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 if there's information needed that isn't available in our system — but 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.
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 records of every booking — communications, rental agreements, and check-in/out logs are all useful if a dispute ever arises.
Related articles
Direct Booking Payment Failures: Declined Cards, Retries & What Happens Next
How to Set Up Guest Verification on Your Direct Site
How Security Deposits Work on Direct
FAQs & Troubleshooting: Direct Bookings