How HOWI Began
How HOWI began
The first version of HOWI: a host configures a property, and guests get a working AI assistant on a link — plus the dashboard, chat, and calendar tools to run it.
Every product has a first working version. HOWI's was small and specific: give a host a way to configure a property, and give their guests an AI assistant that actually knows about that property.
The problem
Hosts running short-term rentals, hotels, and small venues answer the same questions constantly — hours, Wi-Fi, checkout, parking — and there was no good way to hand that knowledge to guests directly, especially outside office hours.
What shipped
- A guest-facing AI assistant that reads a property's actual configuration before answering
- A host dashboard for creating and managing properties
- Host Chat — a persistent, conversational way to manage a portfolio instead of editing static forms field by field
- Calendars and guest-capture analytics, so hosts could track local events and see how many guests were engaging
Why it matters
This is the foundation everything else in HOWI builds on: a real property, a real config, and an assistant that answers from it. Multi-unit properties, kiosks, and the Universe view all came within weeks — but this is where the guest link and the host dashboard started.
Availability
Shipped and in continuous use since November 2025.
