How to create and customize your Direct Booking Website?

Your Direct Booking Website lets you accept direct bookings under your own brand — with calendar sync, secure payments, and your guest data managed from your Holidu account.

Step-by-Step: Creating Your Booking Website

Step 1: Access your Direct Booking Website

You can reach your Direct Booking Website setup from two places in your Holidu account — both lead to the same configuration:

• Direct Bookings → My website & widget in the left-hand navigation menu
• Properties → [your property] → Distribution Channels → My booking website, then click Activate channel (if not yet active) or My booking website configuration (if already active)

Use whichever you reach first.

Note: Available to primary account holders only — not secondary collaborators.

Step 2: Create your website

When accessing the Direct Booking Website for the first time, you will see a setup wizard.

First, choose your setup type:

• Create a new website — builds a complete Holidu-hosted booking website from scratch
• Add booking module to existing website — embed the Holidu booking engine into a website you already run

Note: You can do both — the booking module is also available after completing the website setup. See Step 5 for booking module instructions.

Step 3: Set up your Direct Booking Website

1. Log in to your Holidu Host account.
2. In the left menu, select Configuration and scroll down to Distribution Channels.
3. Click on Distribution Channels and find My Booking Website.
4. Click Activate channel and follow the onboarding prompts:
   • Review and accept terms and conditions.

1. Select your website languages (up to 8 supported languages).

1. Enter your website's name and domain address. If you already own a domain, instructions will guide you to connect it for brand consistency.

1. Choose which properties to display and their order (if you have more than one property).
2. Click Finish to publish your booking website. Your personalized URL can be copied and shared right away.

Customizable Features

Step 4: Customize Your Booking Website

Once live, you can personalize your website any time by returning to either access path in Step 1.

4.1 Customize Your Homepage

Once your booking website is live, you can customize your direct booking website at any time. You can add an image, title, welcome text, and header image to personalize your page. At the bottom of this page you'll also have the option to enable social media via the toggle. Add the link to each of your social media accounts one by one. Select Homepage to customize the look of your booking website.

4.2 Customize Your Property Listings

Your properties will have default images and text that you can customize yourself. The description of your property is taken from your existing description text. Guests can select Details to book directly.

4.3 Add Logo, Title, Welcome Text, and Header Image

If you update the logo, it will appear on your direct booking website (see position 1). Adding a title will display it over the header image (see position 2), while the welcome text will appear beneath the main header image (see position 3). When you upload a header image, it will be shown as the main image on your direct booking website (see position 4). Please ensure the header image is no larger than 8 MB. Use only your own images for your direct booking website. Do not use images from Google or other image platforms — you risk copyright infringement.

4.4 Add Host Information

To add information about yourself as a host, select Your host in the content area of the side panel. Enable the Your host toggle to make it visible for guests. Write information about yourself as a host in the box provided and upload an image. When you are finished with your text, select Save.

Guests can find the Host area of your direct booking website here:

4.5 Customize Design and Layout

To customize the layout and theme of your direct booking website, click on Design and choose the layout you prefer. Enable the filter bar toggle at the top of the page so guests can search for available dates. You can also choose how the header image is displayed and pick the color theme.

4.6 Save Your Customizations

Click Save, and your booking website customization is done. Come back any time to update your direct booking website.

Important: Use only your own images. Do not use images from Google or other platforms — you risk copyright infringement.

Note: All content except your website name is automatically translated for visitors using the site in another language.

Step 5: Understand Your Website Address

Your website address is made up of two parts, put together:

• A name you choose (Subdomain name) — this is up to you. Most hosts use their property name (e.g. "myproperty")
• An ending you pick from a list (Subdomain ending) — Holidu gives you a few options to choose from, including general ones (like holiduhost.com) and ones matching specific countries (like ferienwohnungen.de)

Put together, that gives you something like: myproperty.holiduhost.com — this is the link your guests will use to find and book with you.

Tip: Picking an ending that matches your guests' country (e.g. a German ending if most of your guests are German) can make your site feel more familiar and trustworthy to them.

Changed your mind later? You can update your address anytime under Settings in the Booking Website tool.

Important: Once you change it, your old address stops working. Guests can only reach you through the new one — so make sure to update the link anywhere you've shared it before (booking confirmations, welcome guides, social media, printed materials, etc.).

Note: Already have your own website domain? That's a different setup — check out "How to Connect Your Booking Website to Your Own Domain" instead.

Step-by-Step to Customize

Step 6: Activate a Direct Booking Discount (optional but recommended)

1. Go to the Discounts section in your Holidu Host dashboard
2. Activate a 5%, 10%, or 15% direct booking website discount
3. The discount appears clearly on your website and in the booking flow — giving guests a visible reason to book direct

Note: The discount stacks with most promotions (except the new listing promo).

Step 7: Add the Booking Module to Your Existing Website (if applicable)

If you already have your own website, you can embed the Holidu booking engine so guests can book without leaving your site.

Note: For a full overview of the booking module, see the benefits section in your Host documentation.

How to set it up:

1. Go to Direct Bookings → My website & widget in the left-hand navigation menu
2. In your website dashboard, click Booking module in the left-hand menu
3. Enable the Booking Module toggle and accept the terms and conditions
4. Copy the generated code snippet
5. Paste it into your existing website where you want the booking functionality to appear — compatible with WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and similar platforms
6. Select the preferred languages to match your website
7. Click Save — the module activates immediately, and availability, pricing, and bookings stay aligned with your Holidu calendar

Note: If you need help with the integration, coordinate with your webmaster or contact your account manager.

Step 8: Add Website Tracking (optional)

Want to see how guests use your Booking Website? You can connect your own tracking tools to keep an eye on visits and behavior.

1. Go to Direct Bookings in your Holidu account → My website & widget → Website Tracking.
2. For legal reasons, we only support two tools: Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).
3. Just paste in your ID, and Holidu takes care of the rest — the tracking script gets added to your website automatically, no coding needed.

Using Google Analytics? Find your Measurement ID under GA4 Admin → Data Streams → [your stream] → Measurement ID.

Using Google Tag Manager? Find your Container ID in Tag Manager → Workspace, top right corner.

Note: Don't want a tool active anymore? Just leave its field blank to turn it off.

Important: Only use scripts from tools you trust — since it runs directly on your site, a broken or unsafe script could affect how your page loads.

Best Practices Summary

• Use the Holidu direct booking website or module to grow direct revenue and build guest loyalty.
• Activate and clearly display direct booking discounts to give guests a reason to book direct.
• Promote your brand and website link across all guest touchpoints.
• Automate guest messaging, check-ins, and payments to cut admin time and improve the guest experience.
• Keep your site and Holidu property data updated for better conversion.
• Use testimonials, personal details, and a mobile-friendly layout to encourage repeat, direct bookings.

Troubleshooting and Support

Issue	Solution
Host wants to delete website or data	Reset the website via the Admin UI. The host will need to reactivate the channel to start fresh.
Stuck in setup wizard	Perform a website reset through the Admin UI, then restart the setup process.
404 error or domain conflict	Reset the website and/or reassign the domain. Escalate if the issue persists or is unclear.
Unpublished property or disabled channel	Republish the property, reactivate the Holidu channel, and then retry the setup.
Domain input error	When creating a new domain, do not include ".com" (it's added automatically). Use the full domain only when entering links.