When you accept Direct bookings through Hospitable, your payments are processed and protected by Hospitable — not by you directly. This article explains how fraud screening works, what happens if a guest's card is declined or disputed, and what's different between Direct Premium and Direct Basic.
How Hospitable protects your payments
All guest payments on Direct are processed by Hospitable. This means you never see card details, fraud flags, or raw payment data — Hospitable handles all of that behind the scenes.
As part of this, Hospitable screens every transaction and uses guest vetting to identify suspicious activity. If a booking is flagged, our Support team may deny it on your behalf before it's ever confirmed. In other cases, a guest's card may be declined automatically during the booking process — the guest will see an error and won't be able to complete the reservation.
You may notice a failed booking attempt in your account, but you won't have visibility into why the guest's card was declined.
Chargeback protection on Direct Premium
If you're on Direct Premium, you're covered if a guest disputes a charge with their bank.
Hospitable handles the entire chargeback process on your behalf. You don't need to respond to the dispute, prepare evidence, or contact your bank. In the vast majority of cases, you won't need to do anything at all.
In rare situations, Hospitable may reach out to you — either because we need additional information that isn't available in our system, or because our investigation suggests the dispute may have been caused by a hosting issue (for example, not providing accommodation or listing problems without offering the guest a resolution). In these cases, we'll always contact you to hear your side before taking any action. This is the exception, not the rule.
Direct Basic: what's different
Direct Basic does not include Hospitable-managed chargeback protection.
If a guest disputes a charge and you're on Direct Basic, the dispute goes through your own Stripe account, not through Hospitable. You would be responsible for managing and responding to that dispute directly.
If chargeback protection is important to you, upgrading to Direct Premium includes this benefit along with other Direct features.
What to do if a guest's card is declined
If a guest contacts you saying their payment didn't go through, here's what you can suggest:
Try a different card or payment method. The issue may be with their specific card rather than their account.
Contact their bank. Some banks block unfamiliar transactions by default — a quick call can often resolve this.
Check for a typo. Card numbers, expiry dates, and billing addresses are common sources of error.
As a host, you don't have the ability to retry a payment or view the reason for the decline. If the issue persists, the guest should reach out to Hospitable Support.
What to do if you suspect a fraudulent booking
If something about a booking feels off — unusual communication, suspicious guest behavior, or a booking that doesn't add up — contact Hospitable Support. Do not attempt to investigate card details yourself, as you won't have access to them.
Share any specific concerns with Support (messages, behavior patterns, booking details), and our team can review the fraud signals on our end and take appropriate action.
What happens to your payout during a chargeback?
In most cases, your payout is not affected. Chargeback protection on Direct Premium means Hospitable absorbs the loss — no funds are collected from you, even if the dispute is upheld by the card network.
There is one exception: if our investigation finds that the dispute was caused by a hosting issue — such as not providing accommodation or having listing problems without offering the guest a resolution — we may contact you to hear your side. Only after that review, and only if the host is found to be at fault, may Hospitable collect the payout for the disputed booking.
How long does a chargeback take to resolve?
Chargeback resolution timelines depend on the guest's card network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) and the issuing bank:
Typical resolution time: 60–120 days from the date the dispute was filed.
In most cases, you won't be notified that a dispute occurred — Hospitable resolves it behind the scenes.
Can I check the status of a chargeback?
Hospitable does not currently display chargeback status in your dashboard. If you'd like an update on a specific dispute, contact our support team at [email protected] with:
The reservation code
The approximate date the chargeback was filed (if known)
Any relevant context about the dispute
Our team can check the current status with the payment processor and provide an update.
Tips to reduce your risk
A few habits that help keep your Direct bookings safe:
Enable Guest Verification on your Direct booking site to screen guests before they confirm.
Require a security deposit for added protection on high-value stays.
Communicate with guests before arrival — legitimate guests respond and engage normally.
Keep all guest communication within the Hospitable (not via personal email, phone, or text). When a dispute is filed, we use your in-app messages, reservation details, and check-in/check-out records as evidence. The more complete your records are in the system, the stronger our defense — and the less likely we'll ever need to reach out to you.