Integration with Hotres

The Hotres integration allows you to connect your ChatLab chatbot with your Hotres booking system to provide real-time availability information and apartment details to your customers.

Overview

With the Hotres integration enabled, your chatbot can:

• Retrieve information about available apartments/rooms
• Check availability for specific dates
• Find available apartments based on customer criteria
• Provide booking links with pre-filled date information

Note: This integration requires a Hotel+ subscription and must be enabled for your account. If you don't see the Hotres option in your integrations, please contact support to enable it.

Part 1: Setting Up the Integration

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following information from your Hotres account:

1. API Key - Your Hotres API authentication key
2. Object ID - The identifier for your Hotres property/object
3. Main Pricelist Name - The name of your primary pricelist in Hotres
4. Booking URL Format - The URL pattern for your booking page

Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Navigate to Integrations

1. Log in to your ChatLab admin panel
2. Select the bot you want to configure
3. Go to Bot Settings → Integrations
4. Find and click on Hotres in the integrations list

Step 2: Enter Connection Details

You'll see a form with four required fields:

1. API Key

• Enter your Hotres API authentication key
• This field is password-protected and will be hidden after entry
• Click the eye icon to reveal/hide the key while entering

2. Object ID

• Enter the unique identifier for your Hotres property
• This ID identifies which property the chatbot will query

3. Main Pricelist Name

• Enter the exact name of your primary pricelist as configured in Hotres
• This ensures the chatbot retrieves pricing from the correct pricelist

4. Booking URL Format

• Enter your booking page URL with placeholders for dynamic data
• Use the following placeholders:
• {DATE_FROM} - Check-in date
• {DATE_TO} - Check-out date
• {TAG} - Apartment/room identifier

Example URL format:

https://yourdomain.com/apartments?checkin={DATE_FROM}&checkout={DATE_TO}&tag={TAG}

This will generate URLs like:

https://yourdomain.com/apartments?checkin=2024-12-15&checkout=2024-12-20&tag=APT-101

Step 3: Connect

1. After filling in all four required fields, the Connect button will become active
2. Click Connect to establish the connection
3. Wait for the confirmation message
4. Once connected, you'll see a success notification
5. A modal will appear with the option to Configure AI Actions

Step 4: Verify Connection

After successful connection:

• The button will change from "Connect" to "Update Chatbot"
• A "Disconnect" button will appear if you need to disable the integration
• The integration status will show as active

Part 2: Configuring AI Actions

Once your Hotres integration is connected, you need to configure which AI actions your chatbot can perform.

Available AI Actions

The Hotres integration provides three powerful AI actions:

1. Get Apartments

Action Name: getApartments

What it does:

• Retrieves a list of all apartments/rooms in your Hotres system
• Provides details about each apartment (name, description, amenities, etc.)

When to use:

• Customer asks "What apartments do you have?"
• Customer wants to see all available options
• General property information inquiries

Default action label: "Getting apartments..."

2. Check Apartment Availability

Action Name: checkApartmentAvailability

What it does:

• Checks availability for a specific apartment on specific dates
• Returns availability status and pricing information

When to use:

• Customer asks about a specific apartment's availability
• Customer provides check-in and check-out dates for a known apartment
• Verifying booking possibility for a particular unit

Default action label: "Checking availability..."

3. Find Available Apartments

Action Name: findAvailableApartments

What it does:

• Searches for apartments available during specific dates
• Returns a filtered list of apartments with availability and pricing
• Can match against customer criteria (number of guests, amenities, etc.)

When to use:

• Customer asks "What's available from Dec 15-20?"
• Customer provides date range without specifying apartment
• Searching for options based on requirements

Default action label: "Checking offers..."

Activating AI Actions

After connecting your Hotres integration, follow these steps to enable AI actions:

Step 1: Navigate to AI Actions

1. From the integration success modal, click Configure AI Actions

OR

2. Navigate manually:
• Go to Bot Settings → Actions
• Scroll to the Hotres category or use filters on right sidebar

Step 2: Activate Each Action

For each AI action you want to enable:

1. Find the action card in the Hotres category
2. Click Activate on the action card
3. You'll see a configuration panel with:

Action Label:

1. This is the message shown to users while the action executes
2. Default labels are provided but you can customize them
3. Example: "Checking availability..." or "Searching for available rooms..."

Instructions (System Prompt):

4. Guides the AI on how to use the action
5. Default instructions are optimized for most use cases
6. You can customize these to match your specific needs
7. Click "Use default" to restore original instructions

User Instructions (Custom Prompt):

8. Additional context you can provide to the AI
9. Optional - leave blank to use defaults
10. Use this to add specific business rules or preferences
4. Click Save to activate the action
5. The action card will now show as Active

Step 3: Test the Actions

After activating the actions:

1. Go to your bot's chat widget (preview or live)
2. Test each action with appropriate queries:
• "What apartments do you have?" (tests getApartments)
• "Is apartment 101 available from Dec 15-20?" (tests checkApartmentAvailability)
• "What's available from Dec 15-20?" (tests findAvailableApartments)
3. Verify the responses are accurate and properly formatted
4. Check that booking URLs are generated correctly

Best Practices

Prompting the AI

To get the best results from your Hotres integration:

1. Train your bot with property information:
• Add descriptions of your apartments to the knowledge base
• Include amenities, room features, and location details
• This helps the AI provide context before checking availability
2. Set clear conversation flows:
• Configure welcome messages that guide users to ask about availability
• Use suggested questions like "Check availability" or "See our apartments"
3. Customize action instructions:
• If you have specific policies (minimum stay, booking rules), add them to the custom prompts
• Example: "Always mention our 2-night minimum stay requirement"

Managing the Integration

Updating Settings:

• You can update any of the four configuration fields at any time
• Click Update Chatbot after making changes
• The integration will reconnect with new settings

Disconnecting:

• Click the Disconnect button to disable the integration
• This will deactivate all Hotres AI actions
• Your configuration is saved and can be reconnected later

Troubleshooting:

• If actions aren't working, verify your API key is correct
• Check that the Object ID matches your Hotres property
• Ensure the Main Pricelist Name exactly matches your Hotres configuration
• Test your Booking URL Format with sample values

Common Use Cases

Scenario 1: General Property Inquiry

Customer: "What kind of apartments do you have?"

Bot action: getApartments

• Retrieves full list of apartments
• Describes features and amenities
• Offers to check availability

Scenario 2: Date-Based Search

Customer: "I need a place from December 15-20"

Bot action: findAvailableApartments

• Searches availability for date range
• Shows available apartments with pricing
• Provides booking links for available options

Scenario 3: Specific Apartment Check

Customer: "Is the Ocean View Suite available next weekend?"

Bot action: checkApartmentAvailability

• Identifies the specific apartment
• Checks availability for the dates
• Returns status and booking link if available

Support

If you encounter any issues or need assistance:

1. Check that all four configuration fields are correctly filled
2. Verify your Hotres API credentials are active
3. Test in your Hotres dashboard that the API is responding
4. Contact ChatLab support with specific error messages or behavior