How do I link guest questions to my booking or property system?

Custom actions are webhook or API calls that Chatref's AI agent can trigger during a chat. For real‑estate and short‑term‑vacation‑rental teams, this means you can wire the widget directly into your booking engine. In the Chatref app, define an action that points to your booking system's endpoint (for example, a REST endpoint from Hostfully, Lodgify, Guesty, or a custom PMS). Map the guest's chat inputs – booking ID, email, or confirmation code – to the fields the API expects. The AI agent will call that action when a guest asks "What's my check‑in time?" or "I need to change my arrival date." This is the foundation of a full rental software integration that lives inside chat.

Once the connection is live, design specific actions that mirror your team's common workflows. You might build an action that fetches an upcoming stay summary, one that triggers a late‑checkout request, and another that logs a maintenance ticket. For each custom chat action, you tell Chatref what information to collect from the guest – like a reservation number or the name on the booking – and the AI agent handles the conversation to gather it. The result is AI booking actions that run automatically while the guest chats, delivering personalised answers and updating your system behind the scenes. This can also include guest account updates, such as adding a pet or changing contact details, all without a human having to copy‑paste into your PMS.

After you define your actions, drop the Chatref website widget onto your property pages, booking confirmation screen, and guest portal. The widget loads in seconds and inherits your brand colours. From there, guests can start conversations that trigger your automated property tasks directly. Test the full flow in Chatref's live playground before going live – simulate "What time is checkout on Saturday?" and watch the AI call your booking endpoint. Once verified, you'll have a seamless guest workflow where every question can resolve itself, and your team steps in only when needed via the shared inbox. No separate apps, no app‑switching – your rental systems and guest chat work as one.

What booking tasks can AI handle?

Any task that your booking system's API supports. Common ones include fetching upcoming stays, confirming dates, delivering door codes, handling early check‑in or late checkout requests, logging maintenance issues, and updating guest profile information. Because custom actions can call any public or authenticated endpoint, the AI can handle most routine property management operations that currently require manual work.

How do I set up custom actions?

Inside the Chatref app, open your agent and navigate to the Custom actions tab. Click "Add action" and define the trigger – for example, "fetch_booking". Provide the webhook URL of your booking system and map chat responses (like a guest‑supplied booking number) to the required JSON fields. The AI agent will learn when to call the action based on the conversation and use the mapped data to make the API request.

Will AI update guest accounts?

Yes, when you build a custom action that targets your rental software's update endpoint, the AI can collect the new information from the guest – such as a revised arrival time or a change to the guest count – and send it directly to your system, updating the guest account in real time.

How do I test integrations?

Use Chatref's live playground, which lets you simulate guest conversations without installing the widget. Type a message that should trigger a custom action, and you'll see the AI attempt the API call. You can monitor request and response details in the playground and in the conversation inbox. We recommend using a sandbox or staging endpoint first to avoid impacting live data.

What if the booking system changes?

Simply update the custom action's webhook URL or field mapping inside Chatref. There's no code to redeploy on your site. The AI agent continues working with the new system immediately, so you can swap property management platforms or upgrade your API without disrupting the guest experience.

Can AI handle property-specific tasks?

Absolutely. Custom actions are not limited to standard booking operations. You can create actions for unique workflows like delivering smart‑lock codes, scheduling housekeeping, notifying a concierge about a special request, or sending a local guide after check‑in. Wire the action to any internal tool, email service, or notification system to automate property‑specific tasks directly from guest chat.