Coral Guidebook Issues

Hi there everyone! I just joined and am a new host on a few platforms. Thanks for having me.

I spent the last few months building my guidebook on coral.life, choosing Coral because of the recommendations on various forums. I created a sample guidebook to check it out and really liked the simplicity of navigation and overall look.

Yesterday I logged in without issue to make some updates and today I get a full page notification that my info is not private so I cannot access the site.

Now what the heck am I supposed to do? What do you all do if this occurs when you need to send a guidebook to an incoming guest? HELP!!

Their SSL certificate has expired … possibly for non payment… give it a few days and see if they resolve it.

1 Like

Thanks @Debthecat I understand @&it happens but what that tells me is I cannot rely on them. Is there another option out there?

Thank you for posting this - I just logged on here to find out what the problem is as I have been experiencing the same thing. We use our Guidebook for guests all the time.

@captainsquarters I have migrated away from Coral to Hostfully. They offer a free guidebook as well. Although it doesn’t have some of the features I liked in Coral it has others. They don’t have the funding issues that Coral seemed to and have great customer service that responds to suggestions, issues, etc. They just merged with another vacation rental oriented company (calendars mgmnt, listing duplication, etc) and told me the things I requested (scheduling guidebooks to be automatically sent, have a unique link or one that expires, etc) are in the works. I look forward to the new features and hope it remains free.

I’ve seen Hostfully referenced a few times on the forum. Thanks @TheTempeHouse for your comments. I’d like to hear from other hosts as well.

Is it worth the time to set it up?
Do our guests actually use it?

I have used Coral life and really liked it but since they “upgraded” a few months ago I haven’t been able to get my questions answered and have been reluctant to continue to give out the old link.
Or should I hold out for Coral Life to fix their glitches?

Has anyone been able to bring the old Coral info into the new Coral setup? (I emailed them this question and never got a response. After the number of hours spent to put together the original guide in Coral I really don’t want to have to start over.)

From what I can tell, there’s no way to import the old coral into the new. I’m test driving the new version and it seems to work more consistently.

@Terryathome I really like using it and if a guest asks me a question that is in the link I remind them the info is at their fingertips. My older guests definitely use it (and the printed copy I have on site) but the under 30 crowd not a chance! For the younguns I bullet point the info and put it in the fridge and when I walk them through I point out the important stuff. For me it’s important that it reinforces the rules so I have recourse if anything happens.

I’m also trying to find out if Coral has ceased, or if this is simply a technical issue. Does anyone know? I’ve been hosting for just over a year and used the guides extensively - our guests love them, and they save us a lot of time.
Please post if you have any more information about their current position; in the meantime I guess I’ll have to research alternatives like Hostfully.

@absentandy I really liked their guidebook too. For me based upon their current and seemingly ongoing issue I couldn’t trust their platform to be around when I needed it. It would be truly embarrassing if I sent a guest a guidebook that at some point during their trip they stopped being able to access. I wasn’t willing to chance it.

I only found two guidebook options and Hostfully had a much more user friendly layout. Let me know if you find something better. In this burgeoning market I’m sure there will eventually be more contenders but for now and for free it is limited.

1 Like

@TheTempeHouse thanks - that’s helpful, and you are right of course - I just had a guest call me to say the Coral link wasn’t working!
I’m going to try Hostfully, and I will post if I find anything else useful.
In the meantime I’m going to try and contact Richie of Coral and find out what the story is. . .

It’s all working fine for me; just logged in with no problem.

1 Like

@TheTempeHouse @Arlene_Larsson
Yay! Coral is back (hopefully)!
Anyone know what the issues were, and if they are here to stay?
Richie (one of the founders) used to post on this site; if you are around Richie it would be good to hear from you - I love the Coral guide!
Andy

Coral seems to be focusing on v2.0 of the guide. You can log in at https://app.mycoralguide.com . I think it’s still in beta. I haven’t experienced any service interruption with that site.

I got hold of the Coral guys and they’ve fixed the certificate on the coral.life site.
So now all the guidebook links will (should) work again for our guests.
It looks like they want hosts to move over to their new v2, as above; but the original is still running.
Andy

I’m a Coral Guide lover, and am trying to log in today. No luck. Anyone have tricks, or a way to get hold of the admin people to find out why it is not working? I’ve tried to ask for a password reset, and that doesn’t get results either. Thanks!

Hi @Kitty_Norris; same problem for me today. The site was fine in the last couple of days. I’ve emailed one of the admin guys from a year back, I’ll le you know if I hear anything.
I hope it’s still going, it’s a great facility. Andy

1 Like

@absentandythanhks for responding. It has been such a wonderful site and so useful for me and guests. I sent emails to addresses I had, all old ones, and they all bounced. Looking forward to hearing back from you with success! Kitty

Same for me. Frustrating. If anyone gets in touch with them, please let us know!
Thanks!
Allison

@Allison
Thanks for checking in - I’ve had no luck at all. Such an easy to use, plain language, guidebook site~! Alas. Definitely wanting to her from anyone who is able to connect with them.