How to use Room Ready Board at your hotel

Step 1: Export a room list from your PMS

Look for a room list or inventory report in your PMS and export it as CSV or Excel.

1. Export with at least a room number column. Floor, room type and building are optional, and are used if present.
2. Save the file as CSV or XLSX. Older .xls is not read: in Excel, use Save As CSV or XLSX.
3. Keep the file under 5 MB.

room,floor,type,building
101,1,Deluxe Twin,Main
102,1,Deluxe Twin,Main
201,2,King,Annex

You can also get this template from setup by clicking Download CSV template.

Guest and booking columns are left out on import, and extra columns are ignored, so the export does not need trimming first.

Small property? You can skip the export and type a Quick range in step 2.

Step 2: Create the board

1. Open Room Ready Board and click Open the board.
2. Under Property name, type the name your team uses. It shows on every desk and phone screen.
3. Email · optional can stay empty. Nothing is locked without it.
4. Under Import rooms from your PMS, drop the file, or click Upload CSV / XLSX, or Paste from spreadsheet (a pasted spreadsheet range or one room per line).
5. If the room column is not recognised, setup asks Which column is the room number?
6. Check the Preview rooms count.
7. Click Create board.

Every room starts as Dirty.

Small property? Add a quick range instead and type a range like 101-120. One range can hold up to 500 rooms, and both ends need the same letter prefix, like A101-A110.

A board holds up to 2000 rooms.

Step 3: Share the two links

After the board is created, it shows two links.

• Desk link, for front-desk computers: read-only, opens on Ready.
• Housekeeping link, for housekeeping phones: send it to your team chat. It opens in the phone's browser with big buttons and no app.

Click Copy on each one, or click Open both links in my email app, which opens your own email app with the links filled in. Room Ready sends no email.

The links are long random IDs, so keep them inside your team. If one leaks, click Reset links: the old links stop working, so share the new ones with your team.

Step 4: Mark rooms from the phone

This is the daily routine for housekeeping.

1. Open the Housekeeping link.
2. Set Name on this phone so changes are labelled. It is a label, not an account, and defaults to "Housekeeping".
3. On Mine, tap Take rooms that aren't ready, or pick rooms under All rooms using search and the floor filter.
4. The button on each room moves it one step: Start (Dirty to Cleaning), Mark clean (Cleaning to Clean), Inspect (Clean to Inspected).
5. Tap a room to choose any status directly, including Out of order, which needs a short note of 140 characters or fewer, then tap Save status.

Changes show on the desk without a refresh.

Step 5: Assign only Inspected rooms

This is the daily routine for the front desk.

1. Keep the Desk link open on the front-desk computer. It opens on Ready, the rooms marked Inspected, with the Ready to assign now count.
2. Use the Not ready, Out of order and All rooms filters, or search for a room.
3. Click a room to see its note and Status changes, the last 40 changes with the phone's name label.

Only assign a room marked Inspected. Clean is not enough.

The board does not update your PMS, so keep updating room status in the PMS as you do now.

Details and limits

Checked on 2026-10-30 against the live board.

What it does

One live board per property, with two links: the desk link is read-only, the housekeeping link updates rooms. There are five fixed statuses: Dirty, Cleaning, Clean, Inspected and Out of order. It is free, needs no account, and works in a browser. If you prefer to keep this in a spreadsheet, the Sheets room-status guide builds the same rule.

What it can't do

• It does not sync with your PMS either way. Importing rooms is a one-time copy of room numbers, not a live connection.
• It sends no alerts or notifications when a room turns Inspected.
• It holds no guest names or bookings.
• It shows only what housekeeping tap. If nobody updates a room, the board does not know.
• It produces no turnaround reports.

Limits

• There are no accounts or logins, so anyone with the Housekeeping link can change statuses. Reset the links if one leaks.
• Room history keeps the last 40 status changes.
• A board holds up to 2000 rooms.
• A file must stay under 5 MB, and older .xls files are not read.
• A quick range holds up to 500 rooms.
• Adding rooms later is not built as its own step: to change the room list, create a new board from a new export and share its links.

When this stops being enough

When the status needs to come from the PMS or go back into it, or the desk needs an alert when a room turns ready, a board like this cannot do that on its own.

Read how the no-build-fee model works.

Sources

1. Room Ready Board
2. Room Ready Board setup
3. Room Ready Board room list template (CSV)

Related guides

• Hotel room status board in Google Sheets
• Hotel maintenance request form and log
• Shift handover form with a morning email