Service · Autopilot

The AI co-host for short-term rental guest messaging.

The Smoobu autopilot that replies to your guests in 40+ languages, 24/7. An AI co-host for your short-term rental means you stop answering "What's the Wi-Fi password?" — and start getting weekends back. Guest chat runs natively through your Smoobu channel manager, which covers Airbnb, Booking.com, and direct bookings.

Start Smoobu autopilot See pricing →

Guest (Italian) · 1 min ago

"Ciao! A che ora posso fare il check-in?"

Smoobu Autopilot · just now

"Ciao Marco! Il check-in è dalle 15:00. L'appartamento è in Via Roma 42, piano 3. Buon viaggio!"

Guest messaging on autopilot, via your Smoobu channel manager.

The AI co-host for short-term rental hosts is straightforward: our integration watches your Smoobu channel manager inbox, and when a guest writes in, we generate a reply using the apartment's guide as the source of truth. Automated guest messaging goes out in the guest's language — typically within 30 seconds.

How the Smoobu autopilot works

Every 15 seconds, Virtual Host AI polls the Smoobu API for new guest messages across all connected apartments. When a new message arrives, we debounce for 30–60 seconds so rapid-fire messages combine into a single coherent thought. The Smoobu autopilot then reads the guest's message, checks your property guide, generates a reply using Google's Gemini, and posts it back to Smoobu — which delivers it to the guest on whatever channel they messaged from (Airbnb, Booking.com, direct).

The result: the Airbnb message automation is invisible to your guests. They experience it as a fast, knowledgeable host. Meanwhile you're off-duty, because the AI autopilot for short-term rental properties has already handled their question.

40+ languagesNo templates, no language packs. Gemini's native multilingual handles every guest regardless of origin.

30-second responseGuest writes, autopilot answers. No waiting until you wake up.

Guide-groundedOnly answers from your apartment guide. Never invents information.

Safety-first

The intervention shield.

Every AI co-host Smoobu platform makes trade-offs between speed and safety. Ours tips toward safety. If you reply to a guest from any device — Smoobu mobile app, web, anywhere — our vacation rental AI detects it within 30 seconds and pauses on that thread for an hour. Two voices never reach the guest. You stay in charge of any conversation you've already touched.

If the guest message is emotionally charged, urgent, or asks for information the apartment guide doesn't contain, the Smoobu autopilot escalates to you instantly via Telegram instead of guessing. Read the full safety model →

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Intervention Shield

ACTIVE

Host replied on Sunset Studio at 14:32. Automated guest replies paused until 15:32.

One click to connect Smoobu.

Paste your Smoobu API key. Virtual Host AI imports your apartments, guest messages, reservations, and existing guides. The Smoobu autopilot is ready to answer its first guest within minutes. No CSV exports, no manual data entry.

Connect Smoobu · step 1 of 2

Paste your Smoobu API key

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What the autopilot handles (and what it doesn't).

We analysed 4,000 guest messages to figure out what the Smoobu autopilot can truly own and where it needs to step back.

Handled automatically (81% of messages):

Check-in logistics — how to find the key-box, early check-in requests, arrival time confirmations
In-unit utilities — Wi-Fi password, heating controls, dishwasher instructions, hot water
Local information — best restaurant, nearest metro, airport transfer options
Checkout logistics — key return, garbage, final-night expectations
Simple acknowledgments — "thanks," "we arrived safely," "great stay"

Escalated to you (19% of messages):

Complaints — broken appliance, noise complaints, anything that needs a human fix
Refund requests or date changes — never negotiated by the AI
Anything emotionally charged — frustrated, angry, distressed guest
Questions outside the apartment guide — if we don't have the answer, we don't invent it

See the full breakdown in our blog post on how AI message autopilot saves hosts 10 hours a week.

Integrations that matter.

The Smoobu autopilot is not an island. It plugs into the tools you already use.

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Smoobu PMS

Guest messages, reservations, guides, apartments. The Smoobu API is our primary integration point — everything flows through it.

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Google Calendar

Two-way sync. Reservations appear in your calendar automatically, and personal blocks you add in Google Calendar propagate back to Smoobu.

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Escalations arrive as rich cards with Pause, Solve, and Reply buttons. See the Telegram command center.

Other services that pair well.

The AI autopilot for short-term rental messaging is one part of the platform. Hosts running multiple apartments typically pair it with:

Upselling automationStay-extension offers before checkout — typically pays for the subscription on its own.

Calendar syncSmoobu reservations → Google Calendar in real time, with cleaning windows.

Cleaning coordinationYour cleaner sees their schedule, synced, in their own Google Calendar.

Austrian hosts: we also handle online guest registration for every Bundesland (Vienna TourismusStatistik + Meldepflicht in Salzburg, Tirol, and the rest) — skip the paperwork.