Booking Website Sections: Settings – Hostaway

ℹ️ Name change: This section was previously called Booking Engine. It has been renamed to Booking Website. If you're looking for the Booking Engine, navigate to Booking Website in the left sidebar of your Hostaway Dashboard.

To access the Booking Website settings, go to your Hostaway Dashboard → Booking Website (left sidebar menu) → Settings tab.

In this tab, you can set up general settings for the Booking Website.

Disclaimer

After making changes to the Booking Website and saving or publishing them in the Hostaway Dashboard, please note that it may take up to 5 seconds for the changes to fully apply
During this brief period, if you attempt to access the Booking Website, you might experience temporary issues
We recommend waiting a few moments before trying again to ensure that the settings are properly updated

The settings are categorized in groups, so it's easy for you to find and tailor the experience you want for your guests.

Website Identity & Branding

Website name (SEO meta title): This will be displayed in Search Engines and Social Media, or it will show an error as Null when sharing
Favicon: Allows configuration of the small icon in the browser tab
Logo: Displayed on the left side of the header on all pages
Logo URL: This is the URL that the logo clicks will direct the user to

Domain and Security

In this section, you will find information about the domain used for your Booking Website.

You can choose to:

Use a pre-built domain provided by Hostaway, or
Connect your own domain or subdomain

To learn more about this topic, please refer to this article.

Important

thebookingportal.com is the default domain used for Booking Website Pro
holidayfuture.com is the default domain used for the Booking Website
Both domains are required

Custom domain: Allows you to display the Booking Website on your domain - Read more about custom domains
Cookie banner display: Read more about the cookie banner here

Display & Content Settings

Show map in search results: Whether or not to display the map in the search results and all listings page. Turning this off will still display the listing located on the listing page
Show the exact listing located on the map: When off, shows only the approximate listing location
Show listing reviews: Whether or not to display reviews on the Booking Website
Amenities order: Affects the order in which amenities appear on the listing cards and listing page. It can be used to highlight certain amenities. The top 10 amenities appear in the search results filter pop-up

Check-out and Pricing

Include Fees & Discounts in the Nightly Rate: When enabled, the option incorporates applicable fees (e.g., cleaning fees) and discounts directly into the base nightly rate displayed to guests. This provides a more accurate total price upfront, including all charges, on search pages and throughout the booking flow. However, the cleaning fee may still appear separately in the price breakdown during the reservation process, as long as it's disclosed, which is compliant with legal requirements.
- Search page: The cleaning fee is included in the base price.
- Reservation page: The cleaning fee may be shown separately in the price breakdown.
Show opt-in for promotional emails in checkout form: When on, it adds a checkbox to the checkout page where guests can opt in to receive promotional emails. When ticked, we update the preference in the guest book
Enable guest checkout without credit card information: When on, the checkout page will not have a payment information section, and reservations can be made without payment information. By default, this toggle is turned off
Display discount code field in checkout: to display an input field in the checkout if you are running coupons or special promotion campaigns

Reservations Settings

Allow inquiries: Whether guests are allowed to submit inquiries. Turning this off removes the “send inquiry” button from the listing page
Allow instant booking: Whether or not to allow guests to book immediately
- Disabling this will remove the "Book Now" button from the listing page
- You can choose which listings from a particular Booking Website are immediately bookable
- If Allow Instant Booking is enabled, but the card cannot be accepted by the payment processor, you will be notified, but the reservation will not be processed. This is to prevent fraud and to avoid blocking dates for an unpaid reservation
- To set this up, you should go to the Booking Website → Settings → Reservation Settings. Check the box next to Allow instant bookings. When this is done, a new button Manage Instant Bookings Listings will appear. In the side window, you can select which listings you want to use for instant booking:
  - If no listings are selected, instant booking will be applied to all current listings, and all new listings added in the future
  - If some or all listings are selected, instant booking will apply only to the selected listings. New listings are not automatically included.