Lodgify Integration: Turn Your Property Listings Into Guest-Ready Guidebooks
If you use Lodgify to manage your vacation rental properties, you can now connect it to HostGuide and generate complete digital guidebooks in seconds. Instead of manually typing property details, WiFi info, house rules, and local recommendations into a guidebook, the integration pulls everything directly from your Lodgify account and fills it in for you.
What this means for you:
Connect your Lodgify API key once, pick a property, and get a fully populated guidebook with real local restaurants, services, and attractions pulled from Google Places. No copy-pasting. No made-up content.
The Problem With Manual Guidebook Creation
Creating a digital guidebook from scratch takes time. You need to write a welcome message, enter WiFi credentials, document check-in and checkout procedures, list house rules, describe amenities, add emergency contacts, and research nearby restaurants, shops, and services. For a single property, this can take 30-60 minutes of focused work. For hosts with multiple properties, multiply that by each listing.
The irony is that most of this information already exists in your property management system. Your Lodgify listing has the property description, check-in times, amenities, and address. You’ve already written it once. Why write it again?
How the Lodgify Integration Works
The integration connects HostGuide to your Lodgify account using your Lodgify API key. Once connected, HostGuide can see your properties and pull their details. When you import a property, here’s what happens:
- Property data is fetched — HostGuide calls the Lodgify API to get your property details, room information, and amenities.
- Data is mapped to guidebook sections — The property description becomes the welcome message. Check-in/checkout times go into the check-in section. Amenities are organized by category. Emergency numbers are looked up based on the property’s country.
- Location is enriched — Using the property address, HostGuide queries Google Places to find nearby restaurants, services, attractions, and shops. These populate the location-based sections with real business names and addresses.
- Guidebook is created — All 16 sections are populated and saved. You can start sharing immediately or customize further.
The whole process takes about 5-10 seconds per property.
What Gets Imported
A HostGuide guidebook has 16 section types. Here’s where the data comes from when you import a Lodgify property:
| Section | Source | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | Lodgify description | Your existing property description |
| Wi-Fi | Placeholder | Prompt to add credentials (not stored in Lodgify) |
| Check-in | Lodgify times | Check-in/checkout times formatted for guests |
| House Rules | Lodgify rules | Parsed into a clean list |
| Amenities | Lodgify rooms | Grouped by category (Kitchen, Bathroom, Outdoor, etc.) |
| Kitchen | Lodgify amenities | Kitchen-specific items filtered automatically |
| Emergency | Country code | Emergency numbers for the property’s country |
| Departure | Checkout time | Default checklist with checkout time |
| Transportation | Address | Location context |
| Local Recommendations | Google Places | Real restaurants and attractions near your property |
| Places to See | Google Places | Nearby attractions, parks, beaches, museums |
| Places to Eat | Google Places | Restaurants with ratings and addresses |
| Things to Do | Google Places | Outdoor activities, surf schools, trails, etc. |
| Shopping | Google Places | Grocery stores, markets, shopping centres |
| Your Nearest (Services) | Google Places | Pharmacies, hospitals, gas stations, banks |
| How-To Guides | Empty | Add your own appliance instructions |
Automatic Location Enrichment
This is the part that saves the most time. When you import a property, HostGuide uses the property address to search Google Places for nearby businesses. It looks for:
- Restaurants — Nearby dining options with ratings and cuisine types
- Essential services — Grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals, gas stations, banks, post offices
- Attractions — Parks, beaches, museums, galleries, surf spots, walking trails
- Shopping — Supermarkets, shopping centres, local markets
All of this data is real. It comes directly from Google Places, not from AI-generated text. The restaurant names, addresses, and ratings are actual businesses near your property. If a guest clicks on a recommendation, they’ll find a real place.
Why real data matters
AI can generate plausible-sounding restaurant names, but guests will notice when “The Seaside Bistro” doesn’t exist. HostGuide uses Google Places data so every recommendation is a real business your guests can actually visit. Ratings, addresses, and categories are pulled directly from Google’s database.
If the Google Places API key isn’t configured or a search returns no results for a particular category, those sections simply remain empty. The import still succeeds — you can always add recommendations manually later.
How to Set It Up
Setting up the integration takes about 2 minutes:
Step 1: Get Your Lodgify API Key
- Log in to your Lodgify account
- Go to Settings > Account > API access
- Copy your API key
Step 2: Connect in HostGuide
- Log in to HostGuide
- Go to the Lodgify page from the sidebar
- Paste your API key and click Connect
- HostGuide validates the key and shows your property count
Step 3: Import a Property
- Your Lodgify properties appear in a list
- Click Import next to the property you want
- Wait a few seconds while the guidebook is created
- Open the new guidebook in the editor to review and customize
Keeping Guidebooks in Sync
After the initial import, you can re-sync a guidebook from Lodgify at any time. Syncing pulls the latest property data and updates the sections that come from Lodgify:
- Welcome message — Updated if you changed your Lodgify description
- Check-in/checkout times — Reflects any schedule changes
- House rules — Picks up new rules added in Lodgify
- Amenities & Kitchen — Updated if you added or removed amenities
- Departure & Emergency — Refreshed with current data
Your edits are protected
Syncing only updates sections that come from Lodgify (welcome, check-in, rules, amenities, kitchen, departure, emergency). Your hand-edited local sections — recommendations, places to eat, things to do, shopping, services, how-to guides — are never overwritten. You can safely sync without losing your custom content.
Editing After Import
The imported guidebook is a starting point, not a finished product. After import, you can:
- Add WiFi credentials — Lodgify doesn’t store these, so you’ll want to add them manually
- Write check-in instructions — Add door codes, parking details, and arrival notes
- Curate recommendations — Remove places you don’t recommend, add your personal favorites
- Add How-To Guides — Take photos of appliances and write step-by-step instructions
- Upload a cover image — If your Lodgify listing has a primary image, it’s used automatically. Otherwise, add one
- Share with guests — Generate a QR code or share link
Think of the import as getting 70% of the work done automatically. The remaining 30% is the personal touch that makes your guidebook stand out: your favorite local spots, your specific check-in process, and the little details only you know about your property.
Security
Your Lodgify API key is encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM encryption before being stored in the database. It’s never logged, never exposed in API responses, and only decrypted in memory when HostGuide needs to communicate with Lodgify on your behalf. You can disconnect at any time, which permanently deletes the stored key.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this work with all Lodgify plans?
The property import and sync features work with any Lodgify plan that provides API access. You just need your API key from Lodgify Settings > Account > API access.
Can I import multiple properties?
Yes. Each Lodgify property creates a separate guidebook in HostGuide. Import as many as your HostGuide plan allows (up to 20 properties on the standard plan).
What if I update my property in Lodgify?
Use the sync button in the guidebook editor to pull the latest data from Lodgify. Only Lodgify-sourced sections are updated — your custom content stays untouched.
Are the local recommendations real places?
Yes. All restaurant names, service locations, and attraction details come from Google Places data. They are real businesses with real addresses. Nothing is AI-generated or fabricated.
What if no local data is found for my area?
If Google Places returns no results for a category (common in very rural areas), those sections remain empty. You can add recommendations manually. The rest of the guidebook is still populated from your Lodgify data.
Can I disconnect Lodgify later?
Yes. Disconnecting removes your stored API key. Your existing guidebooks remain — they’re independent copies, not live links to Lodgify. You just won’t be able to sync or import new properties until you reconnect.
Will this work with other PMS platforms?
We’re building more integrations. OwnerRez is next on the roadmap. The architecture is designed so that each new integration follows the same pattern — connect, import, enrich, sync. If you use a different PMS and would like to see it supported, let us know.
Use Lodgify? Try the Integration
Connect your Lodgify account and turn your property listings into guest-ready digital guidebooks in seconds.
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