If you've not heard about our Direct Bookings feature or would like to learn more before creating your first site, click here.
Creating a site
Click on Direct from the Hospitable left sidebar menu
Click on the +Create new button
Enter a custom subdomain for your URL, like tahoechalets.hospitable.rentals
Select which properties you would like included on your site
Private pilot* users only: Setup your taxes
Direct Premium users do not need to configure taxes for properties using Direct Premium, they are automatically calculated
Direct Basic users need to add any applicable sales and use tax and lodging tax on Settings < Preferences < Taxes and then assign them to your properties.
Create your site. We don't publish your site yet, that's the next section. It should take about ten seconds to generate a draft of your site π
*If you would like to apply for early access to Direct features, please add your name to the wait list.
Review your site and publish
You will want to customize your site before you publish, but don't worry, you can also make changes to your site at any time after publishing.
Design
Select your site on the main Direct page
Select Design in the inner sidebar menu
Hospitable beta users only: Select a template
Click the Preview button on any template to open a new tab with a preview of the template on different types of devices
When you find a template you like, click Select.
Update the other fields with your site logo, hero (banner) image, a title and sub-title, link to your social accounts, write your 'about us', and enter your footer information
Click Save
Property Details
Our direct sites pull your property details and images from the lead listing of each property. All of your property details and images can be edited in the Property Details section of a property's page. To find this:
Select Properties from the Hospitable left sidebar menu
Click on the property you wish to edit
Select the Details page in the sub-menu
Click here to learn more about optimal image sizes for your property photos and hero images.
NEW: Images in your site template
Hospitable beta users only: if you select a site template that has additional image placements on the property page, you can set which images to display in each placement by adding tags on the property page.
In the example below, the Miami theme has an image placement in the Accessibility section, so you can designate which photo is displayed in this section for each property by setting the appropriate tag in the edit photo section.
Setting up a custom domain (optional)
If you already own a domain for your properties, you can publish your Hospitable direct booking sites to your domain. To do this, you will need to set up your DNS records by logging into your domain provider. (This is usually wherever you bought your site from) and find the option to edit your DNS records for the domain. Then you will do the following:
On Hospitable.com select Direct > Domain
Click Add your own domain button on the top right.
To set up a Root Domain (e.g. yourdomain.com)
Add (or update) your root @ record:
Type: A Record
Host: @
Value: 100.24.208.97
TTL: Automatic
Also add a new CNAME record:
Type: CNAME Record
Host: www
Value: cname.hospitable.rentals
TTL: Automatic
Note: you should only have one A record and one CNAME record for this domain
To setup a subdomain (e.g. something.yourdomain.com)
Add a new CNAME record:
Type: CNAME Record
Host: The subdomain you chose ("something" in the case of something.yourdomain.com)
Value: cname.hospitable.rentals
TTL: Automatic
It can take up to 24 hours for an SSL certificate to be verified for your site.
If the site isn't verified after 24 hours, & you have checked to be sure your domain credentials are correct, you can contact support.
Publish your site!
Once you're happy with the preview version of your site it's time to share it with the world. On the Direct site sidebar menu, click on Publish and then confirm by clicking Publish now.
It will take several minutes for the SSL security certificate to be generated for your new URL. Until that happens you may see an "unsecure" warning on your browser.
If you are no longer using your site, you can click Unpublish to take the site offline.
Learn more about Direct booking widgets here.
Learn more about Direct booking links here.