A custom message tag lets you write one message that fills in listing-specific information — a Wi-Fi password, a lockbox code, a parking note — so the same message rule works across all of your listings.
Create a custom tag
Browse to the
Settingspage and chooseCustom Message Tagsfrom the menu on the left.Press
Add Tag.Under Tag Name, type the name you'll use between curly braces in a message. A tag named
WIFI_PASSWORDis inserted into a message as{{WIFI_PASSWORD}}. Names must be unique and can't match a built-in tag.Under Default Tag Text, enter the text the tag is replaced with when a message is sent. This applies to every listing unless you set a listing or listing group override. You can nest other tags inside this text.
Press
Save.
Give a listing or group its own text
The Listing & Group Overrides section lists your listings and listing groups alongside the text this tag fills in for each one. Press the edit action next to a row to give that listing or listing group its own text, then press Save.
Use the column filters to narrow the table: Type shows only listings or only listing groups, Name searches by name, and Tag Text filters to rows with or without text.
Which text gets sent
When a message is sent, Host Tools uses the listing's own text first. If the listing has none, it uses the text set on the listing's group. If neither is set, it uses the default tag text.
Nesting one tag inside another
A tag’s text can contain other tags, so a single tag can pull together several pieces of listing information. What it cannot do is loop back on itself — a tag whose text leads, directly or through other tags, back to the tag itself.
Host Tools stops that in two places:
In the
Add Tagpicker, any tag that would close a loop is shown greyed out. Hovering it explains why, naming the chain of tags involved.On
Save, a tag whose text would close a loop is rejected with a message naming the chain, so nothing is stored in that state.
The check runs for each place a tag is actually used: its default text, and every listing or listing group that has its own text for that tag. A combination that only loops on one listing is blocked there, and a combination no listing ever loops on stays available.
If a tag set saved earlier does contain a loop, messages still send: the looping tag fills in as empty text rather than repeating itself.
Edit or delete a tag
Return to Settings > Custom Message Tags and select a tag from the list to change its name, default text or overrides. Each tag in the list also has a Delete action.