Overview
Aptly Access helps streamline the touring experience by automatically managing tour approvals, reminders, and prospect communication. Once a prospect schedules a tour and it’s approved, Aptly keeps things moving, sending reminders and ensuring tours stay organized on your boards.
This article focuses on how Aptly Access handles tours after they’re scheduled, and what to do when a property is no longer accepting showings.
What Happens After a Tour Is Scheduled
When a prospect schedules a tour through Aptly Access:
- The renter lead card automatically moves into the Scheduled Tours space once the tour is approved.
- Aptly Access sends default tour confirmation and reminder emails to the prospect.
- Additional reminders can be sent using stage-based automations on your board.
This ensures prospects receive timely communication leading up to their tour without manual follow-up.
When a Property Is No Longer Accepting Showings
There are times when a property that was accepting tours becomes unavailable, such as when it goes off the market or showings are paused. Because this change is not automatically communicated through the tours portal, it’s important to have a process in place to:
- Stop tour reminder emails
- Notify prospects that the property is no longer available
- Cancel any active scheduled tours
The steps below outline a recommended workflow.
Step 1: Manage Listing Availability
For most property management systems, listing availability is controlled manually.
- Use the Published for Rent toggle on the unit/listing to indicate whether a property is available.
- When this toggle is turned off, the property is no longer considered available for showings.
- If you use filters to control which listings allow showings, make sure those fields are updated accordingly.
In most cases, if a listing is not published, it is not available for tours.
Step 2: Mirror Listing Status to the Renter Leads Board
To ensure renter leads update automatically when a property becomes unavailable, mirror the Published for Rent field from the unit to the Renter Leads board.
Best practices:
- Mirror the Published for Rent field from the related unit
- Set the field to read-only on the Renter Leads board
- Keep the field hidden (it doesn’t need to appear on the card)
- Use it strictly for automation conditions
- Update the units within your published for rent filter via an Update Card checkbox field to ensure the mirror field connection is established with your Renter Leads cards.
This setup works best when:
- Each renter lead card represents one contact and one location
- Deduplication rules are set to Contact + Location
This structure makes it easier to manage tours and understand which prospects have upcoming events.
Step 3: Create a “Property No Longer Available” Stage
Next, create a dedicated stage for leads tied to unavailable properties.
- This stage can live within the Scheduled Tours group or in its own group
- Name it something like Property No Longer Available
This stage gives you a centralized place to manage impacted prospects and redirect them to other listings if needed.
Step 4: Build an Automation to Move Affected Prospects
Create a Custom Condition automation on the Renter Leads board.
Trigger Conditions
- Stage is any active prospecting stage (for example: New, Engaged, Tour Scheduled)
- Published for Rent (mirrored field) is False
Be sure to exclude closed or archived stages.
Actions
- Update stage → Move the card to Property No Longer Available
Optional additional actions:
- Create a task for the assignee to:
- Notify the prospect the property is no longer available
- Re-open the tour request and deny
- Share a link to alternative listings
- Send an email using a communication template explaining the change
This automation ensures prospects are removed from tour-related reminder workflows and handled consistently.
Step 5: Cancel the Scheduled Tour in Aptly Access
If a tour was scheduled through Aptly Access, there is one manual step required.
- Open the scheduled tour
- Reopen it and change the status to Denied
- Add a note explaining that the property is no longer available. An email will be sent to the prospect that their tour request was denied.
This:
- Removes the prospect’s access to the property
- Clearly communicates why the tour was canceled
You may also choose to include this step as a task in the automation created above.
Summary
By combining listing management, mirrored fields, board stages, and automations, you can:
- Automatically stop tour reminders for unavailable properties
- Keep renter leads organized and up to date
- Ensure prospects receive clear, timely communication
- Maintain accurate tour availability in Aptly Access
This workflow helps prevent confusion and creates a smoother experience for both your team and your prospects.