Getting started

Sign up

1. 1Open hostomat.io and press "Start free", then again on the plans page. No card needed.
2. 2Press "Continue with Google", or type your name, email and a password (8 characters or more) and press "Create account".
3. 3If you used email, click the link we send. Nothing after a minute? Check the spam folder.
4. 4Answer the few questions: "Whose homes do you run?" ("My own", "Owners' homes" or "Both"), how many units, what you use today. Press "Continue".

Connect your own Airbnb

1. 1Open Integrations ("Add properties" on an empty Home) and press "Connect an Airbnb account".
2. 2Read the panel and press "Continue to Airbnb". Airbnb allows one channel manager per account: if yours uses another one, disconnect it there first.
3. 3Approve the connection on Airbnb's page. It names the channel manager Hostomat connects through; the panel's "Learn more" explains why.
4. 4Back in Hostomat, tick the listings you run and press "Bring in n listings". Nothing is ticked for you, and anything you leave out stays as it is on Airbnb.
5. 5Each listing comes in: details, photos, calendar, the connection, a check that Airbnb is unchanged. It shows "Live" once those are in; its bookings follow within minutes. You can close the page.
6. 6If Smart Pricing is on in Airbnb, switch it off there: prices now come from Hostomat's calendar.

Invite an owner to connect theirs

1. 1Open Owners and press "Invite an owner". Type their name and email and press "Send invite".
2. 2They get an email with a link that works for 30 days, for them alone. Press "Copy link" if a message is quicker.
3. 3From the link they press "Create your login", then "Continue to Airbnb", approve it on their Airbnb and tick the listings you run for them.
4. 4Their listings arrive already theirs. The Owners page shows each owner as "Invited", "Opened the invite", "Importing", "Live" or "Needs attention".

Add Booking.com

1. 1A Booking.com property joins a unit already on Airbnb. Open Integrations and press "Connect a property".
2. 2Follow the page's three steps: "Open Booking.com" takes you to the extranet's Connectivity provider page with the right provider picked; accept it there; copy the Property ID.
3. 3Paste the Property ID, press "Find the property", pick the unit it is, and press "Yes, connect it to unit".
4. 4Its bookings come in and their nights close, then it switches on by itself. Until then Integrations shows "Importing" or "Waiting for Booking.com".

The first booking

Bookings land on Bookings and the calendar the moment a channel makes them, with the guest, the stay and the money once it is checked against the channel's own record. Until it matches, the money reads "Being checked" and is counted nowhere.

A guest's message opens a conversation in Messages, and Home shows who is waiting on you and how long they have waited.

Invite a cleaner

1. 1Open Settings, then Team. Under "Invite someone", type their email, pick "Cleaner" and press "Send invite". The link works for 7 days.
2. 2Once they join, on Tasks under "Rules" press "New rule": the unit or "Every unit", "Turnover clean", them under "Who does it", the checklist one line each, then "Save".
3. 3From then on every checkout makes its cleaning, given to that person with the checklist. Cleaners work from their own phone screen.

The first statement

1. 1Open Owners, then "Statements". Each owner has a row for the month: stays, what the channels paid, fees, expenses and the balance.
2. 2Open an owner's row, press "Set the fee deal": a percent and its base, a monthly amount or both, and whether a stay counts in the month it checks in or checks out. Press "Save".
3. 3Once the month is over and every stay's money is checked, an admin presses "Send to owner", or "Send n ready statements" for all. Each owner gets a PDF by email and sees it when they sign in.

What Hostomat does by itself

• Your 14 free days start when you bring in your first listing, not when you sign up, and cover every unit you connect.
• Each listing comes in exactly as it is on Airbnb: open and closed nights, prices, minimum stays and bookings. Nothing on Airbnb changes when you connect.
• A listing whose import stopped is never left half connected: it shows why, and can be tried again.

If it didn’t work

A listing isn't in the picker.

Airbnb only shows listed listings. Unlisted, snoozed and hidden ones don't appear, and a co-host can't connect a listing. List it on Airbnb, then reload the page.

"This page has expired".

A connect attempt lives 2 hours. Start again from Integrations, or, for an owner, from their invite link.

"Airbnb isn't connected yet".

The page says why. If the Airbnb account uses another channel manager or property management system, disconnect it on Airbnb, then press "Try again".

An import is stuck or says it stopped.

The listing shows its reason and "Try again"; later, the unit's page offers "Retry the import" under "Channels". Its calendar can't change until it is live.

The email never came.

It is almost always in the spam folder. Already confirmed, or had an account with this address before? Then no new link comes: sign in, or reset your password.