Smoobu → Google Sheets:
Automate Your STR Reservation Management

Every new booking kicks off the same busywork: message the cleaner, update the tax list, fix your own overview — and hope no cancellation slips through the cracks. This free Apps Script does all of it for you. It connects to the Smoobu API and keeps three spreadsheets current — your cleaner's schedule, your accountant's tax export, and your own master list. Set it up once and it runs every hour in the background, whether you're thinking about it or not.

Three outputs, zero manual work

The script writes to three separate Google Sheets simultaneously. Each stakeholder gets only the columns they care about — nothing more, nothing less.

How it all connects

One script run does everything: it fetches all bookings from Smoobu, applies smart detection logic, then writes to all three sheets in a single pass.

1 Prerequisites

Nothing here costs extra and nothing needs installing. If you run Smoobu and use Gmail, you already have almost everything — the only real prep is creating three blank spreadsheets.

2 Setup steps

1. Create three blank Google Sheets: one for yourself (Master), one to share with your cleaner, one to share with your accountant
2. Copy each sheet's ID from the URL bar — it's the long code between /d/ and /edit
3. Open your Master Sheet → Extensions → Apps Script
4. Delete the placeholder code, paste the full script (see the "Get the script" section below), and save
5. Reload the spreadsheet — a Smoobu Sync menu appears in the toolbar
6. Fill in the CONFIG block at the top with your API key and sheet IDs
7. Click Smoobu Sync → Update All Bookings for the first run
8. Grant permissions when Google prompts you (the script needs Sheets, Drive, and URL fetch access)

3 Configure

Fill in the four values at the top of the script. Everything else is automatic.

const CONFIG = {
  // 1. Your Smoobu API key (Settings → External Integrations → API)
  API_KEY: 'YOUR_SMOOBU_API_KEY_HERE',

  // 2. Google Sheet ID for your cleaner's schedule
  CLEANING_SHEET_ID: 'YOUR_CLEANING_SPREADSHEET_ID',

  // 3. Google Sheet ID for your accountant's tax report
  TAX_DESTINATION_ID: 'YOUR_TAX_SPREADSHEET_ID',

  // 4. First day to include in the tax export (Year, Month-1, Day)
  //    new Date(2025, 11, 31) = 31 December 2025
  TAX_START_DATE: new Date(2025, 11, 31)
};

4 Master list — your full view

The Master List is written to a tab called Reservations in your main spreadsheet. It contains every booking (confirmed and cancelled) with all available data.

Full column list: Position, Arrival, Departure, Guest Name, Portal, Reference ID, Guest App URL, Created Date, Phone, Adults, Children, Infants, Dogs, Guest Notes, Assistant Instructions, Price, Amount Paid, Prepayment Paid, Number of Nights, Status.

5 Cleaner sheet — schedule & pet alerts

Written to the Data tab in your separate Cleaner spreadsheet. Cancelled bookings are excluded automatically — your cleaner never sees a job that was cancelled.

Notice what's missing: money. Same schedule, same notes as your master list, but none of the financial columns. Your cleaner sees who's arriving and what to prepare for — what guests paid stays between you and your accountant.

6 Tax export — accountant-ready

Written to two places: a Smoobu Tax export tab in your Master Sheet (all bookings), and your separate Tax Sheet (filtered to completed stays past your TAX_START_DATE). The latter is what you share with your accountant.

The "Paid Out" column is a live formula, not a pasted number: =M-O in the actual sheet, where column M is the total amount and column O is the host fee. Correct a fee figure once and the payout fixes itself. The cleaning fee keeps its own column, so your accountant can treat it however your setup requires.

7 Smart pet & infant detection

Guests frequently mention animals in the free-text notes field without ticking the "pets" checkbox in Airbnb or Booking.com. This is the single most common cause of "surprise" for cleaners.

The script scans each booking's notice field (guest-visible notes) with two detection layers:

Layer 1 — Structured field

Smoobu stores an infants field. This is the authoritative count if the guest filled it in correctly.

Layer 2 — Text regex on guest notes

// Counts 2 dogs if the guest mentions "two dogs" / "2 Hunde" / etc.
if (noticeLower.match(/\b(2|two|zwei|deux)\s+(dogs|hunde|chiens|pets)\b/)) {
  dogCount = 2;
} else if (noticeLower.match(/(dog|hund|pet|chien|animal)/)) {
  dogCount = 1; // single mention = 1 dog assumed
}

// Checks Smoobu's structured field first; falls back to text scan
if (infantCount === 0) {
  const match = noticeText.match(/Number of infants:\s*(\d+)/i);
  if (match) infantCount = parseInt(match[1]);
}

Layer 2 also checks the price elements API call (made for each booking to get fee data): if there's a "pet fee" line item, a dog is flagged even without a text mention.

8 Fee breakdown

Smoobu's reservation list endpoint gives you a single commission-included value. To get the cleaning fee, the script makes a second API call per booking to the price elements endpoint:

GET https://login.smoobu.com/api/reservations/{id}/price-elements

// Returns an array like:
[
  { type: "cleaningFee", name: "Cleaning Fee", amount: 60 },
  { type: "commission",  name: "Airbnb Host Fee", amount: 45 },
  { type: "extraPerson", name: "Additional Guest", amount: 20 }
]

The script finds the cleaning fee by matching type === "cleaningFee" or a name containing "cleaning". The host fee is taken from the commission-included field first (already on the main record), falling back to the price elements if it's missing.

9 Tax date filter

The accountant's external sheet only receives bookings where the reporting date (day 2 of the stay) is after TAX_START_DATE and the arrival is in the past. This filters out three things automatically:

const sendToAccountant =
  taxDateObj &&
  arrivalDateObj &&
  (taxDateObj > CONFIG.TAX_START_DATE) &&  // after tax year start
  (arrivalDateObj <= today);               // stay has started

Your master sheet (internal) always contains all bookings regardless of this filter — the filter only applies to what goes into the external Tax Sheet.

10 Hourly trigger

Set this up once and the script runs automatically in the background — you never need to click "Sync" again.

1. In your Master Sheet → Extensions → Apps Script
2. Click the clock icon on the left sidebar (Triggers)
3. + Add Trigger
4. Function: syncSmoobuToSheet
5. Event source: Time-driven → Hours timer → Every hour
6. Save — Google prompts for permissions on first run

To check the run history and see any errors: in Apps Script → left sidebar → Executions. Each run is logged with its duration and any error messages.

Get the script & template

The full script is a GitHub Gist — free, open source, yours to copy and adapt. If you'd rather not format three spreadsheets from scratch, the ready-made template (headers, formulas, pet-alert highlighting) is one request away through Hostmade.de — informational platform built by hosts for hosts.

smoobu-sheets-sync.gs waldo-van-der-code · GitHub Gist · free, open source