HostStock User Guide

Go to Inventory and click "Add Item". For each item, you'll set:

• Category — Toiletries, Linens, Kitchen, Cleaning Supplies, Welcome Pack, or custom categories.
• Par level — The ideal minimum quantity to keep in stock. When stock falls below this, you get a low-stock alert.
• Reorder point — The quantity at which HostStockautomatically adds the item to your reorder list.
• Critical threshold — An urgent alert level. When stock reaches this point, you receive an immediate notification (email, Telegram, or push).

Tip: Use the Import CSV feature to bulk-add items, or apply an Inventory Template (pre-configured sets for common property types like apartments, villas, and studios).

Items can optionally have pack size and pack costfields. For example, a "6-pack for £12" automatically calculates the cost per unit (£2/unit). Pack pricing appears on:

• Reorder lists — "Buy 6-pack for £X" alongside per-unit price
• Shopping list exports (CSV, PDF)
• Supplier portal order views

During initial inventory setup, use the expense tracking toggleto control whether an item's cost is tracked in spending reports and analytics.

During onboarding, you choose an inventory template (Studio, Boutique, Villa, Custom, etc.). All templates now include a bedroom count picker — not just the Custom template. The default count pre-fills from the template, but you can adjust it.

Based on your template and bedroom count, HostStock automatically creates:

• Room records — bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and living areas
• Inventory items — pre-populated from the chosen template
• Cleaning tasks — room-by-room cleaning checklist

Go to Settings → Team Members → Invite. Enter the person's email and choose a role:

Invitees receive an email with a link to join your organisation. You can also restrict team members to specific properties via property access scopes.

There are two ways to log stock usage:

• Quick-use button — On the inventory list, tap the − button next to any item to decrement by one. Hold the button to enter a custom quantity.
• Manual stock out — Click an item, choose "Stock Out", enter the quantity used, and optionally add a note (e.g. "Guest spill — extra towels used").

All transactions are logged with a timestamp, user, and reason for full audit trail visibility.

When stock arrives at a property:

1. Go to the property's inventory page and click "Stock In".
2. Select the items received and enter quantities.
3. Optionally link the delivery to a supplier and upload a photo of the delivery receipt.
4. Confirm — stock levels update immediately and any related low-stock alerts are automatically cleared.

If you use the Supplier Portal, suppliers can submit deliveries directly which you then approve.

HostStock generates unique QR codes for each property and storage location:

1. Go to a property's settings and click "Generate QR Code".
2. Print the QR code and place it on supply cupboard doors, linen closets, or cleaning stations.
3. When a team member scans the code with their phone camera, it opens the stock count page for that exact location.
4. From there, they can log usage, record deliveries, or start a cleaning session — all hands-free with minimal training needed.

The Dashboard shows a real-time summary of alerts across all properties:

• Low stock (amber) — Below par level. Action recommended soon.
• Critical (red) — Below critical threshold. Immediate attention needed.
• Reorder list — Items below their reorder point are automatically aggregated into a reorder list. Click "Create Order" to generate a purchase order for one or multiple suppliers.

1. Open the Cleaning page and select the property to clean.
2. Tap "Start Session". If GPS clock-in is enabled by your manager, your location is verified against the property address to confirm you're on-site.
3. The session timer begins and the cleaning checklist loads.

Note: GPS verification requires location permission in your browser. The location is only checked at clock-in and clock-out — it is not tracked continuously.

During a cleaning session, the checklist guides you through:

• Room-by-room tasks — Check off each task (make beds, clean bathroom, restock minibar, etc.)
• Stock counts — For each inventory item in the room, confirm or update the current quantity.
• Issue reporting — Flag maintenance issues (broken items, stains, damage) with photos directly from the checklist.

Managers can customise checklists per property via Settings → Cleaning Templates.

In the template editor (Templates → Edit template), rooms can be reordered by dragging the handle next to each room name. The sort order persists and determines the order cleaners see rooms during a session.

In the template editor, click the "Copy Tasks" button on any room to duplicate its tasks to another room. This saves time when multiple rooms share similar cleaning routines (e.g. copying bathroom tasks from Bathroom 1 to Bathroom 2).

When you update a cleaning template, the changes automatically propagate to any active (incomplete) cleaning sessions. Cleaners see updated tasks immediately without needing to be re-assigned or restart their session.

HostStock sends automated cleaning reminders at five windows before a scheduled cleaning:

• 3 days before
• 2 days before
• 1 day before
• Morning of the cleaning
• 2 hours before the scheduled time

Reminders use the property's timezone and respect each team member's notification preferences. Configure which reminders to receive from Settings → Notifications.

Set pay rates for your cleaners from Settings → Team — click the "Pay Rates"button next to a cleaner's name:

• Default rate — Choose hourly, daily, or flat-per-clean rate.
• Per-property rate — Override the default rate for specific properties that require more time or effort.

Earnings are calculated automatically from cleaning session durations. To generate a payment notice (invoice to a cleaner):

1. Go to Cleaning → Reports.
2. Select a cleaner from the dropdown.
3. Click "Generate Payment Notice" at the top right.
4. Choose a format: Simple Summary, Semi-Formal, or Full Invoice.
5. Select the date range and generate.

Each notice can be downloaded as a PDF, emailed directly to the cleaner, and its payment status tracked (paid/unpaid). For "Full Invoice" format, expand the "Business Details" section in the dialog to enter your company name, address, VAT number, and payment terms.

Managers can view cleaning time reports from Cleaning → Reports:

• Average cleaning time per property
• Per-cleaner time breakdown and session history
• Clock-in/clock-out timestamps with GPS verification status
• Comparison across properties and time periods

iCal sync lets HostStock automatically detect upcoming turnovers from your booking platforms.

Finding your iCal URL:

• Airbnb:Go to your listing → Availability → scroll to "Connect to another website" → click "Export Calendar"→ copy the iCal link.
• Booking.com:Log in to the Extranet → Rates & Availability → Sync Calendars → copy the iCal URL.
• VRBO:Go to your calendar → Import/Export → Export Calendar → copy the link.

Adding to HostStock:

1. Go to Properties, select the property, and open the Calendar Sync tab.
2. Paste your iCal URL and give it a label (e.g. "Airbnb Main").
3. Click "Sync Now" to import your first bookings.
4. HostStock checks the feed every 30 minutes and creates turnover events for upcoming checkouts.

You can add multiple calendar feeds per property to cover all booking channels.

Bookings synced from iCal feeds are automatically classified as Guest stays or Blocked/Maintenance periods:

• Guest bookings — Trigger cleaning automations and show as active stays on the calendar.
• Blocked/Maintenance — Appear greyed out on the calendar and do not trigger cleaning automations.
• Unclassified — A dashboard banner prompts you to classify unrecognised bookings.

You can manually reclassify any booking by clicking the badge on the calendar view.

The Analytics page computes monthly summaries from your synced bookings:

• Cost per guest-day — Total inventory spend divided by guest days, helping you understand the real per-stay cost of consumables.
• Monthly trends — Visual charts showing spend and usage over time.
• Property comparisons — See which properties are the most expensive to maintain.

Connect in three simple steps — no bot tokens or chat IDs needed:

1. Go to Settings → Telegram tab.
2. Click "Connect Telegram" — this opens theHostStock bot in Telegram.
3. Tap "Start" in Telegram — done! Notifications will arrive in this chat.

Back in HostStock, click "Check Connection" to confirm the link, then configure which alerts to receive: low-stock warnings, critical alerts, delivery confirmations, and the daily digest.

1. Go to Settings → Notifications → WhatsApp.
2. Enter your phone number (with country code).
3. HostStock sends a WhatsApp verification message — reply with the code.
4. Choose your alert preferences (same options as Telegram notifications).

Note: WhatsApp notifications are available on the Pro and Business plans.

HostStock provides a REST API for programmatic access to your inventory data. The API is available on the Business plan.

• Generate an API key from Settings → API → Create Key.
• Authenticate requests using the Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY header.
• Endpoints cover properties, inventory items, transactions, suppliers, and reports.

View the full API documentation →

The Supplier Portal (Business plan) gives your suppliers a dedicated interface to manage deliveries:

1. Go to Suppliers and add a new supplier with their contact details.
2. Click "Generate Portal Link" — this creates a unique, token-secured URL for the supplier.
3. Share the link with your supplier via email or message.
4. When you create a reorder, the supplier sees the request in their portal and can confirm availability, adjust quantities, and mark items as dispatched.
5. When the delivery arrives, you approve it in HostStockand stock levels are updated.

The Reports section provides insights into your operations:

• Cost per stay — Calculate the average supply cost per guest stay, broken down by category.
• Consumption trends — See how usage patterns change over weeks and months. Identify seasonal spikes.
• Property health — A score based on stock levels, alert frequency, and checklist completion rates.
• Supplier performance — Track delivery times, order accuracy, and costs per supplier.

Set monthly budgets per property or across your entire portfolio:

1. Go to Settings → Budgets and set a monthly limit.
2. As purchases are recorded, the budget tracker shows spend vs. limit in real-time.
3. Receive alerts at 75% and 90% of budget, plus a summary at month-end.

HostStock uses your historical consumption data and booking calendar to predict future stock needs:

• Demand forecasting— Predicts how much of each item you'll need over the next 7, 14, or 30 days.
• Seasonal multipliers — Automatically adjusts predictions for peak seasons (summer, holidays) based on past data.
• Smart reorder suggestions — Combines forecasts with current stock levels to suggest optimal order quantities.

Predictions improve over time as HostStocklearns your property's consumption patterns.

The AI Analytics Report is available on the Analytics page (requires the AI Intelligence add-on):

• Spending analysis — AI-powered insights into spending trends, anomalies, and cost-saving opportunities.
• History — Browse past reports to track how recommendations evolve.
• Export — Download reports for sharing with stakeholders.

The report uses an animated loading state with scrollable insight cards. If the AI Intelligence add-on is not active, you see an upsell card explaining the features and pricing.

The AI Intelligence add-on unlocks two premium features:

• AI Chat — Ask questions about your inventory data and get intelligent answers.
• AI Analytics Report — Automated spending analysis with actionable recommendations.

Purchase the add-on from Settings → Billing → Add-ons. It has a 12-month minimum commitment period.

Templates let you quickly set up inventory for new properties:

• Built-in templates — Pre-configured item sets for common property types (apartment, villa, studio, cabin, boutique hotel).
• Custom templates— Save your current property's inventory as a template, then apply it to new properties with one click.
• Templates include item names, categories, par levels, reorder points, and critical thresholds.

HostStock offers flexible, property-based pricing:

Add-ons (AI Intelligence, Analytics Pro + API) are available as separate subscriptions with 12-month minimum commitment.

Billing intervals:Choose monthly (no commitment) or annual (11 months upfront, 1 month free — ~8% savings). Switch from monthly to annual at any time from Settings → Billing.

Degressive pricing: First property £10/mo, second £9.50, third £9.00, down to £6.00. The Billing tab shows per-property breakdowns including room counts and overage charges.

Manage your subscription from Settings → Billing. Upgrades take effect immediately; downgrades apply at the next billing cycle.

HostStock has a two-sided referral programme. Share your link and both you and the person you refer benefit.

For referrers (sharing your link)

1. Go to Settings → Billing and scroll to Refer & Earn.
2. Copy your unique referral link or use the email share button.
3. When someone signs up through your link and later makes their first payment, you earn a proportional billing credit.
4. The credit equals the lesserof their first invoice and your current monthly bill. For example, if they pay £28.50/month and your bill is £19.00/month, you earn £19.00.
5. Credits are added to your Stripe balance and used automatically on a future invoice.
6. You can earn up to 12 referral credits per organisation.

For referred users (signing up with a link)

1. Day 1–30: Free trial with full access. No card required.
2. Day 30:Trial ends. Add your payment card to activate a free referral month — you will not be charged.
3. Day 31–60: Free referral month. Full access, no charge.
4. Day 60+: Your subscription begins at the standard rate based on your properties and bedrooms.

Referral paywall (for referred users)

After your trial ends, if you signed up via a referral link, you see a dedicated "Activate your free month" page. All dashboard pages redirect there until you add a payment card. Settings and billing remain accessible for card entry.

Referral status tracking

Track all your referrals in Settings → Billing → Refer & Earn. The dashboard shows "Total Credits Earned" (lifetime total, not a spendable balance — credits are consumed automatically by Stripe on future invoices). Each referral shows its current status:

• Signed Up— They created an account and are on their free trial.
• Awaiting Card— Their trial ended; waiting for them to add a payment card.
• Subscribed— They added their card and activated the free month.
• Credit Applied— They made their first payment and your credit has been applied.
• Expired— They did not add a card within 30 days of trial end.

When you delete a property, it is not removed immediately. Instead, it is scheduled for deactivation at the end of your current billing cycle:

• The property shows a deactivation badge and an undo banner.
• Click "Undo" at any time before the effective date to cancel the deletion.
• Billing adjusts automatically when the deactivation takes effect.
• On annual plans, the cost reduction applies from the next annual renewal.

Cancel your subscription from Settings → Billing → Cancel Subscription. A multi-step dialog guides you through:

• Monthly subscribers — Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle. Full access until then.
• Annual subscribers — The dialog shows your remaining commitment months. Access continues until the commitment end date.
• An undo button is available before the effective date if you change your mind.
• You receive a confirmation email and an option to reactivate from the Billing page.

Your data is retained for 90 days after cancellation.

HostStockrequires you to accept the Terms & Conditions at key moments:

• During onboarding (step 5)
• At checkout when subscribing
• When adding a new property
• When purchasing an add-on

Your acceptance is version-tracked — if the terms are updated, you will be asked to accept the new version the next time you perform one of these actions.

HostStocksends automated emails at key moments. All emails respect your notification preferences and are idempotent (won't send twice):

Trial emails

• Welcome — Sent when you complete onboarding
• Reminders — 7 days and 1 day before trial ends (also sent via Telegram and in-app)
• Trial expired— Different message for referral users ("Activate your free month") vs regular users ("Subscribe now")

Billing emails

• Welcome, add-on activated, renewal reminder
• Payment received, payment failed
• Property added, property deletion scheduled
• Cancellation confirmed, commitment ending
• Cancellation undone (reactivation)

Referral emails (to referrers)

• Someone signed up with your code
• That person subscribed
• Your credit was applied

Team emails

• Invitation sent to new member
• Invite accepted — owners are notified with the person's name and role

From Settings → Team Members:

• Invite new members by email with a specific role.
• Change roles — Promote or demote team members as needed.
• Property access scopes — Restrict which properties a team member can see and manage.
• Remove members — Revoke access immediately.

Customise how and when you receive notifications from Settings → Notifications:

• Channels: In-app, email, Telegram, WhatsApp, and PWA push notifications.
• Alert types: Low stock, critical stock, delivery confirmations, cleaning session updates, budget warnings.
• Daily digest: A once-daily summary of all activity across your properties.
• Quiet hours: Suppress non-critical notifications during specified hours.

To reset data for a property, go to the property settings and choose what to reset:

• Scope — Choose between the entire property or a specific room.
• Data type — Reset stock levels, consumption history, or spending data.
• Confirmation— Type "RESET" to confirm. This prevents accidental data loss.

HostStock supports multiple export formats from Settings → Data:

• Excel (.xlsx) — Full inventory reports with formatting and charts.
• CSV — Raw data for import into other tools or spreadsheets.
• PDF — Formatted reports suitable for printing or sharing.
• GDPR full export — Download all personal data associated with your account in a ZIP file (JSON + CSV).

From Settings → API:

• Create keys — Name your key and set permissions (read-only or read-write).
• Rotate keys — Generate a new key and invalidate the old one with a grace period.
• Revoke keys — Immediately disable a compromised key.
• Usage logs — See API call counts, last used timestamps, and error rates per key.

The AI Help Advisor is a chat-based assistant available in the Help Center. It uses documentation embeddings to answer your questions about any HostStock feature:

• Persists your chat sessions so you can return to previous conversations
• Supports inline screenshots and clickable links in responses
• Answers based on up-to-date documentation

A floating chat widget appears at the bottom-left of every dashboard page. It bounces on first appearance to draw your attention.

Click the widget to expand a full chat view where you can ask questions about any feature. The widget connects to the same AI Help Advisor as the Help Center.

HostStock includes an interactive tour powered by driver.js that walks you through the entire app:

• Watch mode — The tour auto-advances through each step.
• Interactive mode — You complete each step before advancing.
• Role-filtered — Owners/Managers see the full tour (9 tour groups). Cleaners see a simplified version focused on cleaning workflows.

Start the tour from the Help Center or the welcome modal that appears for new users.

The last owner of an organisation can request account deletion from Settings → Danger Zone:

• All Stripe subscriptions are cancelled (no refund).
• The organisation is marked for deletion with a 30-day cooling-off period.
• During the cooling-off period, contact support to reverse the deletion.
• After 30 days, all data is permanently deleted per GDPR requirements.

When your subscription status is blocked (trial expired, cancelled, past due, or referral pending), all dashboard pages redirect to the appropriate billing page:

• Trial expired — Redirects to the subscribe page.
• Referral pending— Redirects to the "Activate your free month" page where you add a payment card.
• Past due — Redirects to the billing page to update your payment method.
• Cancelled — Shows a reactivation option.

Settings and billing pages remain accessible in all states so you can manage your payment details.

HostStock works offline when installed as a PWA on your device:

• Offline actions (stock counts, checklist updates) are saved to a local queue.
• When connectivity returns, the queue syncs automatically in the background.
• A sync indicator in the header shows how many actions are pending.
• If there's a conflict (e.g. someone else updated the same item while you were offline), HostStock uses a last-write-wins strategy and logs the conflict in the audit trail.

HostStock is optimised for modern browsers:

Note: Internet Explorer is not supported. Some features (push notifications, offline mode) require a modern browser with service worker support.

If you need help:

• In-app: Contact Support form
• Email: support@hoststock.app
• Response time: Free plan — 48 hours. Pro — 24 hours. Business — 4 hours (priority).

When contacting support, include your organisation name and a description of the issue. Screenshots are always helpful!