Task rules automatically create tasks whenever you receive a new booking, eliminating the need to manually schedule work for each reservation. Once configured, tasks appear in your Task calendar and can be assigned to your team either manually or automatically.
Task Types and Scheduling Options
There are several different task types:
Cleaning
Bring your own cleaner, or hire a verified one through our marketplace
Check-in
Check-out
Maintenance
Important: Task rules can only be assigned to teammates within the relevant team. For example, a cleaning task can only be assigned to someone on the cleaning team. Teammates can work across multiple teams, but each task rule applies to one team at a time.
Creating a Task Rule
To create a task rule:
Go to Operations
Click on Task rules in the sidebar
Click the Add new button
Select the type of task you want to create
Configure your task rule:
Duration: Use the slider to set how long the task should take
Timing: Choose when the task should start (scheduling options vary by task type)
Scope: Select which properties this rule applies to
Assignment: Choose manual or automatic assignment
Notifications: Task reminders are enabled by default to alert assigned teammates 24 hours before the task begins. Learn more about task reminders.
Adding a Checklist to Task Rules
Create a to-do list within your tasks to give teammates clear direction on what needs to be completed.
To add a checklist:
Go to Operations > Task Rules
Select the relevant task rule
Type out your checklist items
Communicating Checklists to Your Team
Once you've created a checklist, use the %task_list% shortcode in your notification rules to send the checklist to your team. The code displays as a bulleted list in the notification.
To view checklists in the dashboard, go to the Tasks tab and click on the Task Checklist header to toggle the list view.
Limitations:
Teammates cannot check off or mark items as completed
Teammates cannot reply to tasks or send images of completed work
Assigning Tasks to Teammates
Automatic Assignment
Set up a task rule once, and the system will automatically assign tasks to the selected teammate for every reservation.
To enable automatic assignment:
Go to Operations > Task Rules
Select an existing rule or create a new one
Scroll to Assignment settings and select Auto
Click Choose a teammate to select who should receive these tasks
Save your changes
Manual Assignment
You can manually assign or reassign tasks at any time, even if they were originally auto-assigned.
To manually assign a task:
From the Calendar:
Go to Calendar
Switch to Task view in the top right
Click on the task you want to edit
Select a teammate from the list
Click Save
From the Operations Dashboard:
Go to Operations
Find unassigned tasks in the pending tasks list
Click Edit and assign a teammate
Important: The teammate must be scoped to the relevant team to be assigned to a task. For example, a teammate on the "Cleaning" team cannot be manually assigned to a check-in task.
Notifications When Assigning Tasks
Assigning a teammate to a task triggers any active "New task" notification rules
Changing the assigned teammate triggers "task deleted" notifications to the former teammate and "new task" notifications to the new teammate
Task reminders will automatically be sent 24 hours before the task begins to the assigned teammate (unless disabled)
Next Steps:
Task rules can help you automate the workflow of your teammates. To help you get started, there are 4 types of task rules you can create. Learn how to create a task rule here.
For each task type, there are different scheduling options depending on the industry's practice:
Cleaning
Before check-in
After check-out
Check-in
Before check-in
Check-out
Before check-out
After check-out
Maintenance
Recurring
Before check-in
After check-in
Before check-out
After check-out
Task rules can only be assigned to a teammate within the relative team (such as cleaning or check-in). For example, a cleaning task can only be assigned to a teammate that is part of the cleaning team. Teammates can work in multiple teams, but task rules are only applicable to one team at a time (either cleaning, or check-in, or check-out, or maintenance).
When is each task type triggered?
Cleaning, Check-in, and Check-out task rules are triggered by reservations. A task is created when a booking is received that matches the rule's properties. If there is no reservation, no task is created.
Maintenance task rules can also be triggered by reservations (before or after check-in or check-out), but the Recurring option runs on a fixed calendar schedule regardless of reservations. For example, every Sunday at 10:00 AM, whether or not a guest is staying.
If your cleaner's tasks are appearing on reservation dates, the type is almost always a Cleaning, Check-in, or Check-out task rule, not a Maintenance > Recurring rule.