Table of Contents
How Direct Premium Works
Premium is our full-featured solution, currently only available for hosts with properties in the USA (including Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands) and Australia. We hope to expand Premium to Canada and the UK next.
Link any personal or business bank accounts you want to use for your payouts;
Process online payments from your Direct website or booking widget, with
Hospitable serving as the Merchant of Record, and
Sales and lodging taxes automatically calculated and collected;
Accept bookings with the confidence of integrated guest-vetting and US$5M worth of damage protection; and
Receive payouts to your bank account 24 hours after check-in, in most cases.
How Direct Basic Works
Basic is our "payment processing only" option, available everywhere Stripe is available.
Connect your Stripe account for payment processing
Process online payments from your Direct website or booking widget
You are the liable Merchant of Record
You will need to calculate lodging taxes and add them to your properties, Hospitable will collect them from the guest
We do not have integrated guest-vetting and damage protection
You control your payouts, but you are also liable for cancellations, refunds and chargebacks
How Direct Lite Works
For customers with properties located in markets not supported by Stripe, but who would still like to have a Direct website, Lite allows you to have a site without payment processing. This plan will be live soon for select customers.
Take booking requests that sync with your Hospitable calendar
Your messaging rules work with Direct Lite reservations
Take payment off-platform
Direct Lite is $5/mo for your first property and $1/mo for each additional property.
Direct Pricing
You will need to activate Direct features for your account in order to publish and use your Direct site and booking widget. We charge a monthly fee based on the number of unique properties published to your Direct sites and booking widgets. You will see them on your regular Hospitable invoice starting on the next billing date after you activate Direct.
Direct Premium also charges a transaction fee of 6% of the nightly rate and fees + $10 that includes your payment processing fees. No matter what you choose, there is no host fee or commission deducted from your payout.
Tiered pricing | Premium per month* | Basic per month* |
Properties 1-9 | $5 per property | $8 per property |
Properties 10-19 | $4 per property | $7 per property |
Properties 20-49 | $3 per property | $6 per property |
Properties 50 & above | $2 per property | $5 per property |
*The prices in the table above are in USD. These may vary depending on your country's currency rate.
Below is a sample comparison of how our Direct Premium offering can save you money vs Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com. The larger the booking amount, the more you will save. If you frequently get < $100 bookings, Direct Basic will likely make more sense for you.
What you get in Premium vs. Basic
| Lite | Basic | Premium |
Guest service fee | N/A | 0% | 6% + $10 |
Site builder | Included | Included | Included |
Booking widget | Included | Included | Included |
Instant book | Included | Included | Included |
Promo codes | Not included | Included | Included |
Tax collection | Not included | Included | Included |
Tax calculation | Not included | Not included | Included |
Payment processing fees | N/A | Not included | Included |
Guest vetting | Not included | Not included | Included |
$5M damage protection | Not included | Not included | Included |
Direct FAQ
What’s the difference between Direct Basic and Direct Premium?
What’s the difference between Direct Basic and Direct Premium?
Direct Basic is the “just the payment processing” option, primarily for hosts that already have experience in taking direct bookings. With Direct Basic, you can use our Direct websites and booking widget, but you need to connect your own Stripe account, you pay your own payment processing fees, you are liable for chargebacks, you need to keep up with the various taxes for all of your properties, and we currently do not have integrated solutions for guest vetting and damage protection.
What does it mean when Hospitable is the Merchant of Record?
What does it mean when Hospitable is the Merchant of Record?
As the Merchant of Record, Hospitable processes the payment, accepts liability for refunds and chargebacks, covers costs associated with cancellations, provides customer support during the booking process, and in general is responsible for the quality of the marketplace experience.
Chargeback liability can be especially important for smaller-scale hosts, where a single chargeback against a small volume of transactions could trigger consequences with a payment service provider. Instead, Hospitable can spread the risk and liability of chargebacks across a large client base, so occasional chargebacks don’t restrict your ability to keep processing payments.
How does Direct Premium compare with OTAs on price?
How does Direct Premium compare with OTAs on price?
We like to think of Direct Premium as a hybrid between an Online Travel Agent like Airbnb and the do-it-yourself direct booking options out there that require a lot of setup and leave you bearing all the risk.
Similar to OTAs, Direct Premium helps hosts manage risk by investing in things like Merchant of Record liability, guest vetting, and damage protection on every reservation.
Unlike OTAs we don’t pass on the costs of big budget advertising campaigns to you and your guests.
So how do we stack up? Let’s compare direct booking versus OTAs.
In our price comparisons, Direct Premium can save you:
14-27% on a 5-day booking
21-46% on a 20-day booking
Note that Direct Premium performs best on larger bookings. If you generally get < $100 bookings, you are likely a better candidate for Direct Basic.
How are taxes managed?
How are taxes managed?
Hospitable collects applicable taxes from the guest and passes them through to you with the payout. For Direct Basic, you need to enter your own taxes for each property. For Premium, we will calculate them for you and update them when there are changes.
You are responsible for filing and remitting your taxes to the appropriate jurisdiction in a timely manner (most jurisdictions are monthly filings). In the future, we will start filing and remitting for Premium hosts in a limited number of jurisdictions where 1) we are legally able to do so, and 2) where it makes business sense for us to do so. For now, filing and remitting taxes are your responsibility. Premium users may be required to sign regular affidavits that you are properly remitting the taxes that have been passed through to you. More about taxes.
When do I get paid out?
When do I get paid out?
For Direct Premium, we make an ACH transfer to your bank account 24 hours after check-in or when the payment settles, whichever comes later. If a guest books within four days of their check-in we may not have received the payment when the guest checks-in, in which case we will show you the settlement date, which is your payout date for that booking.
For Direct Basic, you are in charge of your payouts. Note you will need to keep funds in reserve to cover liability for cancellations, refunds, and chargebacks.
What’s included in Premium damage protection?
What’s included in Premium damage protection?
Accidental and malicious damage
Damage due to theft
Damage to belongings/contents
Damage to common/shared areas
What’s not covered?
General wear and tear/cosmetic damage
Damage not caused directly by a guest
Bodily injury suffered by a guest or host
What the booking flow looks like
Direct Feature Roadmap
In Progress | Next | Later |
Adjustments - ad hoc refunds and additional fees to adjust reservations | Quotes - block dates, set a custom price, and then share a payment link with a guest | Fee visibility - decide how fees are presented to guests, or bundle them in your nightly rate |
Multi-property search - an OTA style search across all of your properties | Mid-term bookings - payment terms, tax optimization, and other improvements | Guest Portal - an online guest itinerary for alterations, cancellations, and more |
| Tax remittance - file and pay taxes for Premium hosts where possible | Split pay - divide payouts across more than one account |