Skip to content
English
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

How to set up and activate the Guest board

Overview

Guest board is a social feed designed for hotels where guests and staff can post and reply. It allows guests to ask questions, share recommendations, propose plans, and join activities, while helping hotels drive participation and increase the usage of facilities and services. This feature helps foster a sense of community while allowing the hotel to moderate content through filters and rules.

Before getting started

Before set up the Guest board, ensure you have:

  • Access to the CMS: Activity > Guest board.
  • Defined rules of use that guests must accept to create their profile.
  • A list of terms or words to block to ensure the Guest board remains a safe space.
  • A list of emails for staff members who should receive notifications.

Step by step guide

Step 1: Access the Guest board

  1. Log in to the CMS and navigate to the Activity section.
  2. From the left-side menu, select Guest board.
  3. Click on the Settings tab to begin the configuration.

Step 2: Set up the post visibility

Define the lifespan of the content on the board. This setting determines how long posts remain visible from their creation date before being automatically eliminated (archived). To to this, select a value between 1 and 750 days.

Example: If you set the duration to "7 days", posts and their respective replies will remain visible for that period. After this time, they will be automatically archived and removed from the board.

Step 3: Define blocked terms

Hotels can prevent the use of specific words or expressions considered inappropriate. By defining these terms, you ensure they do not appear on the Guest board. Once configured, users will be unable to publish any content that includes these blocked terms. To block these terms, follow these steps:

  1. Download the current list by clicking the Download current file button.
  2. Open the downloaded file and fill in the columns with the words to block. The template automatically generates a column for every active language in your Guest app. For example, if your app uses English and Spanish, the file will already include both columns so you can provide the terms for each.
  3. Upload the completed file by clicking the Upload Excel button.

 

Note: A hotel can include additional language columns regardless of those supported by the guest app. For example, if a hotel uses English and Spanish but wishes to include a column for French, this is permitted.

Warning: Uploading a new file replaces the existing list entirely. These blocked terms apply to all new posts and replies (existing content is not retroactively affected).


Step 4: Define the rules and guidelines

Guests must accept these rules before creating their profile on the board. You can add, remove, or edit these at any time.

  1. Click the Add rule button to create a new guideline.
  2. An editor section will appear for each new rule.
  3. Enter a title for the rule. You must provide this title in all supported languages by clicking the flag icon.
  4. Enter the description of the rule. To provide translations, use the language dropdown located in the top-left corner of the editor.
  5. Use the rich text editor to add bold text, italics, headers, links, or bullet points.
  6. If you have multiple rules, you can change their order by clicking and dragging the top-left corner of each rule box. This is the order in which they will be displayed to the guest.

Step 5: Assign staff for management

In the section Notifications and email alerts:

  1. Click Add email.
  2. Enter each email address individually and press Enter.
  3. Designated staff members that will receive notifications and emails when new activity is registered.

The notifications and emails the staff will receive are as follows:

  • Content report
    • Type: Email
    • Description: Sent when a user reports content.
  • High-risk user
    • Type: Email
    • Description: Sent when a guest has reached a high-risk level. This level is reached when a user receives 4 or more reports on their posts or replies. For more information regarding user risk levels, please refer to the article How to manage Guest board activity, step 1 (link).
  • New post
    • Type: CMS notification
    • Description: Sent when a new post is created by a user on the Guest board.
  • Content report
    • Type: CMS notification
    • Description: Sent when a user reports content.

Note: By adding a staff member's email in this section, they will receive all these notifications and emails.

Step 6: Save changes

Once all settings are configured, click Save Changes to apply them.

Step 7: Activate the Guest board

After the configuration is complete, you can make the board live:

Locate the Toggle switch in the top-right corner.

  • Toggle ON: The Guest board is active and accessible to all guests.
  • Toggle OFF: The Guest board is hidden. Users will not be able to access, view, or participate.

Important: This toggle is particularly useful for emergencies or moderation issues. If the hotel needs to stop all interactions immediately, simply switch the toggle to OFF.

Next steps

Once the Guest board is configured and active, we recommend setting up access points to increase visibility. You can promote the board through the Guest app home page, links and QR codes. Check this article on How to make the Guest board visible to guests (Link).

Need further assistance?

If you have additional questions or require further assistance:

  • Contact us via live chat.
  • Send a ticket to our Support team.
  • Visit STAY Academy, our training platform.