Room & Cleaning Automations

Automate room status changes and cleaning assignments in HelloShift. There are two types of automations:

1. Triggers - React to guest events (checkout, check-in, cancellation)

2. Room Automations - Run on a schedule to create cleaning tasks automatically

Overview

Part 1: Room Automations (Scheduled Automations)

Room Automations automatically create cleaning tasks based on schedules and guest stay patterns. They run daily at a configured time and apply to rooms matching specific conditions.

Accessing Room Automations

1. Go to AI & Automation > Scheduled Automations > Room

2. Click the Room Automations tab

3. You'll see a list of available room automations

Default Room Automations

HelloShift creates these room automations when you set up your site:

Daily Clean

• Condition: Mid-stay guests (guests currently in-house, not arriving or departing)

• Schedule: Daily at 6:00 AM

• Action: Create "Clean" task

• Purpose: Ensures stayover rooms get daily cleaning tasks

Departure Clean

• Condition: Guests departing today

• Schedule: Daily at 6:00 AM

• Action: Create "Clean" task

• Purpose: Creates checkout cleaning tasks for departing guests

Day 3 Clean (Every 3 Days)

• Condition: Mid-stay guests on day 3, 6, 9, etc. of their stay

• Schedule: Daily at 6:00 AM

• Action: Clean on match, Light Clean otherwise

• Purpose: Reduces daily cleaning for long-stay guests while ensuring periodic full cleans

Schedule-Based Clean

• Condition: Rooms with custom schedules configured

• Schedule: Daily at 6:00 AM

• Action: Create "Clean" task only if room's schedule matches today

• Purpose: Respects individual room cleaning schedules (e.g., "clean Mondays and Thursdays")

Import Room Data

• Condition: All rooms

• Schedule: Daily at 6:00 AM

• Action: Pull room status from PMS

• Purpose: Syncs room occupancy and status from your Property Management System

Room Automation Settings

Each room automation has these configurable options:

Available Checks

Custom Check Example

For properties with VIP-specific cleaning schedules:

{% if guest_stay.guest_type contains 'VIP' %}true{% else %}false{% endif %}

Available Actions

The room-status actions need a guest condition (Departure Today, Arrival Today, etc.) - they are not available on the All Rooms condition.

Example: Flip Departing Rooms Dirty at 6 AM

Housekeeping wants departing rooms on the Dirty list at the start of the day, without waiting for the guest (or the PMS) to check out:

• Condition: Departure Today

• Run At: 6:00 AM, daily

• Action: Set Room Vacant/Dirty

This works alongside the default Post-Checkout Room Update trigger: the 6 AM automation pre-marks rooms by departure date, and the trigger re-fires on the actual checkout event. Flipping an already-dirty room is a silent no-op, so having both never double-notifies.

Creating a Custom Room Automation

Beyond the default automations, you can create your own scheduled room automations — including automations that generate checklists and tasks. Click New Room Automation on the Room tab (AI & Automation > Scheduled Automations > Room; requires the Housekeeping plan).

A custom room automation combines:

• For Guests: which stays to target by date — for example Departure Today matches every guest whose departure date is today, whether or not the PMS has checked them out. Use Departure Today (Not Checked Out) to target only guests still in-house.

• Run At + Repeat: the time of day and recurrence — e.g., 6:00 AM daily.

• Condition (optional): an additional check, including custom Liquid conditions.

• Action: a cleaning task, or Create Checklist / Create Task with a picker for which template to use.

How generated checklists and tasks behave:

• One per room per day: a reservation with several guests still produces exactly one checklist or task per room. Multi-room reservations get one per room.

• Room-tagged and guest-linked: items land on the room page and housekeeping boards, linked to the guest.

• No double-generation: if a Trigger already created the same checklist or task for that room today (or the automation is run twice), no second copy is created.

• Checklist skip threshold: if the room’s recent copies of the same checklist are all still incomplete, a new one is skipped.

• No room, no item: stays without a room assignment are skipped.

• Safe template handling: if the selected template is later deleted or archived, the automation deactivates itself and warns once instead of failing silently.

Use Preview before activating: it lists exactly which rooms match today, what would be created for each, and flags rooms the live run would skip (with the reason).

Example — the most common setup: name it “Departure Checklists”, set For Guests to Departure Today, Run At 6:00 AM daily, Action Create Checklist with your checkout checklist. Every morning, each departing room gets its checklist — no PMS checkout event required.

Note: The Create Checklist action is available on the Staff plan.

Enabling/Disabling Room Automations

1. Go to AI & Automation > Scheduled Automations > Rooms

2. Find the automation in the list

3. Click Edit

4. Change Status to Active or Inactive

5. Click Save

Note: Automations are created as Inactive by default. You must enable them to start generating tasks.

Part 2: Triggers (Event-Based Automations)

Triggers respond to guest lifecycle events and execute actions immediately or after a delay.

Accessing Triggers

1. Go to AI & Automation > Triggers

2. You'll see a list of existing triggers

3. Click New Trigger to create an automation

Default Triggers

HelloShift creates these system triggers when you set up your site:

Post-Checkout Room Update

• Event: Guest Checked Out

• Action: Set Room Vacant/Dirty

• Purpose: Automatically marks room as dirty when guest departs

Post-Booking Room Assignment

• Event: Guest Booking Confirmed

• Action: Set Default Cleaning Task

• Purpose: Pre-assign cleaning task based on room's default

Post-Cancel Room Update

• Event: Booking Cancelled

• Action: Remove room assignment if applicable

Creating a Trigger

Step 1: Choose the Event

Select when the automation should trigger:

Step 2: Set a Condition (Optional)

Add conditions to limit when the automation runs:

Step 3: Choose the Action

Select what happens when the trigger fires:

Step 4: Set Delay (Optional)

Add a delay before the action executes:

• 0 seconds (default) = Immediate

• 300 seconds = 5 minutes after event

• 3600 seconds = 1 hour after event

Delays are useful for:

• Giving front desk time to complete checkout

• Allowing for late checkouts

• Staggering cleaner notifications

Common Automation Scenarios

Scenario 1: Auto-Mark Dirty on Checkout

Goal: When guest checks out, automatically mark room dirty

Setup:

• Event: Guest Checked Out

• Condition: Always

• Action: Set Room Vacant/Dirty

• Delay: 0 (immediate)

Scenario 2: Assign Cleaner on Checkout

Goal: When guest checks out, assign the room's default cleaner

Setup:

• Event: Guest Checked Out

• Condition: Guests Departing Today

• Action: Assign Default Cleaner

• Delay: 300 (5 minutes)

Scenario 3: Set Checkout Task for Departures

Goal: Set cleaning task to "Checkout" for departing guests

Setup:

• Event: Guest Checked Out

• Condition: Always

• Action: Set Cleaning Task: Clean

• Delay: 0

Note: Create a custom action for "Checkout" task type if needed.

Scenario 4: Notify Housekeeping Lead

Goal: Alert housekeeping supervisor when VIP checks out

Setup:

• Event: Guest Checked Out

• Condition: Custom (check for VIP tag)

• Action: Notify Cleaner on Checkout

• Delay: 0

Custom Conditions

For advanced scenarios, write custom Liquid templates that return "true" or "false".

Available Variables

Example: VIP Guests Only

{% if guest_stay.guest_type contains 'VIP' %}true{% else %}false{% endif %}

Example: Long Stays

{% assign nights = guest_stay.nights | plus: 0 %}{% if nights > 7 %}true{% else %}false{% endif %}

Managing Automations

Enabling/Disabling

1. Go to Admin > Settings > Automations

2. Find the trigger in the list

3. Click the status toggle to enable or disable

Disabled triggers remain configured but don't execute.

Editing a Trigger

1. Click Edit next to the trigger

2. Modify delay or condition as needed

3. Note: Event and Action cannot be changed after creation

4. Click Update Trigger

Deleting a Trigger

1. Click Delete next to the trigger

2. Confirm deletion

3. System triggers (Post-Checkout-Room, etc.) cannot be deleted

Integration with PMS

Automations work with your PMS integration:

From PMS to HelloShift

1. PMS sends checkout event

2. HelloShift marks guest as checked out

3. Checkout automation triggers

4. Room condition updates to Dirty

From HelloShift to PMS

When enabled in Cleaning settings:

1. Cleaner marks room Clean

2. HelloShift syncs status to PMS

3. Front desk sees updated room status

Automation Flow Example

Here's how automations work together for a typical checkout:

1. Guest checks out at front desk (PMS event)

2. PMS syncs checkout status to HelloShift

3. Post-Checkout automation fires:

   • Sets room to Vacant/Dirty

   • Assigns default cleaner

4. Cleaner receives notification on mobile

5. Cleaner starts room and timer begins

6. Cleaner completes room

7. Room status syncs back to PMS (if enabled)

Best Practices

Keep It Simple

• Start with essential automations (checkout → dirty)

• Add complexity gradually as needed

• Test each automation before enabling others

Use Delays Wisely

• Immediate (0) for status changes

• Short delay (5-10 min) for notifications

• Longer delay if allowing for late checkouts

Monitor and Adjust

• Check that automations fire as expected

• Review room status after checkouts

• Adjust conditions if too many false positives

Combine with Manual Oversight

• Automations handle the common case

• Staff can always override manually

• Use automations to speed up, not replace judgment

Troubleshooting

Automation not firing

• Verify the trigger is enabled (active status)

• Check that the event matches (Guest Checked Out vs. Guest Checked In)

• Confirm PMS integration is working

• Review condition - it may be blocking execution

Room status not changing

• Check if another automation might be overriding

• For a scheduled Set Room action, confirm the automation is On and its run time has passed today

• Verify room exists and is active

• Look for delays that haven't elapsed yet

Wrong cleaner assigned

• Check room's default cleaner setting

• Verify cleaner is active in Housekeeping department

• Review if cleaner was changed manually after automation

Notifications not received

• Verify cleaner has notifications enabled

• Check mobile device push notification settings

• Ensure cleaner is assigned to the room

Choosing Between Room Automations and Triggers

Key Differences

Best Practice: Combine Both

For comprehensive automation:

1. Enable Triggers for immediate room status changes (checkout → dirty)

2. Enable Room Automations for scheduled task creation and day-start status flips (daily at 6 AM)

3. Use Credits to balance workload when tasks are created

4. Review Assignments before cleaners start their shift

Schedule Projection

Room automations can be projected forward to generate cleaning assignments for upcoming days automatically. This gives your housekeeping team visibility into future workload without waiting for each day's automations to run.

How It Works

• HelloShift evaluates all active room automations nightly and creates assignments for the next N days (configurable, default 7)

• Room schedules, stay-based conditions, and day-of-week rules are all respected

• The system reconciles each night — adding new assignments, removing stale ones, and preserving manual overrides

• Optionally, cleaners can be auto-assigned to projected tasks

Configuration

Go to Admin > Settings > Housekeeping > General and adjust:

For more details on how projected assignments appear on the assignment page, see Room Assignment System > Schedule Projection.

Related Articles

• Room Assignment System - Manual and auto assignment options

• All About Housekeeping - Complete housekeeping overview

• Housekeeping Credit System - Credit-based workload balancing