Product updatesLatest: Sep 29, 2026 - September 2026
HostelMate changelog
Every update to HostelMate in one place, new features, channel manager and booking engine improvements, reliability work, and fixes, straight from our product team's release notes.
You can now write your own confirmation and waitlist emails for bookings made on your booking page, under Booking Engine → Booking emails. Until now these guests always got our standard English email, even if you had written your own confirmation on Email Notifications. A Copy from Email Notifications button brings your existing one over.
September 2026
Redesigned the Virtual Cards page to match the rest of the app, and added a status column showing where each card has got to with Stripe.
Virtual cards whose booking was cancelled or marked no-show are now flagged in the list, counted in a "Needs attention" total, and filterable; previously nothing on the page showed that the stay was gone.
Collecting a card on a cancelled or no-show booking now asks for confirmation first.
Admins can now waive such a card, either in full or keeping a cancellation fee. The month the card was originally recorded in is left unchanged and the write-off is dated today; the reason is recorded on the booking.
Fixed Stripe tokenization on the Virtual Cards page, which had been failing on every attempt.
September 2026
Added extra protection against suspicious sign-in and automated attack attempts.
August 2026
Added an Account page where admins can change their login email and update the billing and tax details that appear on invoices.
August 2026
Added a booking window setting to control how far in advance guests can book, moving forward automatically each day.
Dashboard totals now follow the date range you select.
July 2026
Owner notification emails are now properly designed and easier to read, for every type of alert including payments and self check-in.
July 2026
Added a same-day cut-off time for each property. After the cut-off, any beds left for today are automatically closed on all booking channels, using the property's own local time.
July 2026
Availability is now checked continuously against every booking channel and corrected automatically, so rooms that are full or closed are never offered again.
June 2026
Added a pricing health check that flags properties with an incomplete pricing setup.
Faster guest and booking search.
June 2026
Added an occupancy report to the dashboard, and standardized how accounts are grouped by property.
Added housekeeping task management so cleaning work can be created, assigned, and tracked.
June 2026
Improved internal error tracking for faster diagnosis of issues.
June 2026
Upgraded the alert system to support a more flexible notification system, allowing updates to be sent reliably through multiple channels.
June 2026
Simplified how currencies are handled for reservations, made charge breakdowns easier to read, and polished the formatting of booking details.
June 2026
Added support for managing waitlisted bookings manually.
Added settings to set custom schedules for changing bedsheets, along with detailed bed cleaning reports for selected dates.
June 2026
Improved system speed and reliability behind the scenes for smoother background operations.
June 2026
Improved the accuracy and speed of updating room availability across different room groups and types.
May 2026
Added simple auditing tools to help staff investigate and understand any overbooking occurrences.
Improved general system speed and performance during busy periods.
May 2026
Automated how booking channels block rooms when availability changes, preventing new bookings for already full rooms.
May 2026
Added OTA Commission tracking to display and track booking website commissions directly within the reservation details.
May 2026
Launched Self Check-In; guests complete their check-in online before arriving. Staff can share the link via QR code, copy, or email from the check-in popup.
April 2026
Added OTA distribution and room revenue metrics to the dashboard.
April 2026
Added payment aggregation summary by method, category, and grand total.
April 2026
Added inbox messaging with attachment support via API.
March 2026
Implemented ghost property detection in OTA channels to clean up mappings.
Added diagnostic scripts to identify and resolve price discrepancies across OTA channels.
March 2026
Enhanced OTA debugging tools with improved verification logic.
March 2026
Optimized payment processing workflows.
March 2026
Refined system logs to reduce noise.
Updated service logic to return precise amounts.
March 2026
Integrated Channelhub CRM including automated OTA actions and custom authentication.
Executed extensive database schema migrations to support advanced property, room, and booking management features.
March 2026
Added robust handling for database race conditions during concurrent updates.
Overhauled the OTA channels architecture with new utility scripts and permission controls.
February 2026
Implemented access restrictions for accounts to improve enforcement.
February 2026
Added a utility script to repush property data for better synchronization.
February 2026
Launched a major update to the Pricing Engine featuring nested rate derivation for more flexible rate management.
Optimized rate pushing performance by preventing N+1 queries.
Updated the Booking Acknowledgment flow with a new webhook structure and enhanced payload details.
Added support for isShared flags in Channel Manager availability updates.
Improved frontend error handling for Payment Required (402) status, including localized notifications and redirects to billing.
February 2026
Enhanced Channel Manager logging for booking acknowledgments to improve debugging and state tracking.
February 2026
Added functionality to update property settings directly via the OTA Bridge.
Resolved mapping ID issues during channel synchronization.
February 2026
Updated the frontend to support listing and managing more than one channel.
February 2026
Introduced new internal scripts for maintenance and patching.
January 2026
Added Channel Manager booking synchronization for more reliable booking updates.
January 2026
Added internal email APIs to support booking lookup flows.
Started retiring legacy WhatsApp endpoints (prep for removal).
January 2026
Improved booking recency logic (more accurate “latest booking” detection).
January 2026
Launched a guest email notification system with new templates and sending logic.
January 2026
Improved bed allocation reliability (better handling when room data is missing).
