Automations
The workflow engine allows repetitive processes to be automated – from confirmation emails to payment reminders. Workflows react to events in the application or are triggered on a schedule.
Overview
All existing workflows are listed under Settings → Automations . System workflows appear first, followed by custom ones. New workflows can be created using the New Automation button. Custom workflows can be edited via the edit icon. System workflows can be enabled or disabled but not edited or deleted.
How does a workflow work?
Every workflow follows the principle Trigger → Condition → Action :
- Trigger: Defines when the workflow is started – e.g. when a new online booking arrives or N days after checkout.
- Conditions (optional): One or more checks that decide whether the workflow is actually executed. All conditions must be met at the same time.
- Action: What happens automatically – e.g. sending an email or creating a cash journal entry.
Each workflow is executed only once per record. Records that have already been processed are not considered again.
Triggers
There are two types of triggers:
Event-driven
These triggers fire immediately when something happens in the application:
- New online booking: Triggered as soon as a booking arrives via the online booking form.
- New calendar import: Triggered when a new booking is imported via iCal.
- New reservation: Triggered when a reservation is created manually in the application.
- New invoice: Triggered when an invoice is created.
- Invoice status changed: Triggered when the status of an invoice changes (e.g. from “open” to “paid”).
Time-based
These triggers run automatically in the background and regularly check whether matching records exist:
- N days before arrival: E.g. for a reminder email to the guest before their stay.
- N days after departure: E.g. for a thank-you email after the stay.
- N days after invoice date: E.g. for a payment reminder.
- Monthly on a specific day: E.g. for a monthly summary.
Conditions
Conditions are optional and restrict which records a workflow applies to. Any number of conditions can be added to a workflow – all must be met at the same time. For OR logic, simply create two separate workflows.
The following conditions are available:
- Booker has email address: The workflow is only executed if an email address is stored for the reservation.
- Reservation status: Only reservations with a specific status are considered.
- Invoice has email address: The workflow is only executed if an email address is available on the invoice.
- Invoice status: Only invoices with a specific status are considered.
- Invoice payment method: Only invoices with a specific payment method are considered.
Actions
The following actions can be assigned to a workflow:
- Send email via template (reservation/invoice): Sends an email based on a custom template . The recipient can be freely chosen (booker, invoice address, notification address or a custom address). Sent emails appear automatically in the correspondence tab of the relevant reservation.
- Send general email via template: Like above, but without a link to a specific reservation or invoice – e.g. for monthly reports.
- Send system notification: Sends a predefined notification to the configured notification address – e.g. when a new online booking arrives.
- Create accounting entries: Automatically creates accounting entries from an invoice (debit/credit account configurable) – typically combined with the trigger “Invoice status changed” and the condition “Invoice status = paid”.
- Change invoice status: Sets the status of an invoice to a specified value (e.g. Open, Paid, Cancelled).
- Change payment method: Sets the payment method of an invoice to a specified value (e.g. Cash, Bank Transfer, Card, SEPA).
- Change reservation status: Sets the status of a reservation to a specified value. If triggered by an invoice, all reservations linked to that invoice are updated.
Examples
Some typical use cases for custom automations:
Thank-you email after departure
Trigger:
1 day after departure
Condition:
Booker has email address
Action:
Email via template to the booker – e.g. thanking them for their stay with a feedback link.
Payment reminder for open invoices
Trigger:
14 days after invoice date
Condition:
Invoice status = open
Action:
Send reminder via template to the invoice address.
Accounting entries on payment
Trigger:
Invoice status changed
Condition:
Invoice status = paid
Action:
Automatically create accounting entries from the invoice.
Arrival reminder to the guest
Trigger:
2 days before arrival
Condition:
Booker has email address
Action:
Email via template with arrival information, address and access details.
Update reservations on payment
Trigger:
Invoice status changed
Condition:
Invoice status = paid
Action:
Change the reservation status of all linked reservations to the desired value.
System Workflows
Two workflows are built into the system and do not need to be created manually:
- Email notification for online bookings: Sends a system notification when a new online booking arrives.
- Email notification for calendar imports: Sends a system notification when a booking is added via calendar import.
System workflows can be enabled or disabled, but cannot be edited or deleted.