Property Setup Guide
Adding a property is one of the first things you do in Argonautas. This guide walks through the full process, from creating a property to getting it ready for channel distribution.
Overview
A property in Argonautas is a rentable villa, apartment, house, condo, cottage, or cabin, or a complex of several units. Each property is managed by either an owner or a partner, and has its own rates, availability, photos, amenities, policies, and channel connections. A property can be a single unit or a multi-unit complex (see Multi-Unit Properties), and uses one of two booking modes: Direct or Partner.
The property edit page has a row of tabs. Every tab works as soon as the property exists. There is no "save first" step before you can open a tab.
How to Add a Property
Step 1: Create the Property
- Open Properties in the sidebar.
- Click Add Property. The Create Property dialog opens.
- Fill in the fields below.
- Click Save & Edit or Save & Create Another.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Property Name | The property name. Required. |
| Property Type | Villa, Apartment, Cottage, House, Condo, or Cabin. |
| Managed by | Choose Owner or Partners, then pick the owner or partner. Required. |
| City | City or town. Required. |
| Country | Country. Required. |
| Max Guests | Maximum occupancy. Required. Hidden when the multi-unit box is checked. |
| Multi-unit property | Check this if the property is a complex of similar units, such as a condo or aparthotel (see Multi-Unit Properties). |
The two save buttons:
- Save & Edit creates the property and opens its edit page.
- Save & Create Another creates the property and clears the dialog for the next one. Property type, owner or partner, country, and the multi-unit setting carry over.
Step 2: Complete the Property Tab
Save & Edit opens the Edit Property page on the Property tab. The header shows the property name and when it was last updated.
The Property tab has these cards:
| Card | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Basic Information | Property name (per language, with an Editing language switch), property type, status (Active/Inactive toggle and an Archived link), Managed by, the Multi-Unit Property toggle, and the capacity row: bedrooms, bathrooms, half baths, max guests, and living space in sq ft or sq m. |
| Guest Experience | Check-in time, check-out time, and Booking Notice (days). Each one follows the company default until you turn off Use company default. Also the Guest Portal Link toggle. |
| Commission | Management Commission % for this property, plus Per-source commission overrides. |
| Location | Address line 1 and 2, city, state, postal code, country, and Map Location (click the map or search an address to set the coordinates). |
| Description | Headline, OTA Title, Short Description, and Property Description, each per language. |
| Bedroom Configuration | Each bedroom with its beds (for example, Bedroom 1: 1 king bed) and room amenities. |
The Manage members & payouts link under Managed by opens the owner's record.
When you change anything, a bar slides up at the bottom with Cancel and Update Property. Click Update Property to save. If you try to leave the page with unsaved changes, Argonautas asks first.
For a villa imported from a PMS (Beds24 or Hostfully), the fields that PMS owns are read-only and show "Managed in [PMS]. Edit it there."
Guest Portal Link
The Guest Portal Link toggle in the Guest Experience card controls whether guests at this home get the guest-portal link. It is on by default. Turn it off when the owner handles guest services directly. Only the portal link stops. The booking and every other record are unaffected.
Multi-Unit Properties
If the property is a complex of similar units (a condo building or an aparthotel), turn on Multi-Unit Property in the Basic Information card, or check the box in the create dialog.
When multi-unit is on:
- The capacity row (bedrooms, bathrooms, half baths, max guests, living space) is hidden. You set these per unit type instead.
- A Unit Types table appears in the same card, with an Add Unit Type button.
- The Configurations tab is hidden.
See Multi-Unit Properties for the full walkthrough.
Step 3: Upload Photos and Videos
Open the Media tab.
Photos
- Click Add Photos, or drag image files onto the gallery. JPEG, PNG, WebP, and HEIC files are accepted.
- Drag photos to change their order.
- Hover a photo and click the star to make it the primary photo. It gets a Primary badge.
The Photo Requirements card below the gallery checks for at least 10 photos and a primary photo. To delete several photos at once, click Select, pick the photos, and delete them. See Photos & Channel Certification for more.
AI Caption Suggestions
If your company has AI captioning turned on (in Settings › Integrations), the Edit Photo Details dialog shows an AI suggestion. Accept it to fill in the English caption and alt text. You can edit the text before saving.
Videos
Below the photos, the Videos section holds up to 5 videos per property. Click Upload Video, give the video a title and a category (Tour, Drone, Neighborhood, Experience, or Testimonial), and choose an MP4, MOV, or WebM file of up to 500 MB. See Property Videos.
Step 4: Add Amenities
Open the Amenities tab and check each amenity the property has. Amenities are grouped in sub-tabs: Location, Sleeping & Bathing, Kitchen, Living, Outdoor, Climate, Family, Laundry, and Services. A counter shows how many you have selected and how many more are needed to reach the 20 that channels expect. See Amenities.
For multi-unit properties, the tab has a Shared sub-tab for the whole complex and one sub-tab per unit type.
Step 5: Set Pricing
The Pricing tab holds:
- The base nightly rate, which prices every date that no season or override covers.
- Payment Terms: deposit percentage and balance due days for this property. Leave them blank to inherit the partner or company default.
- Fees and taxes, optional add-ons, and property-specific fees.
- Seasons & Overrides: the dates priced differently from the base rate, as a List or a Calendar.
For multi-unit properties, the Pricing tab has one sub-tab per unit type with that type's base rate.
Step 6: Configure the Booking Type (Channels Tab)
The Booking Management control at the top of the Channels tab sets how bookings for this property are handled.
Direct Booking
Choose Direct when you manage this property's bookings in Argonautas. This is the default. Direct properties can be connected to distribution channels (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, and others) for two-way sync of availability, rates, and reservations.
Partner Booking
Choose Partner when an outside company takes this property's bookings in its own system and you only track availability in Argonautas. The Partner Configuration card then asks for:
- External Booking URL: where guests or agents book this property on the partner's system.
- iCal Feed URL: an iCal (.ics) feed from the partner's system. Argonautas syncs it regularly to import blocked dates. The iCal Sync panel shows the last sync and has a Sync Now button.
- Partner Response Timeout (hours): how long a booking request waits for the partner to confirm before it is cancelled automatically. The default is 48 hours.
For a villa imported from a PMS, the Channels tab says its channels are managed by that PMS. Argonautas never pushes rates or availability for it.
Step 7: Configure Policies
The Policies & Guide tab has two parts:
- Policy Overrides: smoking, children, events, quiet hours, damage deposit, cancellation policy, and pets. Each one uses the company default while its Default toggle is on. Turn the toggle off to set a value for this property only.
- Guide & Instructions: check-in and check-out instructions, house rules, WiFi networks, door code, parking, appliances, trash day, local recommendations, and emergency contacts, per language.
Click Save Guide & Policies to save this tab. It saves on its own, apart from Update Property.
Calendar and Staff Tabs
- Calendar: the property's booking calendar and availability blocks, date restrictions, changeover rules, and the ICS Calendar Feed you can share with partners.
- Staff: assign staff to this property by role (housekeeper, maintenance, concierge, and others).
Configurations Tab (single-unit properties only)
The Configurations tab lets one villa be sold as several bookable layouts, such as the whole house or a smaller set of its bedrooms. It is hidden for multi-unit properties. See Rental Configurations.
Smart Home Tab (optional)
The Smart Home tab connects the villa's air conditioning and door locks. Only administrators and property managers see it. Each action on the tab saves on its own. There is no tab-wide save. The tab has two cards:
- Climate: the villa's assigned AC controllers with live readings and controls; Unassigned devices, to assign a controller to this villa; Connect the owner's climate account; and Automation, with pre-cooling before arrival and the setting after checkout. See Smart Home & Climate.
- Locks: Locks on this property, with status, battery, and last-seen time for each mapped lock and an Unmap button; Connect the owner's lock account; and Map a lock, to attach a discovered lock to this villa. Mapped locks can give each reservation its own door code, which the guest sees in their portal. See Smart Locks & Door Codes.
The two "Connect the owner's..." options appear only when the property is managed by an owner. Otherwise the tab says "This property has no owner entity. Connect a company account in Settings instead." Your company's own accounts are connected in Settings › Integrations, under Smart Home.
Listing Readiness
Every tab of the edit page shows a readiness strip above the tabs while any listing check fails, for example "3 of 6 checks failing". Each failing check is a link that opens the tab where you fix it. When every check passes, the strip disappears and a Ready badge appears next to the page title.
| Check | Passes when | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| Photos | The property has at least 10 photos | Media |
| Amenities | At least 20 amenities are selected | Amenities |
| Description | The English description has at least 200 characters | Property |
| Map location | Map coordinates are set | Property |
| Rates | At least one rate period (season) exists | Pricing |
| Translations | Every text field written in English is translated into your other content languages. Shown only if you publish in more than one language. | The tab with the first missing translation |
Connecting a channel runs its own checks too. See Channel Certification Checklist.
Property Types
| Type | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Villa | Standalone private residence, often with a pool and outdoor areas. |
| Apartment | Unit within a larger building, in an urban or resort setting. |
| Cottage | Smaller, often rustic accommodation. |
| House | Standalone home, similar to a villa but without resort-style amenities. |
| Condo | Individually owned unit in a shared building or complex. |
| Cabin | Smaller accommodation, often in a wooded or mountain setting. |
Filtering and Finding Properties
The Properties page lists your properties as cards or as a table. Use the toggle at the right of the filter bar to switch.
- Search: type part of a property name.
- All / Direct / Partner: filter by booking type.
- All Statuses / Active / Inactive: filter by status.
- All Types: filter by property type.
The first time you open the page it shows Active, Direct properties. Your filter choices are remembered, and they also appear in the page address, so you can bookmark or share a filtered view.
Each card's ⋯ menu has Edit, Duplicate, and Archive. Clicking a card opens its edit page. People who can't edit properties see a read-only property page instead.
Key Concepts
Multilingual content. Property names, descriptions, headlines, short descriptions, and OTA titles can be written in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Use the Editing language switch on a card to change language. English is required for the description.
iCal sync for partner properties. When a partner property has an iCal feed URL, Argonautas fetches the feed regularly and creates availability blocks for busy dates. Sync Now on the Channels tab runs a sync right away and reports how many blocks were created, updated, or deleted.
Active, Inactive, and Archived. The status toggle sets a property Active or Inactive. Inactive properties are not offered for new bookings, but their data stays. Archived retires a property; you confirm it first.
Bedroom configuration. Beyond the bedroom count, you can list the beds in each bedroom (Bedroom 1: 1 king bed; Bedroom 2: 2 twin beds). Channels that support bed details receive them.
Common Questions
Can I change a property from Direct to Partner (or back) later? Yes. Open the property, go to the Channels tab, and change Booking Management. When you switch to Partner, fill in the external booking URL and iCal feed URL.
What happens to bookings if I deactivate a property? Existing bookings are not affected. The property stops being offered for new bookings.
How many photos can I upload? There is no upper limit. The readiness check asks for at least 10.
Do I need rates before connecting to a channel? Yes. The readiness strip and the channel checks both expect at least one rate period. Set up seasons and fees too, so the channel prices are right.
Can I duplicate a property to save time? Yes. On the Properties page, open the property card's ⋯ menu and choose Duplicate. Name the new property, then pick what to copy: amenities, property guide, photos, rates and seasons, rate overlays, fees and taxes, changeover rules, staff assignments, and bedrooms. Basic info (name, location, type, capacity) is always copied.