Shippo

Every operator ends up running a small postal service. Guests leave chargers, passports, jewellery and children’s toys; keys need to reach a new cleaner; supplies need to get from a store cupboard to a property across town.

Individually each is trivial and each takes half an hour: find packaging, work out postage, get to a post office, tell the guest it is on its way, then field the question about where it has got to.

Connecting Shippo removes most of that. A label can be produced from the conversation where the guest reported the loss, and tracking answered without anyone digging out a reference number — which matters because a returned passport generates more goodwill than almost anything else you can do.

Once Shippo is connected, ProhostAI works with labels and tracking in plain language.

Read

• Track a shipment Answer where a parcel has got to without a reference number hunt. "Where is the parcel we sent to the Mill Lane guest?"
• Compare rates See options and costs before choosing a service.

Create & update

• Create shipping labels Produce a label from the conversation where the item was reported.
• Keep the guest updated Send tracking to the guest without switching tools.

Shippo connects with an API key from your Shippo account.

1. Generate an API key in your Shippo account settings.
2. Open ProhostAI and go to Settings → Connections.
3. Search for Shippo, select Connect and paste the key.
4. Ask it to check rates for a parcel to confirm the connection works.

• Postage is billed through your Shippo account, separately from your ProhostAI subscription.
• Valuables — passports, jewellery — deserve a tracked, insured service. It is worth deciding that policy in advance.
• Carrier coverage varies by country; check your options before promising a guest a delivery date.
• Revoking the API key in Shippo ends access immediately.