Listings and the editor

The list

Columns: "Unit", "Owner", "Channels", "Base and floor", "Dynamic pricing" (a paid add-on an admin turns on under "Pricing") and "Status". A read-only person sees no price columns. Filter with "All", "Needs attention" or "Live", by owner, or type in "Find a unit, place or owner".

Each channel's light reads "Live", "Waiting" (importing, or Booking.com still switching on), "Needs attention" (hover the light for why), "Unlisted" or "Disconnected". "Status" shows the unit's worst.

Edit the listing on Airbnb

1. 1Open the unit and stay in "Listing": the listing as guests read it on Airbnb. Click a part to change it: "Photos", "Title and description", "Where guests sleep", "What this place offers", "House rules", "Arrival guide".
2. 2Press "Save to Airbnb" in the bar that appears. The part reads "Sending to Airbnb...", then "Live on Airbnb" once Airbnb has it and it is read back.
3. 3Each field counts as you type: 50 characters for the title, 500 for the description, 5,000 for the other sections, the house rules and the arrival guide, 250 for a photo caption. Past it, the field says "Airbnb allows n characters here." and the save waits.
4. 4Contact details, links, other booking sites and words that turn guests away for who they are are marked as you type, each with Airbnb's rule, and the save waits until they change. The arrival guide, read by booked guests only, may carry a phone number.
5. 5"Help me write" offers "Make it shorter", "Make it warmer", "Fix spelling and grammar" and, in a language other than the main one, "Translate from language". A draft is shown first; "Use this" puts it in the field, and nothing reaches Airbnb until you save.

What Airbnb did with your save

The line under each part says it: "Live on Airbnb · n minutes ago"; "Airbnb kept its old field" with "Change it on Airbnb"; "Airbnb said no: reason", your words kept for you to fix; "Not sent: reason" when Hostomat held the words back or Airbnb didn't answer.

"Managed on Airbnb" means this listing's Airbnb connection keeps its words and photos on Airbnb: change them there and they come back here on their own. "Editing on Airbnb is paused" means saving to Airbnb is off for now; change it on Airbnb.

"This changed on Airbnb while your save waited. Pick which one stays." shows both versions with "Keep mine" and "Keep Airbnb's".

Check now

1. 1The top of the editor says when the listing was last read from Airbnb. "Check now" reads it again: "Nothing had changed on Airbnb." or "Airbnb had changes to parts. They're here now."
2. 2Once every five minutes at most.

Photos

1. 1Press "Manage photos". "Add photos" or "Add a folder" uploads JPEG or PNG, up to 100 at a time and 30 MB each; drag to reorder; the first photo is the cover.
2. 2A photo under 1024 pixels on its long side is refused as blurry on Airbnb. Under 1200 pixels wide it goes up with a warning.
3. 3Select photos to "Move to the front", "Give them a room" or "Delete". Open one for its "Caption" and "Room", or "Make it the cover".
4. 4"Replace all" uploads the new set first, then removes the old, so the listing is never without photos. "Delete all" keeps the cover: Airbnb needs at least one photo. Under 5 photos the part warns.
5. 5New photos and deletions go to Airbnb at once; the order, captions and rooms go when you save.

Wi-Fi and the way in

The "Arrival guide" is read by booked guests only: "How guests get in", "Check-in instructions", "Directions", "Wi-Fi network", "Wi-Fi password" and "House manual". One save updates Airbnb and the unit.

The door code stays in the unit's "Knowledge", which the check-in message and the assistant read.

Only admins and managers see the arrival guide filled in. A cleaner sees the way in only once they start a job.

Booking settings and availability

1. 1In "Booking settings": "Who can book at once" ("Requests only", "Everyone", "Well-reviewed guests"), check-in and checkout times, the cancellation policy, "Rules guests agree to" (pets, children, smoking, events, infants, filming) and "Safety and property". Press "Save to Airbnb".
2. 2In "Availability": how close to arrival and how far ahead guests can book, the nights kept free between stays, and whether requests outside these are allowed. Minimum stays and the days guests can arrive or leave are set night by night on the calendar.

Discounts, promotions and the floor

1. 1In "Discounts": "Longer stays" (a week, a month, "Another length"), "Early bird" and "Last minute", each a percent. Your website and calendar use a change at once; Airbnb gets it at 3 AM in the unit's time zone, or at once if no discount or "How far ahead" change went to this Airbnb account in the past day.
2. 2A discount that would take nights under the floor can't be saved: the panel names the nights and says to lower the discount or the floor in "Calendar defaults". The floor is the least a guest pays a night after Airbnb's discount.
3. 3"Airbnb's promotions" ("New listing promotion", "Guests with great reviews", "Booked in the Airbnb app") switch on and off here; Airbnb sets the percent.

Calendar defaults

"Base price", "Floor", "Minimum stay", "Time zone" and, on Booking.com, "Booking.com markup". A new base price or minimum stay first says how many nights move (nights set by hand and booked nights keep theirs), a new floor how many under it rise, then waits for "Change n nights". "Check-in from" and "Checkout by" are changed in "Booking settings". Only an admin changes the time zone and the markup.

List and Unlist on Airbnb

1. 1On a unit live on Airbnb, the row's menu has "Unlist on Airbnb", and the unit's Channels card has "Unlist". Airbnb asks why: pick a reason, the more exact one if it has one, and anything Airbnb should know, then press "Unlist on Airbnb".
2. 2An unlisted unit shows the light "Unlisted". Guests can't book it on Airbnb; its calendar stays in step; after 30 days unlisted, and live on no other channel, it stops counting on your bill.
3. 3"List on Airbnb" puts it back at the prices and open nights on its calendar. Listed or unlisted on Airbnb itself, it shows here within a day; an admin can press "Check again" on an unlisted card.

Edit many units together

1. 1An admin or manager presses "Edit together" on Listings, picks the units and "Next: the change".
2. 2Choose "An amenity" (they have it or not), "House rules" or "A section" (add at the end, or replace), or "How guests get in". Titles, descriptions, photos, Wi-Fi and beds differ by home, so they change one unit at a time.
3. 3Press "See what changes": each unit before and after, and the ones skipped and why. Then "Send to n units" and watch each land: "Live on Airbnb", "Airbnb kept the old one", "Airbnb said no", with "Try again".

Channels

Each channel has a card with "Open on Airbnb" or "Open on Booking.com" (Booking.com's words and photos are changed there). An admin can "Retry the import" ("Try switching on again" on Booking.com), "Check again" and "Disconnect"; an owner disconnects only their own channel account. Disconnecting says first what happens: the channel gets no more prices or open nights, no new bookings come from it, and those already here stay with their messages.

What Hostomat does by itself

• A save is sent, read back, and what Airbnb really kept is what shows. A refused or ignored change never shows as the listing.
• Every live Airbnb unit is read again once a day. A change made on Airbnb comes in here, and the website follows the listing.
• Only what you changed is sent, so a save never overwrites a field you didn't touch.

If it didn’t work

Airbnb refused a save.

The part reads "Airbnb said no: reason" with your words kept. Fix what it names and save again.

It says "Airbnb kept its old title".

Airbnb locks that field for this listing. Press "Change it on Airbnb"; the change comes back here on the next read.

A discount says "Goes to Airbnb tonight at time".

A discount sends the whole calendar to Airbnb again, allowed once a day, so it waits for 3 AM. Once a day has passed since the last one, "Send now" shows.

I can't edit anything.

A read-only person and an owner on "Look only" see the listing without edits. An unpaid account shows "This account is read-only" with "Choose a plan". A unit still importing opens for edits once it is live.

The listing isn't in the picker when connecting.

Airbnb only shows listed listings. List it on Airbnb, then reload the page. A co-host can't connect a listing.