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Λ. Create a Listing on Hostay

Rodolfo avatar
Written by Rodolfo
Updated over a month ago

Learn how to create your listing from scratch in Hostay.

Creating a listing is one of Hostay’s features. With it, you can build your listing from scratch and send it directly to major platforms, such as Airbnb and Booking.


How to create a listing

To create your listing, click on the Create Listing button and fill in the required fields. Below, we explain each step, which appears on sequential pages. The user fills out one page and clicks Next to move forward.

⚠️ It is important to click Save at each step to ensure no information is lost during the creation process. ⚠️


Page 1: Listing Title

Enter the title of your listing.

This title will appear to guests on booking platforms.

Use a clear and attractive title that highlights your property’s best qualities.


Page 2: Unit Details

Fill in the unit details, except for the complete location, which is handled on the next page.

Here you provide:

  • Internal name of the unit

  • Detailed description

  • Short location (neighborhood, city, state)

  • Unit size

  • Type of unit (apartment, house, etc.)

  • Organization within booking engines

  • Booking engine link

  • General unit policies

  • Owner’s details


Page 3: Complete Location

Enter the full address, including street, number, complement, neighborhood, city, state, and country.

Use the Google Maps–based location field to ensure the address is accurate.

This information is essential for guests to find the property and assess its location.


Page 4: Rooms and Bedrooms

Configure the rooms available in your unit:

  • Bedrooms (type and number of beds)

  • Bathrooms (quantity, private or shared)

  • Living room (quantity and type of sofa bed)

These details directly impact the unit’s capacity and comfort.

⚠️ Important: Hostay only accepts these three room types to maintain compatibility with platforms (Booking, Hopper, Decolar).

If there are other relevant areas, include them in the property description instead of this section.


Page 5: Fees

Configure the applicable fees for your unit, such as:

  • Cleaning fee

  • Pet fee

  • Administration fee

  • Bedding/towels fee

  • Utilities (water/electricity)

  • VAT/ISS (for Booking)

  • Municipal tax (for Booking)

  • Tourism fee

  • Resort fee

  • Parking fee

  • Security deposit

Set the amount, charging method, and guest visibility.

These fees directly affect the final price and how the listing is displayed.


Page 6: Capacity, Prices, and Policies

Define the unit’s capacity:

  • Maximum occupancy (total guests)

  • Base capacity (number of guests included in the standard rate)

  • Extra guest fee (fixed amount or percentage)

Set up specific policies:

  • Cancellation policy (flexible, moderate, strict, super strict, etc.)

  • Airbnb and other platform-specific settings, since each one may have its own rules for extra guests and policies.

You can also configure price derivation if you want to link one unit’s price to another with a percentage variation.

Always review and save your changes.


Page 7: Amenities

Mark all the amenities your unit offers, such as:

  • Wi-Fi

  • Air conditioning

  • Parking

  • Equipped kitchen

  • 24-hour reception (Booking only)

  • Self check-in (Airbnb only)

  • In-room safe (Booking)

  • First-aid kit (Airbnb)

The list is unified, indicating for which platforms each amenity will be exported (Airbnb, Booking, or both).

⚠️ Pay special attention to selecting “Kitchen” or “Studio” for apartments or houses to ensure correct export to Booking.


Page 8: Gallery

Upload the photos of your unit.

You can also import photos from Airbnb if the unit is connected.

Keep photos updated, well-lit, and organized, as they have a direct impact on your listing’s conversion rate.

After adding or editing photos, click Save to apply the changes.


Page 9: Preview

Preview how your listing will appear on platforms before finalizing.

Review all data entered in the previous steps, including title, details, location, rooms, fees, prices, amenities, and photos.

Make the necessary corrections and confirm.


Λ. Exporting New Listings to Booking.com and Payment Activation

In Brazil, when you export a new listing to Booking.com through Hostay, payment information (such as bank account or payment preferences) is not sent automatically.

This means that, for guests to be charged online by Booking and for you to receive payouts directly, it is necessary to activate Payments via Booking.com.


Automatic Safety Markup

To ensure security and avoid unwanted reservations — which would lack valid credit card details and online payment — Hostay automatically applies a 1000% markup (i.e., multiplies the price by 10) on every new listing created in the platform.

This steep increase prevents bookings until payments are properly configured. This way, you have time to activate Payments directly in your Booking extranet.


After Payment Activation

Once Booking.com Payments are activated (which may take up to 48 hours to process and reflect online), you must return to Hostay and:

  1. Remove the temporary 1000% markup.

  2. Adjust it to your desired markup for the Booking connection.


This process ensures:

  • Reservations are secure

  • Online payments are enabled

  • Your account is published and ready to start receiving bookings without issues

For more details on how to activate Payments in Booking.com, click this [link].

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