Learn how to configure Booking Website settings, including domain options, display and content settings, analytics, cookie banner behavior, and SEO settings.
Disclaimer: The Booking Website design in Hostaway is being updated to a new version that improves navigation, reduces clutter, and provides a cleaner, more intuitive experience. This update will be available in your dashboard soon. In the meantime, please note that the design and navigation shown in the screenshots may differ from what you currently see in your dashboard. This difference is temporary while the new version is being rolled out.
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 apply fully
- 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 grouped, making it easy for you to find and tailor the experience you want for your guests.
Branding
In this section, you can customize the favicon, logo, and logo URL of your booking website:
- Favicon. Allows configuration of the small icon in the browser tab
- Logo. Displayed on the left side of the header on all pages
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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
Content Display
In this section, you can customize whether location maps and listing reviews are displayed, as well as the order of the amenities:
- 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 exact listing located in map. When off, it shows only the approximate listing location
- Show listing reviews. Whether or not to display reviews on the Booking Website
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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
In this section, you can customize whether fees, discounts, and more are displayed:
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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
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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
Managing Inquiries and Instant Booking
Both Inquiries and Instant Booking are enabled by default in the Booking Engine. You can decide whether guests can send inquiries, book instantly, or both, depending on how you want to manage reservations for each listing.
Inquiries
When Inquiries are enabled, guests can contact you from the listing page using the “Send Inquiry” button.
If you turn Inquiries off, the “Send Inquiry” button will be removed from the listing page in the Booking Engine.
How to turn off Inquiries
- Go to your Hostaway Dashboard > Booking Website
- Select the booking website you would like to edit and click on its name
- Go to Settings > Reservations Settings
- Find the Inquiries option
- Switch the toggle for Inquiries to off
- Save your changes
Instant Booking
When Instant Booking is enabled, guests can book directly from the listing page using the “Book Now” button.
If you turn Instant Booking off for a listing, the “Book Now” button will be removed from that listing page in the Booking Engine.
You can choose which listings from a specific Booking Website are immediately bookable: If Instant Booking is allowed on the listing, then it is allowed. If Instant Booking is denied on the listing, then it is denied.
When customers create a new Booking Website, all listings configured for that website are instant bookable by default.
When a new listing is created:
- It will be added to the Booking Website automatically
- If at least one listing allows Instant Booking, the new listing is added to allow Instant Booking as well.
- If there are no listings that allow Instant Booking, then the new listing is added to deny Instant Booking as well.
How to turn off Instant Booking
- Go to the relevant Booking Website.
- Select the listings where you want to disable Instant Booking.
- Once the listings are selected, click the black action bar that appears at the bottom of the page.
- Turn off Instant Booking.
- Save or confirm your changes.
Payment Processing for Instant Bookings
If Instant Booking is enabled, but the guest’s card cannot be accepted by the payment processor, you will be notified, and the reservation will not be processed.
This helps prevent fraud and avoids blocking calendar dates for unpaid reservations.
Analytics
Analytics: For Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel
SEO Settings
- SEO: Keywords for the website. These are overridden by SEO settings on individual pages.