Connect Smoobu with Zapier

What Zapier adds on top of Smoobu's own automation

Smoobu already automates a lot inside its own system — guest messages, invoices, price rules. What's missing is the outward connection: getting booking data into a tool Smoobu itself doesn't know about. That's exactly what Zapier does as the go-between. Using a personal API key, Zapier reads booking events from Smoobu and forwards them to a second application, without you having to build your own integration.

Typical use cases: every new booking is automatically added as a row in a Google Sheets tracker for owner reporting, a Slack or email notification fires whenever a booking is cancelled, or a guest is automatically added to a CRM or mailing list after checkout for a delayed review request. Zapier itself has its own pricing tiers with a limited free monthly task allowance — check current terms at zapier.com/pricing.

Step 1 — Create a Smoobu API key

Zapier needs a personal access key to be able to read your booking data.

1. In Smoobu: go to Settings → API (current menu path — Smoobu occasionally reorganizes its settings pages, so check under Account Settings if you don't see it there).
2. Generate an API key: create a new key and give it a descriptive name, e.g. "Zapier". This makes it easier to identify later if you run multiple integrations.
3. Copy the key securely: the API key is usually shown in full only once. Store it briefly somewhere secure until you've pasted it into Zapier.

The API key grants read access to your booking data — treat it like a password and never share it in plain text over email or chat.

Step 2 — Build a Zap with Smoobu as the trigger

A "Zap" in Zapier always consists of a trigger (the event that starts it) and at least one action (what happens next).

1. In Zapier: create a new Zap and search for "Smoobu" as the trigger app.
2. Connect your Smoobu account by pasting in the API key you created.
3. Choose an event: typical choices include events like a new booking, an updated booking, or a cancelled booking — the exact list of available triggers can change, so check the current options directly on Zapier's Smoobu app page.
4. Test the trigger: Zapier pulls a real sample booking from your Smoobu account so you can see which fields are available.

If the test doesn't find a booking, first check whether a matching booking actually exists in the selected time range, then confirm the API key is still valid.

Step 3 — Configure the action in the target app

The action determines what happens to the booking data from Smoobu once the trigger fires.

1. Choose a target app: e.g. Google Sheets (create a new row), Slack (post a message to a channel), Trello or Asana (create a card for cleaning coordination), or an email tool like Mailchimp or Brevo (add the guest to a list).
2. For each field in the target app, map the matching Smoobu field from the test data — e.g. guest name, arrival and departure dates, property, booking channel, and total price.
3. Conditional filters (optional): an extra "Filter" step lets you restrict the action to specific cases — e.g. only bookings above a certain length of stay, or only specific properties if you manage several.

Step 4 — Test and activate the Zap

Before going live, a test run with real data is worth it to catch field-mapping mistakes early.

1. Use "Test action" to check whether the test data arrives correctly in the target app — e.g. whether the Google Sheets row shows the right values in the right columns.
2. Check date fields and number formats carefully — depending on the target app, Smoobu's date values are sometimes expected in a different format.
3. Turn the Zap on: only switch it to "On" after a successful test. From that point, the automation runs for every future matching event.
4. Watch the Zap history: during the first few days, check the Zap history in Zapier regularly to catch any failed tasks early.

Common use cases

1. Automate owner reporting: every new booking is automatically added as a row to a Google Sheets template used to build monthly statements for co-owners.
2. Notify the team instantly: a Slack or Teams message on every new or cancelled booking, so cleaning or maintenance teams know without checking manually.
3. Prepare review requests: automatically add guests to a mailing list after checkout that sends a delayed review request.
4. Create tasks for external contractors: automatically create a card in Trello or Asana for every new booking if your cleaning company doesn't have its own Smoobu account.

Troubleshooting common issues