How to Set Up Hospitable Direct and Connect a Domain

To set up Hospitable Direct, you need a Professional or Mogul subscription. Then confirm your Direct plan (Premium by default in the US, UK and Australia, Basic elsewhere), add and verify a payout method, and make sure each property is eligible: full address, payout, complete content, and rates with open dates. Next, create the site under Direct Bookings → Websites and set your booking policies and taxes. Choose your subdomain carefully, because it's permanent. Publish the site, then connect your custom domain, which only works after publishing. Finally, submit your properties to Google Vacation Rentals. Each step below cites Hospitable's help center.

Independent publication. Direct Booking Academy is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official resource of Hospitable. We haven't tested these steps in-app. They follow Hospitable's documentation as of October 2026, and menu labels vary slightly between help articles.

This guide is part of our Hospitable Academy, an independent collection of guides (not an official Hospitable resource).

Step 1: Subscription and Direct plan (as of Oct 2026)

Hospitable's pricing page lists the Direct Booking Website on the Professional plan ($51.92/month billed annually, US, excluding VAT) and the Mogul plan ($87.12/month billed annually) (pricing). Check current prices yourself.

Hospitable assigns your Direct plan based on where your property is (Direct Setup Checklist; All About Direct Bookings):

	Direct Premium	Direct Basic
Where	US (incl. Puerto Rico), UK (incl. Isle of Man, Jersey), Australia; the default there	Anywhere Stripe is supported
Payments	Hospitable/Adyen is merchant of record	Your own Stripe; you're merchant of record
Fees	4% guest + 3% host, or 7% host-only	1% host fee
Extras	Tax calculation/remittance where supported, chargeback protection, guest vetting, damage protection	None of those

To switch from Premium to Basic, go to Settings → Plans & billing → Direct. Bookings you already have aren't affected (Direct Setup Checklist).

Step 2: Add and verify a payout method

Go to Direct → Payout Methods → + Add Payout Method and follow the payment processor's prompts. Premium uses a bank account, and Basic uses a Stripe account. Identity verification (KYC) needs your legal name, date of birth, nationality, residential address, role, phone, email and a valid government ID. You also sign a service agreement. Most reviews are automatic, but manual reviews can take 2 to 3 business days (Direct Setup Checklist).

If you're on Direct Premium and signed up after December 16, 2025, you need to verify KYC on a payout method, or have one active OTA listing, before you can take bookings (Eligibility).

Step 3: Make each property eligible

Each property needs a complete, valid address, a connected payout method, complete content (title, description, photos, amenities), nightly rates, and open availability. Go to Properties → [property] and look for the items Hospitable flags as missing (Eligibility). Property pages are built from these details, and you edit them under Properties, not in the site editor (Property pages).

Photos come from the property gallery, and a photo appears on Direct only if Direct is selected for it. See Hospitable photos: upload, replace and reorder.

Direct Booking Academy's publisher also operates BNB Boost.

If your photos need an upgrade before launch, BNB Boost works on vacation rental photo presentation.

Step 4: Hosted site or widget?

You can use a Hospitable-hosted site or embed booking widgets on your existing website (Getting started). This guide covers the hosted site. For the SEO trade-offs, see Hospitable Direct SEO.

Step 5: Create the site

Go to Direct Bookings → Websites, create a site, give it a name, choose eligible properties, review the details and create it. Hospitable generates the site and a URL automatically (Create your site). That article labels the menu "Direct → Sites", while most current articles say "Direct Bookings → Websites".

Choose your subdomain carefully. It's set when you create the site (yourname.hospitable.rentals) and can't be changed later (Publishing).

Step 6: Customize

In Direct Bookings → Websites → your site → Overview, set your logo, site title and subtitle, hero images or video, property order and social links. Colors and styling come from the template, and changes save automatically (Customize your site).

Step 7: Policies, taxes, messages, guest settings

From the Direct Setup Checklist:

• Booking policies: cancellation, payment terms and schedule, service fees. These can't be changed after a reservation is created.
• Taxes: Premium can calculate and remit taxes where supported. On Basic, you set your own rates.
• Messages: add a New Reservation message for Direct guests, and remove any manual payment instructions.
• Optional: guest verification (always on for Premium), rental agreements, security deposits, upsells.
• Instant Book: on Premium, it auto-accepts only low-risk guests who have completed verification. On Basic, it accepts all requests. Requests left pending expire if you don't act on them (Instant Book for Direct).

Step 8: Publish

Go to Direct Bookings → Websites, select your site and click Publish. Before you do, check that pages load, property details display and the booking flow works. Once the site is live, changes apply automatically without republishing (Publishing).

Step 9: Connect a custom domain (after publishing)

1. Go to Direct Bookings → Websites → your site → Domain → Add your own domain.
2. Choose whether Hospitable manages DNS (recommended) or you do.
3. Follow the on-screen records, then click the link in the verification email (look for "ICANN" or "Hospitable").

You can use a root domain or a subdomain, but not a subfolder. Hospitable sets up SSL automatically. It usually takes 30 minutes to 2 hours, sometimes 24 to 48 hours, and you may see a temporary security warning in the meantime (Custom domain).

Step 10: List on Google Vacation Rentals

Go to Direct Bookings → Google Vacation Rentals, select your properties and the site URL, then click Save Changes. You'll need 8+ high-resolution landscape photos, a summary, at least one amenity, and a listing name that matches the name visible on the page. New listings can take up to 30 days (GVR). Hospitable's pricing page labels "Google Vacation Rentals Listing" as Premium, while the help docs say Basic or Premium. If you're on Basic, confirm with Hospitable support.

Pre-launch checklist

• Professional or Mogul subscription; Direct plan confirmed
• Payout method verified (KYC)
• Every property eligible; photos assigned to Direct
• Subdomain chosen deliberately
• Policies, taxes and Direct messages set
• Test booking flow, then publish
• Custom domain connected and HTTPS working
• GVR submitted

Then compare with Hospitable Direct website examples. If bookings are slow, see Hospitable Direct not getting bookings.

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By Daniel Brooks, who covers Hospitable for Direct Booking Academy. Written with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Last verified: October 13, 2026.