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Advanced: Custom Attributes

Define rules based on guest information, like wifi passwords based on the guest’s unit


What Are Custom Attributes?

A Custom Attribute is a way to define "rules" for custom Message Tokens. These rules are defined based on a guest's attributes, i.e., information about the guest or the reservation. Custom Attributes can be retrieved with the token {{custom.___}}.

 
Akia Tip: Custom Attributes can be very useful if your property requires different and/or custom information to be available for guests based on what room/unit they are staying in and you don’t want to set up multiple Booklets or message variants.
 

Terms

Rule Set

A Custom Attribute is created based on a Rule Set or simply just a set of rules. A Rule Set may contain multiple Rules.

Rule

A Rule is an expression to define the text or information that Akia uses when a guest's attribute matches the Rule.

  • Attribute: the variable you’re checking in the guest’s profile/reservation to determine if the token should be replaced.
  • Comparator: how you are evaluating the attribute to the conditional value (equals, contains, etc.)
  • Conditional Value: the attribute that the rule is trying to match
  • Replacing Value: the text or information that will replace the {{custom.___}} message token
  • Default Value: the text or information if the guest does not match any rules

Custom Message Token

A Custom Message Token is a special Message Token that can be used once a Custom Attribute is configured.

 

How Do I Create Custom Attributes?

  1. In Settings, you'll find Custom Attributes under the Utilities category
  1. Click on + New Rule Set to start creating a Rule Set
    1. Notion image
      • Key: a unique shortcode which the Custom Attribute can be referred to as a Message Token when you send text messages. E.g. door_code, wifi_information, or arrival_instructions
      • Type: the type of object to apply the attribute rules. (Also includes any Custom Fields you have created on that level.)
        • Reservation
          • Address
          • Arrival Date
          • Balance Due (Cent)
          • Balance Due Raw
          • Booking Date
          • Booking Source
          • Departure Date
          • Deposit (Cent)
          • Extern URL
          • Identity Verified
          • Length of Stay
          • Lynx Access Code
          • Max Occupacy
          • Number of Adults
          • Number of Bathrooms
          • Number of Bedrooms
          • Number of Children
          • Operto Check In Code
          • Party Size
          • Payment Collect
          • Rate Code
          • Reservation Status
          • Reservation Type
          • Room Number
          • Room Total
          • Room Type
          • Secondary Reservation
          • Third Party ID
          • Total Payment (Cent)
          • Total Payment Plus Tax
          • Total Payment Raw
          Identity
          • Country Code
          • Engaged
          • Gender
          • Language
          • Owner
          • Postal Code
          • VIP
          Formula

          Use this to create formula tokens to use in your Mini Apps. Formula tokens would be like “Nightly Rate” where you specify customer.total_payment / customer.length_of_stay. Using the key nightly_rate in your Mini Apps, you’ll populate that value to the guest.

           

          Similar to regular math, please double check your order of operations if you find the value isn’t correct when using the token.

           
  1. Once a new Rule Set has been created, you can start creating Rules for the Rule Set by clicking + New Rule
    1. By clicking + New Rule, you can add more rules to your rule set with no maximum.
      By clicking + New Rule, you can add more rules to your rule set with no maximum.
      • You can use the up or down arrow to increase or decrease a rule's priority. Rule priority is in ascending order, e.g., the first rule in this list has the highest priority.
        • Akia Tip: It is possible for an attribute to match multiple rules. For example, if you have 2 rules:
          1. All room numbers less than 100
          1. All room numbers greater than 80

          If there is a guest staying in room number 99, that attribute is valid for both rules. Rule Priority defines which rule takes precedence, that is, use the first rule that matches.

          In this example, guests in room number 99 would match the first rule of less than 100.

4. Once all the Rules are defined, click on Save Changes to save these rules

 

Door Code Example

Let’s say I want to make a custom attribute for my unit door codes. I would set it up like so:

 

Room Number equals ___: This specifies which room number should the replacing value (e.g. 1001, 1002) should populate for

 

1001, 1002, etc: These are the door codes I’ve specified for each of the following rooms. At any time, I can update these codes and it will automatically update wherever this token is used

 

Default Value: If the guest’s room number isn’t specified in this rule set (e.g. 202), they will be provided the Default Value. This can be left blank or given some verbiage like “Code not generated until 3 pm” to let guests know that it’s expected to not see the code in the Mini App.

 
Notion image
 

Use Images in Custom Attributes

If your images change based on the guest’s room number or room type, Custom Attributes are a great way to customize the image shown in the Booklet. They will also not be resized to 860 x 480 (like if you were to add the image directly into a Booklet), so Custom Attributes are a great way to keep the original image size in your Booklets.

 

All you need to do is select “Dynamically resolve image from token” from the image component in the Booklet and replace the link with your Custom Attribute token ({{custom.___}}); and in the Custom Attribute rule set, include the image link instead of including text in the Replacing Value field:

When you add the Image component to a Booklet, you will be able to choose if you want to use a custom token to populate the image.
When you add the Image component to a Booklet, you will be able to choose if you want to use a custom token to populate the image.
 
⚠️
Only one custom token per image component; if you want multiple custom images you will need to create multiple Custom Attributes and image components.
 
Image links are used if you’re selecting “Dynamically resolve image from token” in a booklet.
Image links are used if you’re selecting “Dynamically resolve image from token” in a booklet.
 
Akia Tip: To easily get an image link, attach the image to a message using the paperclip icon, send it in a team chat or to your own phone number, and click on the image to get the link.
 
⚠️
If you list multiple links in the Custom Attribute field, no images will show since only one image link can be used. We recommend uploading the images directly rather than using Custom Attributes or creating different image Custom Attribute rule sets to ensure no image formatting issues occur and your guest receives all the necessary images.
 

Comparators

Comparator
Description
Example
equals
Match exactly to a numerical value
Specifically for Room 1025
not equals
Match when it is not this numerical value
All room numbers except 200
in
Match when it belongs to a set. Can be numerical, numerical ranges, or string
Room numbers that are: * 25 * 100-199 * Penthouse
not in
Match when it does not belong to the set. Can be numerical, numerical ranges, or string
Room numbers that are not: * 25 * 100-199 * Penthouse
contains
Match string that is contained in this value
All room types that contain "NE." E.g., "NE100," "NE101," "NE102" would all match this rule.
starts with
Match when the value begins with the specified string
All room types beginning with “Cabin.” E.g., “Cabin 1,” “Cabin 2,” “Cabin A” would all match this rule but “Seashore Cabin” would not.
greater than
Greater than a numerical value
All room numbers greater than 200
less than
Less than a numerical value
All room numbers less than 200
greater or equal
Greater than or equal to a numerical value
All room numbers great than or equal to 200
less or equal
Less than or equal to a numerical value
All room numbers less than or equal to 200
is true
Match when the value is true
If the guest staying is an owner
is false
Match when the value is not true
If the guest staying is not an owner
is set
Match if the value is not blank
is not set
Match if the value is blank

Use Cases

📶 Room-specific Wifi: You are a vacation rental and therefore simple automated replies are not sufficient, because each rental unit has its own address and wifi information.

When we create a new Rule Set, we can specify the following:

  • Key: room_wifi
  • Type: Reservation

Since there are 3 cabins, we can create 3 rules for each of them.

Notion image
  1. Select Room Type as the attribute.
  1. Select contains as the comparator (for more information regarding comparators, see next section below).
  1. For the Conditional Value, this is the attribute that the rule is trying to match. So we can put "Cabin A" here because we want this rule to match for guests that are staying in Cabin A.
  1. For the Replacing Value, this is the text or information that will replace and be used in the Message Token, we would provide the wifi information such as "The wifi network for this cabin is 'Cabin A' and the password is 'AAAA'."
  1. When the rules and the rule set are saved, you can start using {{custom.room_wifi}} in your messages. If you message a guest the token, it would resolve to the Replacing Value that was provided.
  1. In your Automated Replies, for WiFi, you can just use {{custom.room_wifi}}. When a guest staying in Cabin A asks Akia about wifi, Akia would now reply with the appropriate wifi information that is specific to Cabin A.
 
🚗 Unique Parking Instructions: You are a vacation rental and each unit has its own parking spot. Instead of using multiple message variants, create a Custom Attribute to easily fill in the instructions.

When we create a new Rule Set, we can specify the following:

  • Key: parking_instructions
  • Type: Reservation
Notion image
  1. Select Room Number as the attribute.
  1. Select contains or equals as the comparator.
  1. For the Conditional Value, the attribute the rule is trying to match, we can put “Unit 1” because we want the rule to match for guests staying in Unit 1.
  1. For the Replacing Value, this is the text or information that will replace and be used in the Message Token, we would provide the parking instructions such as “Your unit’s designated parking space is #101 in front of the staircase to your unit.”
  1. When the rules and rule set are saved, you can start using {{custom.parking_instructions}} in your messages and Booklets. If you message a guest the token, it would resolve to the Replacing Value set above.
  1. In your Automated Replies, for Parking Information, you can just use {{custom.parking_instructions}}. When a guest staying in Unit 1 asks Akia about how they park when they arrive, Akia would now reply with the appropriate parking instructions that are specific to Unit 1.
 
💍 Custom Wedding Images: Have a wedding on your property and a lot of guests coming in? Create a Custom Attribute to replace your booklet images for these wedding guests (and other special events that may happen on your property).

When we create a new Rule Set, we can specify the following:

  • Key: event_photos
  • Type: Reservation
Notion image
 
  1. Select Reservation Type as the attribute (in your PMS the Reservation Type could be “Wedding” or another type of event)
  1. Select equals as the comparator
  1. For the Conditional Value, the attribute the rule is trying to match, we can write “Wedding” because we want the rule to match guests with a wedding reservation.
  1. For the Replacing Value, this is the text or information that will replace and be used in the Message Token, we can include the image address (either an Akia hyperlink or a regular image link from a public source)
  1. When the rules and rule set are saved, you can start pasting {{custom.event_photos}} in your Booklets after check-marking “Dynamically Resolve Image from Token” in an image component. A reminder that only one image can be used per rule set, so if you have multiple rules associated with “Wedding” in your rule set, only the first image will populate in the Booklet.
      • Note that no image will appear for guests who do not have a specified Reservation Type in your rule set if you do not set a default value at the bottom.
 

See Related

 
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