Host FAQ

A booking platform where hosts pay a flat $20 a month per home instead of a cut of every booking, and guests pay no service fee. You keep your price, your guests pay less than they would with fees on top, and you can run it alongside the sites you already use.

Everything is laid out the way Airbnb hosts expect: Today, Calendar, Listings, Messages, Reservations and Earnings, with the same listing sections and settings.

No. Most hosts keep both. Your calendars block each other, so a booking in one place closes the dates in the other, and your Airbnb listing isn't changed by importing it here.

From Host your home, paste the link to any one of your Airbnb listings. Your other homes there show up below it: import that one, or every home at once, with its photos, details, prices, rating and reviews. Once you're hosting, Add a listing imports more Airbnb listings the same way, or starts from scratch with the setup steps (place type, location, rooms, amenities, photos, title, description, booking settings, house rules, price and cancellation policy). Importing, editing and previewing are free; you only need a plan to publish.

Paste your Airbnb listing link and we show a preview so you can confirm it's yours. Then paste the listing's calendar export link (on Airbnb: the listing's calendar → Availability → Connect calendars → Export), add the full address and choose how to price it.

We copy your title, photos, description, amenities, capacity, rating and the reviews shown on your public page, and start syncing your calendar. Anything we can't read, you fill in.

Only the host can see it on Airbnb, so it proves the listing is yours. It also starts the calendar sync. It must be the link for the same listing you previewed.

Yes. The import brings the reviews on your public listing page. To bring the rest, open the listing editor → Your space → Bring your reviews. Drag the "Move my reviews to HomeShared" button to your bookmarks bar, open your reviews on Airbnb and click it. It reads the page in your own browser; we never sign in to your Airbnb account. You can also upload the reviews file Airbnb lets you export.

Every review comes over to the home it was written about, and you can't leave any out, which is what makes them credible to guests. Reviews for a home you haven't listed yet wait until you do.

So each home can only be listed once. Guests see only the general area until they book; the exact address and your check-in details appear on their trip page once the booking is confirmed.

A second listing at the same address is blocked. If the home is yours, email support@homeshared.app and we'll sort it out with you.

HomeShared is a separate company and isn't affiliated with Airbnb. We can't speak for Airbnb's policies; hosts list on several platforms as a matter of course. The import reads your own public listing page once, at your request, to save you retyping it.

Fictional listings that show guests what a city will look like. They're always labelled, can't be booked and never compete with you: a city's samples disappear once it has 10 real homes.

$20 a month for each home you publish. You choose how many homes your plan covers (up to 100). Importing, editing, previews and calendar sync are free. A booking website of your own is $20 a month more for each home on it.

Your HomeShared listing, $20 a month per published home:

• A place in HomeShared search, where guests pay your price with no service fee, and a link of your own for repeat guests.
• Booking and checkout: Instant Book or requests, deposits and payment plans, trip changes and refunds, paid straight to your Stripe account with nothing taken per booking (or through HomeShared payments for 5%).
• Calendar sync with Airbnb and other sites, connections to property management systems and pricing tools, and the one-step Airbnb import, reviews included.
• Guest messages with AI reply drafts and automatic messages, guest ID checks, rental agreements and HOA registration.
• Lodging taxes on every booking at your area's rates, paid over for you on HomeShared payments, plus Earnings and payout reports.

Your booking website, $20 a month more for each home it shows:

• A site of your own with your name, logo, colours and photos, extra pages and a blog, built in the visual editor or by the site assistant (50 messages a month included for each home).
• A free yourname.homeshared.app address, domains of your own with security certificates set up for you, hosting, and a sitemap for search engines.
• Direct bookings through the same checkout, calendar and payouts as your listings, with no service fee for guests.

The website can only show homes you've published on HomeShared, so a home on both is $40 a month in all. Domains you buy through us are billed separately, at the registrar's price plus 15%.

Not if you connect your own Stripe account: guests pay you directly and you keep the whole booking price. If you'd rather not run a Stripe account, HomeShared payments handles it for a flat 5% of each booking, taken from your payout and never added to the guest's price.

Airbnb takes about 15.5% of each booking. On a $3,000 month that's about $465; here it's $20, however much you book.

The break-even is about $129 of bookings a month. If a home books less than that, keep it on Airbnb only. Your Earnings page shows what Airbnb's fee would have been on every booking here.

Your price, and nothing on top. There's no guest service fee and we never add a markup.

Yes, any time in Billing & payouts. Publishing a home needs a free slot in the plan.

Any time, from Billing & payouts. Your listings are hidden when the paid period ends, not deleted, and existing reservations go ahead as booked. Start the plan again and they come back.

Nothing changes right away: Stripe retries the card and we remind you 7, 14, 21 and 28 days in. If it's still unpaid after 30 days, your listings are hidden; after 60 days, the hosting account is paused until the balance is paid. Paying the balance, for example by updating your card in Billing, puts everything back.

You choose in Billing & payouts. With your own Stripe account, connect one you already have or create one. Guests are charged on your account, you set your own payout schedule, and we never hold your money.

With HomeShared payments, you don't need a Stripe account: guests pay us and we pay you the booking minus 5%.

For Instant Book, at booking. For a request, the guest's card is authorized when they send it and charged when you accept; if you decline or let it expire, the authorization is released. A guest on a payment plan pays the second part automatically before check-in.

Yes. On HomeShared payments, guests booking 37 days or more ahead can pay 50% at booking and the rest 30 days before check-in, charged automatically to the same card. If that payment fails, they have 4 days to pay it; after that the reservation is canceled, the dates open up again and you keep the deposit (less the 5% fee).

On your own Stripe account you set your own terms in Billing & payouts: the deposit, when the rest is due, how long guests get to fix a failed payment, or no payment plans at all. Every booking keeps the terms it was made under.

Yes. Set an amount in the listing editor's Security deposit section; guests see it on your listing and at checkout, and their card is saved when they book. The day before check-in we place a hold for that amount on their card, which isn't a charge. Card holds last about 7 days, so on longer stays we re-authorize it automatically before it ends (you can also re-authorize it from the reservation). From check-in until 7 days after checkout, choose Charge security deposit on the reservation's page, enter how much and what it's for, and that amount is taken from the hold; the guest gets an email with your reason, and the rest of the hold is released. Whatever you don't charge is released 7 days after checkout, or sooner if you release it. A new amount applies to new bookings only. For damage beyond the deposit, use a payment request (below) or your insurance.

Yes. On the reservation's page, choose Request money: pick what it's for (damage, extra cleaning, extra guests or pets, or something else), enter the amount, explain what happened and attach photos or receipts. You can send requests from booking until 14 days after checkout, and withdraw one the guest hasn't answered.

The guest sees it in Messages, by email and on their trip page, and chooses to pay it by card or decline it. Paid requests reach you like bookings do: on your own Stripe account, or through HomeShared payments less the same 5% fee. HomeShared never charges a guest's card for you and doesn't decide disputes: if the guest declines, it stays declined, and you can take it up with your insurer.

Automatically. When a guest cancels, the refund follows the policy saved on their booking, and it goes back to their card from the account that took the payment: your Stripe account if you connected one. When you cancel, the guest gets everything back.

Guests pay the lodging taxes for where your home is at checkout, on their own line. Taxes shows the rates for each of your places, their sources and how to register and file.

On HomeShared payments, HomeShared pays the taxes it collects over to the tax office. On your own Stripe account the taxes are in your payout and you pay them over yourself; you can adjust the rates for your places. Either way, check whether your area needs a short-term rental permit or registration.

In Earnings: paid out and upcoming, every booking with its fee, totals by month and by listing, the comparison with Airbnb's fee, and a CSV export.

Pick one of three ways when you import, and change it any time in the listing editor's Pricing section:

• I set the prices: a nightly price, an optional weekend price, and any date you like on the calendar.
• Copy my Airbnb prices: your Airbnb calendar is copied night by night, every day, each night converted so you earn what Airbnb pays you after its fee and guests pay less. A $200 night on Airbnb becomes $169 here.
• AI smart pricing: similar homes nearby are watched daily and every night is priced against them, within a floor and ceiling you set, a little under, on or over the market.

In every automatic mode, a price you type for a specific date stays as you typed it.

Yes. Connect your own account in Integrations with a key from that tool, map your listings, and nightly prices flow in every day. The Pricing section then reads "Priced by …" and is locked to the tool.

• Weekend, holiday and seasonal prices, plus any single date on the calendar.
• A cleaning fee, with a different one for short stays if you like.
• An extra guest fee above the number of guests your price covers, per night or per stay.
• A pet fee: per stay, per pet, per night or per pet per night, with a different rate for long stays.
• Weekly and monthly discounts.

Yes, in Availability: minimum and maximum nights, how much notice you need before check-in, preparation time between stays, and how far ahead guests can book.

Imported listings sync with their Airbnb calendar from the start, and you can connect Vrbo, Booking.com or any other iCal calendar in the listing editor under Calendar sync. We re-read them regularly and again right before anyone books here.

To block those dates elsewhere when someone books here, copy your HomeShared calendar link from the same section into each site's "Import calendar" setting.

Not in one direction: a date already taken on a connected calendar can't be booked here. The other direction depends on the other site. Airbnb, for example, refreshes imported calendars every few hours, so there's a short window after a booking here before it shows the dates blocked. Every iCal calendar tool has the same gap. Check new bookings promptly, or connect a property management system.

Lodgify and Hostaway do today: your calendar and the exact price of every night come in, bookings made here are written back, and those sections are locked here so your PMS stays the source of truth. Guesty, OwnerRez and Hospitable only open their APIs to approved partners, so they come later; their iCal export works meanwhile. Connect in Integrations.

You choose per listing, in Booking settings. Instant Book confirms bookings straight away; with requests, you approve each one. You can also require that instant bookers have a verified ID or a positive review from another host; anyone who doesn't still can book, as a request you approve.

24 hours. Accepting charges the guest and confirms the stay; declining releases their card. A request you don't answer expires and the dates open up again.

You pick one per home, guests see it with the exact dates before booking, and refunds follow it automatically:

• Flexible: Full refund up to a day before check-in. After that, the first night isn't refunded.
• Moderate: Full refund up to 5 days before check-in. After that, 50% until the day before check-in.
• Firm: Full refund up to 30 days before check-in, or within 48 hours of booking if check-in is 14+ days away. 50% up to 7 days before.
• Strict: Full refund only within 48 hours of booking, if check-in is 14+ days away. Otherwise 50% up to 7 days before check-in.

Changing it later applies to new bookings only; every booking keeps the policy it was made under.

Yes, from the reservation, any time before check-in. The guest always gets a full refund, both of you are emailed, and the cancellation counts against your PremierHost status and your homes' Guest Choice score, so only cancel when you must.

Yes, and so are hosts: you verify the same way once, as one of the steps on Today. Every guest verifies once with Stripe Identity (a photo ID and a selfie). Requests need it before they're sent. For Instant Book you choose, in each listing's Booking settings: unverified guests can book and then verify within 1 to 72 hours (24 by default), or they must verify before booking. A booking that isn't verified by your deadline is cancelled, refunded in full and its dates open up again. The reservation shows you the verified name and whether it matches the booking.

Yes. In the listing editor → Arrival guide → Guest agreement & registration, turn on registration and use the standard agreement or write your own. Guests list everyone staying, their vehicles and pets, verify their ID if you require it, and e-sign. It's due 5 days before check-in by default, with automatic reminders, and check-in details stay locked until it's signed.

The signed agreement is sealed into a PDF with a certificate of completion and kept on the reservation. Edits you make later never change what a guest already signed.

Pick your community in the same section, or add it. Use a built-in form or upload your community's own PDF and mark where each detail goes, once. When a guest signs, the form is filled in and emailed to the office with you copied, and you can edit and re-send it from the reservation. Manage your forms in HOA forms.

In the listing editor's Arrival guide: check-in method and instructions, Wi-Fi, house manual and directions. Guests see them on their trip page once the booking is confirmed, and your check-in day message includes them.

Yes, within 14 days of checkout. Your reviews help other hosts, and hosts can require a positive review from another host before guests book instantly.

When a guest writes, your inbox drafts a reply from your listing's details and your earlier messages. Edit it, send it, ask for another, or press Fix… to say what's wrong and turn it into a rule for that home or all your homes. Rules are listed under Messaging, where you can remove them.

A draft is never sent without you, and drafts never invent prices or availability, never promise refunds, and never put door codes or your address in chat.

Seven, all on by default, each with a template you can rewrite or switch off:

• Booking confirmation: right after a booking is confirmed
• Pre-arrival: 3 days before check-in, in the morning
• Check-in day: the morning of check-in
• Settling in: the evening of check-in
• Mid-stay check-in: the evening of the second night, for stays of 3 nights or more
• Checkout morning: the morning of checkout
• Review request: the morning after checkout

From a reservation's thread you can edit, move, send now or cancel any of them for that guest.

Keep them here. Messages on HomeShared are your record if anything goes wrong, your response rate counts toward PremierHost, and guests get every message by email as well.

It's decided on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 from the past 365 days, and holds for the quarter. You need:

• a 4.8+ rating;
• 10 completed stays, or 3 stays adding up to 100 nights;
• under 1% of stays cancelled by you;
• 90% of guests' first messages answered within a day.

Your Today page shows your status and what's missing.

Yes, for a start. If Airbnb marks your imported listing Superhost, you're a PremierHost here for at least 90 days, until the next quarterly review after that; from then on your ratings, stays and replies decide, with the Airbnb reviews you brought counted in your rating.

A badge for the homes guests rate highest, recalculated as reviews arrive. A home needs at least 5 reviews (yours here plus the Airbnb ones you brought), a 4.8+ rating weighted toward the past year, and host cancellations under 5% of stays; slow replies lower its score. As more homes qualify, only the top 10% keep it.

No. If you believe a review breaks the rules, for example it's about a stay that didn't happen, email support@homeshared.app.

Your own site for your homes: your name, logo, colours, fonts and photos, extra pages and a blog, with the same booking flow as HomeShared and only a small "Powered by HomeShared" line in the footer. Build it in Booking site, with an assistant that can draft pages for you.

$20 a month for each home the site shows, at least one, on top of that home's $20 HomeShared plan: the site only shows homes you've published on HomeShared, so you pay for both. A site holds up to 100 homes; for more, email support@homeshared.app.

Unlike the plan, it's charged from the day you start it, and it's billed separately: cancel it in Billing & payouts and the site stays up until the paid month ends. Your content is kept if you come back.

A free one, always on: yourname.homeshared.app. You can connect a domain you own, or buy one through HomeShared at the registrar's price plus 15%, renewals included.

Checkout opens on homeshared.app, so guests use one account and get the same protections, trip page and messages. The money goes the way your payments are set up: straight to your Stripe account with no per-booking fee, or through HomeShared payments.

50 messages a month for each home on your site are included (one home's worth before it has any). Past that, packs of 100 cost $20 and never expire.

No. HomeShared isn't an insurer and no coverage comes with your plan or your bookings. We offer third-party coverage for short-term rental hosts through [tbd]. The policy is between you and [tbd]: its terms decide what's covered, what it costs and how claims work.

Often not. Many standard homeowner and landlord policies exclude or limit short-term rentals. Ask your insurer in writing whether guest stays are covered, for both damage and liability, before you rely on it, and look at [tbd]'s coverage for the gaps.

Photograph it right away and message the guest through HomeShared so there's a record. You can ask them to pay for it with a payment request from the reservation's page, until 14 days after checkout; they choose to pay it or decline it. If you take a security deposit, you can charge it instead, until 7 days after checkout. HomeShared doesn't decide damage disputes, so if they decline a request (or the damage is bigger than the deposit or a request should cover), make a claim with your coverage, whether that's a policy from [tbd] or your own insurer. Filing claims through HomeShared is coming.

List your safety devices and anything guests should know (pools, stairs, cameras, which must be disclosed) in the listing editor's Guest safety section. Guests see it under "Things to know" before they book.

Yes. In Settings → Co-hosts, invite them by email, pick all your homes or only some, and choose what they can do: full access (listings, calendar, reservations and messages), calendar and messages, or calendar only, which suits cleaners. A co-host of some homes sees only those homes' calendar, reservations and messages. They sign in with their own account and switch to your homes from the hosting menu; guests see your name. Payouts, billing, taxes and co-hosts stay yours, and you can change their homes and access or remove them any time.

Yes. Use "Switch to traveling" in your menu to book stays with the same account, and "Switch to hosting" to come back.

From Help: pick the reservation or the service it's about, and send it to our team from there, with photos if they help. Or email support@homeshared.app.

Unlist your homes in Listings and cancel your plan in Billing & payouts. Honour or cancel any upcoming reservations first. To close your account entirely, email support@homeshared.app.