Helpful instructions and video tutorials on the various features within the SmartHost Management Portal
Table of Contents
Editing Property Level Information
Property Menu: Property Settings
Property Association to Containers and Categories
Contact Information
You can update contacts via Menu > Contacts. Within the Contact Interface you are able add, remove, and specify who and how you would like to be contacted.
In your contact interface you can assign department associations to your contacts. Contacts can be associated with one department, any combination of departments or all departments. Contacts must be associated with at least one department. If a contact prefers to receive only Guest Reviews and Usage Reports but does not want to receive Maintenance, Housekeeping or Front Desk requests, select Other only.
Utterances built into the system will forward guest inquiries to the appropriate department based on the nature of their request.
You should review all content to ensure responses are in accordance with your preferences and procedures.
For example, if a guest announces that the TV does not work SmartHost will respond with troubleshooting suggestions, when available. When the system does not have a troubleshooting suggestion it will go directly to offering to contact maintenance. If the troubleshooting suggestion does not meet the guest needs, they are offered the option to notify maintenance.
When the guest affirms the need for maintenance assistance, the system will send an email or text, based on your preferred method of contact, to the individual(s) you have assigned to that property’s Maintenance Department.
Configure Settings
In the settings section you need to provide your contact choices for reports and how you would prefer SmartHost to manage no answer available responses. Please do not change First and Last names as these naming conventions are intentionally set for tracking purposes.
Do not add or change Device Settings. If your Device Settings is blank let us know. We will add the correct Amazon Provisioning Account.
There are a couple of configuration parameters, however, you will want to set. Under Settings, you will find a section called 'Notification Preferences'.
- Opt-In or Opt-Out to receive periodic reports via email that summarize the things your guests are asking about. You can also set the frequency of these reports and who should receive them.
- Opt-In or Opt-Out to receive real-time notifications via text when a guest asks a question that the SmartHost system does not have a pre-defined answer available. You will also choose which point of contact should receive the text, and the hours during which they should receive notifications.
- Add WiFi settings for your office and any buildings or resorts that have multiple devices connected to a shared WiFi Network.
- Provides you the ability to push WiFi credentials to all your online devices.
- Online devices that were successfully pushed WiFi credentials can be moved to the office or resort and simply plugged in to work.
- When you want to push WiFi networks to all online devices again, press the Re-sync button.
Editing Property Level Information
When you select a property, you land on the Custom Content section of the property interface. Within the Property Information section of Custom Content, you can update the type of property, property name, property address, and property specific content.
Any preferences you select can be copied to other properties via the Multi-Property Management Tool.
Property Menu:
Helpful Tips: Provides answers to frequent questions and a link to the SmartHost Reference Guide and Knowledge Base Library.
Custom Content: Provides you with the ability to add/edit Content Items that are property specific. You can also view all container and property specific content that is being spoken by Alexa.
Communications: Provides you with the ability to update your communication preferences. check out this helpful article and videos below.
Calendar: Shows current and up to 10 future guest reservations. Provides you with the ability to select Calendar Integration preferences. (Requires an API feed with Xplorie.)
Devices: List the devices associated with or pending to the property. Also displays Show Cards currently in rotation on Show devices.
A full list of all your devices is also available under Account in the Main menu bar.
Property Settings: Provides you with the ability to upload an image to display within SmartHost management portal, push WiFi credentials to online device(s) associated to the property, see property’s Unit ID, and change the voice preference from Alexa standard to a different persona. If you opt into selecting a different voice persona you can listen to the voice before saving selection.
It is important to remember to publish all changes or updates.
Editing Content Items
What is a Content Item?
Containers and Properties both hold what is called a Content Item. Content Items are where you input all the relevant information that you want to share with guests regarding your company, community, and property. Content Items store Titles, Tags, and the dialogue that Alexa will say. Company-wide policies like check-out should be stored at a container level. Items unique to the property should be added at the property level.
To see and edit your property level Content Items, which are spoken by Alexa, you will first need to select the Edit Property Content button. After choosing Edit Property Content, you will see property specific Content Items.
To see container level Content Items, go to top menu bar Groups > Containers > select a container you want to edit.
You can edit existing Content Items, delete, and add new ones. Property Content Items should include features you want to highlight. An example of a useful Content Item is WiFi credentials that are unique to the property.
The most critical point to remember is that Content Items are where you add the content that you want Alexa to say to your guests. Content Items are the only way you can make Alexa speak.
Example Content Item
 |
The title created is Spare Bedding. |
|
The second line prompts you to Search for a tag. You have a multitude of predefined tags that will appear in a dropdown menu as you start to type in the search window. After you select tags, they appear in the next window. To remove a tag, select the X beside the associated tag. |
 |
The Content window is where you can write what you want Alexa to say to guests. Use of commas and periods is vital for controlling the rhythm of how Alexa speaks. If you want AI assistance you can select one tag and the Auto Generate button. SmartHost will write the content for you. If you want AI to provide alternative content to what you have written select the Enhance Content button. |
What are Tags?
Tags are an essential element of building good Content Items. Tags are key words or one-word descriptions that can be applied to a Content Item. It is extremely helpful to specify any appropriate tags that would be applicable to the Content Item.
Tags also have synonyms that are embedded in the code, so you need not worry about having every variation of a word in tag form. For example, Temperature Control has synonyms like thermostat, air conditioner and climate control linked to the tag so guests will be able use any variation of those phrases to access your content that is tagged with Temperature Control.
There are hundreds of tags available, but Tags should be used strategically. Consider tags that most relate to a Content Item and would be common key words used by a guest asking about a specific Content Item. For example: Wonderworks benefits from be tagged with “Museum”, “Kid’s Activity” and “Children’s Museum”.
Further, the Natural Language Understanding (NLU) capabilities of the voice assistant is much better at recognizing tags than it is at recognizing Content Item titles. You can add multiple tags to a Content Item and use the same tag on multiple Content Items. However, avoid using a tag too often. Guests typically will not listen to eight choices when they are hoping to hear the best suggestions for their interests. Ideally keep the choices to three or less.
Multi Property Management
Within Multi Property Management you can select a designated property to use as the template for other properties.
To access Multi Property Management, go to the menu bar > Properties > Multi-Property Management. After selecting a source property, you will have the option to duplicate a single, multiple or all features to as many target properties as you would like to specify. There are numerous feature settings that can be duplicated to make managing large inventory easy.
|
After you select features you want to duplicate you can make property selections at the bottom of the Multi-Property Management interface. Upon selecting the Copy Settings button, the SmartHost system will begin publishing preferences onto each property. |
Defining Your Data
Containers and Properties are stored in Categories. Content Items are stored within Containers and Properties. Content Items tell Alexa what to say.
What are Categories?
A category can most simply be thought of as a file folder that you store your containers and properties within.
Category Considerations
The specialized content you create can also be customized to include several categories that organize your containers and properties, or you can store everything under one category.
To add a sub-category, choose the plus button beside a category. It is important to keep in mind that the deeper you go into layering categories, containers, and properties the more confusing it can become, so be judicious in your creation and structure.
The plus cannot be used if properties are assigned to the category. You first need to unlink all properties currently assigned to it before you can add sub-categories.
A use for sub-categories may be, for example, to create categories for resorts by which you group properties.
If you have content that you would like to provide to all resort properties then you will want to also create a resort container that is specific to that category, since Content Items cannot be added directly to a Category.
 |
When you choose a category to edit, the Edit Category interface will provide you with the opportunity to apply all the containers that you would like to apply to a category. Containers that are applied to a higher-ranking category will by default apply to lower ranking categories within the hierarchy and thus do not need to be applied to lower ranking categories. |
What are Containers?
Containers provide you with the unique ability to provide universal content across all your properties or sub section of properties. If, for example, something changes with your policy regarding trash pick-up or pest control, you need only update it at the container level, and it will populate the changes across all your properties.
You cannot edit containers at the property level, you can only edit containers within the container interface. Container content can be seen at the property level after you have associated a property to a category.
Property Association
Organizing how your properties are associated to container and categories is outlined in this helpful video.
Helpful Tips for Content Writing
Keep It Short
The best content is brief. People typically want quick answers without waiting through a long monolog. If you have a lot of content for an item and cannot keep it brief, consider breaking it up into more than one Content Item. Try to keep your content conversational.
Listen and Tune Your Content
Be sure to listen to the content to make sure you are happy with the way it sounds. Keep in mind:
- When Alexa sees a comma, a brief pause will be inserted.
- When you include a period, a slightly longer pause will be included.
- If you would like to share the phone number of 425-555-1212, add spaces between the numbers so that Alexa will say the numbers individually. 4 2 5 will be said like, “four two five.” If it is written 425 it will be said like, “four hundred twenty-five.”
- Keep this in mind with WiFi passwords as well. If you wan the password spelled out, you need to add spacing between letters.
Incrementally Improve Your Content Over Time
Do not worry if your content is not perfect after the first draft. Further inspiration will happen over time. There is no need to rush to complete all the items at one time.
Publishing
After you choose the Publish button, any updates or changes you have made are not only saved but are made live and available to your guests.
Property publish button appears at the top menu bar when working within the property.
Container Publish Content button appears at the menu bar just below Container Name. When you have changes that have not yet been published a blue banner will appear to remind you to publish content.
Device Installation
Each Amazon Alexa (“Device”) must be setup at the vacation rental for which it has been assigned. After a few simple steps, the Device will go live. The process should take approximately 3 minutes.
Place the Device in a convenient, communal area typically within the kitchen. This will provide easy access for not only all guests but also cleaners and inspectors to insure it is plugged in and in good working order.