You can let Host Tools AI reply to guests' messages and inquiries for you.
Our AI looks at the listing's details (title, description, amenities), your active automated message rules, the previous messages in the conversation thread, your notes and quick replies, and questions asked and how they were answered on previous reservations to write a personalized answer to your guests' questions. Read more about how to train the AI here.
You can view your AI settings on the AI Assistant page in your settings. From there, choose whether AI auto-responds to guests (Auto-Send Messages), gives suggestions only (AI Suggestions Only), or is disabled. You can pick any of the three modes on every Host Tools plan, including Messaging. When a listing is set to disabled, the AI stays out of that listing's messages entirely. There is no confidence threshold to set: in every mode, the AI leaves a message to you when the guest asks for a decision or reports a problem that your notes don't cover, or when the answer isn't in your listing details or notes.
How the AI decides what to do with a message
When a guest message arrives, the AI first decides whether it needs a reply, and whether that reply is one it can give on its own:
No reply needed — for a message like "Thanks so much!", nothing is sent and you aren't alerted. Courtesy replies, such as an emoji reaction, a checkout farewell, or a booking confirmation, still go out.
Needs you — the guest asks for something only you can decide, such as a refund, an early check-in, or an extra guest or pet, or reports a problem, and none of your notes covers it. The AI doesn't answer the guest. It writes a short acknowledgement draft for you and shows the reason in your inbox.
Reply — the AI writes an answer, then checks every statement in it against the information it was given. If everything is backed up, the reply is sent in Auto-Send mode, or shown as a suggestion in AI Suggestions Only mode.
AI emoji reactions for short acknowledgments
Beyond text replies, Host Tools AI can now also send emoji reactions to brief, positive Airbnb guest messages — such as "thanks!", "perfect!", or "see you soon!". Instead of composing a full text reply or leaving the message unanswered, the AI selects an appropriate reaction (👍, ❤️, or 🙏) and sends it directly on Airbnb.
This works alongside — not instead of — text auto-responses. When the AI determines a message is a simple acknowledgment that warrants a reaction rather than a reply, it routes to the emoji reaction path automatically. Auto-send must be enabled in the listing's AI settings for reactions to send without your review; in suggest-only mode, the suggested reaction appears in the inbox for you to send manually.
For more information on how emoji reactions work (including manual reactions and removing a reaction), see How do I use emojis to react to guest messages?
When a message is held for you
A held message is never sent to the guest. It waits in your inbox until you answer it. There are two reasons a message is held:
It needs your decision. The suggestion in your inbox starts with Needs you: followed by the reason — for example, "Needs you: Guest asked for a refund. No note covers refunds." Below it is a short acknowledgement you can edit into your answer.
The AI couldn't back up something in its reply. The AI's draft is kept, with a note naming the statement it couldn't find a source for — for example, "The AI couldn't point to a source for: The property doesn't have a crock pot available." If the draft is right, send it as written. If not, fix it first.
In Auto-Send Messages mode you also get a push notification and an email with the subject [Response Needed], which includes the guest's message, why it needs you, and the draft if there is one. In AI Suggestions Only mode you see the held message in your inbox as usual, without an email.
Saving your answer as a note
After you reply to a held message, the AI suggestion bar offers to save your answer as a note, so the next guest who asks the same thing gets an AI reply.
Click Save as note, or Not now to skip it.
The AI turns your reply into a short note that fits any guest — for example, "Hi Alex! Yes, one dog under 20 lb is fine, there's a $50 pet fee" becomes "One dog under 20 lb is allowed with a $50 pet fee." Edit it as needed.
Choose who the AI may tell: Anyone who asks, or Booked guests only. If the guest had booked, it starts on Booked guests only, so private details like a door code aren't shared with someone who has only asked about dates.
Click Save note. The note is added to this listing's facts on the AI Assistant tab.
Nothing is saved until you click Save note. The offer appears in the web inbox and in the mobile app.
Availability answers come from your calendar
When a guest asks about dates, the reply is based on your calendar rather than a general statement. For a booking inquiry, Host Tools checks the dates the guest asked about and says whether they are free, partly blocked — naming the blocked nights — or fully blocked.
It also looks at the 30 days before check-in and the 30 days after check-out and reports the longest run of free nights it finds there, so the reply can offer real alternative dates instead of reporting nothing available because of a single blocked night next to the stay.
The same calendar information is used when a guest asks for a discount, so any mention of how busy those dates are reflects what your calendar actually shows.