diff --git a/src/matrix/room/Room.js b/src/matrix/room/Room.js
index 158299c3..7d482201 100644
--- a/src/matrix/room/Room.js
+++ b/src/matrix/room/Room.js
@@ -200,6 +200,10 @@ export class Room extends EventEmitter {
     get notificationCount() {
         return this._summary.notificationCount;
     }
+    
+    get highlightCount() {
+        return this._summary.highlightCount;
+    }
 
     async _getLastEventId() {
         const lastKey = this._syncWriter.lastMessageKey;
diff --git a/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js b/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js
index c97034e4..3f13bd1e 100644
--- a/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js
+++ b/src/matrix/room/RoomSummary.js
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ function applySyncResponse(data, roomResponse, membership, isInitialSync, isTime
     const unreadNotifications = roomResponse.unread_notifications;
     if (unreadNotifications) {
         data = data.cloneIfNeeded();
-        data.highlightCount = unreadNotifications.highlight_count;
+        data.highlightCount = unreadNotifications.highlight_count || 0;
         data.notificationCount = unreadNotifications.notification_count;
     }
 
@@ -182,6 +182,10 @@ export class RoomSummary {
         return this._data.notificationCount;
     }
 
+    get highlightCount() {
+        return this._data.highlightCount;
+    }
+
 	get lastMessage() {
 		return this._data.lastMessageBody;
 	}