashboard shows the number of unread threads.
- Automatic Refresh: If enabled in your Dashboard settings, this counter updates in real-time. If disabled, it will update whenever you refresh any Hostaway page.
AI Suggestions and Translation in the Composer
Two tools in the composer help you reply faster and in the guest's language:
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AI Suggestions: Polish a reply you have already typed with one click, or let AI draft a message from scratch using a short prompt.
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Translate: Type your message in your own language and translate it with one click. After the message is sent, you can still see it in both your own language and the translated version.
Ask CoHost
Open any conversation in the new Inbox and click Ask CoHost in the top tab bar.
A side panel opens a dedicated chat that already knows the guest, reservation, and listing details.
Use it to:
- Catch up on a thread ("Summarize it").
- Spot missed questions ("Did I miss anything?").
- Draft a reply without leaving the page ("Draft a reply that late check-out until 1 pm is fine").
Each conversation keeps its own CoHost thread, and team permissions are respected. Answers cite whether they came from your listing fields or your AI Replies Knowledge Base.