Two weeks ago, we launched The Insider, our new ask-me-anything series in the Hospitable Hosts Community, with a spotlight on ​@Abby Grous, Senior Product Manager for Hospitable Direct. Abby joined us to answer your questions live, offer insights into the direction of the Direct product, and share practical advice for hosts building or optimizing their direct booking strategy.

From discount logic and pricing tools to platform strategy and product roadmap, here's a recap of the session.

Q: What are the planned efforts in the near term to empower the marketing capabilities of Direct Premium users?

A (Abby): We're actively thinking about how to support more marketing functionality in Direct. Your feedback around promo codes, such as setting a maximum stay limit per code or auto-generating codes tied to booking windows, is spot-on and aligned with ideas we're exploring.

We’ve already implemented a basic abandoned booking campaign, where guests who start a booking but don’t complete it receive a follow-up email. That’s working well. The next step is introducing marketing automation features, like adding time-sensitive promo codes to these emails or automatically offering discounts to returning guests.

On pricing presentation, we’re also considering ways to make discounts more visible, like strike-through pricing or highlighting savings, especially in multi-property search results. We’re exploring ideas like nudging guests to book longer stays when they’re close to hitting a weekly discount threshold (e.g., “Add one more night to unlock a 7-day discount”).

We’re still in early stages, but these are directions we’re excited to pursue.

Q: With multiple tools available—Beyond, Hospitable, Airbnb—how should we be thinking about where to apply pricing changes and promotions?

A (Abby): This is a nuanced question. If your goal is to fill open nights, such as a 5-day gap in the next 3 weeks, you’ve got a few options.

• Dynamic pricing (Beyond): This is great if you want to adjust pricing across a wide range of dates without constant manual changes. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it approach. But if Beyond lowers your price, and you also run a promotion on Airbnb, those could stack and reduce your net rate more than intended.
• Custom promotions on Airbnb: These only apply on Airbnb and have to be created within their platform. We don’t have API access to create those from Hospitable. They’re useful for surfacing in Airbnb’s merchandising, but keep in mind they won’t affect your Direct site pricing.
• Last-minute discounts in Hospitable: These can be applied across both Airbnb and Direct listings. If the discount is 10% or more, Airbnb adds a special callout to your listing. At 20% or more, your listing can be featured more prominently. That makes this a good option for parity across channels while preserving Direct as a competitive channel.

Use the tool that gives you the most reach, but avoid stacking multiple promotions unless you're intentionally offering a deeper discount.

Q: If my business is registered in the U.S. but I’ve expanded operations internationally, can I use Hospitable Direct?

A (Abby): Direct Premium is currently available in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico), the UK, and Australia. If your properties are located outside those regions, you won’t be able to use Direct Premium for them at this time.

However, you can use Direct Basic in any country where Stripe is supported. That allows you to maintain a direct booking presence, even if full premium features aren’t yet available.

Q: Airbnb is rolling out a single fee structure for PMS-connected accounts. How does this affect me, and how can Hospitable Direct help?

A (Abby): Yes, Airbnb is requiring PMS-connected accounts to move to the host-only fee structure starting in October. If you’re concerned about the added cost or transparency of that change, it’s a great time to start investing in your Direct channel.

We’re here to help. We offer free Direct booking workshops, and I’ll follow up by email so you can schedule one. It’s a good way to ensure you’re set up properly and have a strong alternative to OTA dependence.

Q: Are there plans to rebuild the current Direct widgets to improve the look and functionality?

A (Abby): We’ve heard this feedback from many users, and we agree; it’s time to modernize the site and widget experience. We’re preparing to introduce a full site builder that will replace our current iFrame-based widgets.

The goal is to make it easy to create professional, customizable booking sites without needing a developer. This includes adding pages, content sections, and more flexible design options.

We’re currently in the scoping phase of this project. While I don’t have an exact ETA, it’s moving forward and we’ll share more as development progresses.

Q: What’s Hospitable’s long-term vision for Direct? Will there be a guest-facing platform where travelers can search and book listings?

A (Abby): When we launched Direct, we focused on solving three key challenges:

1. Protection: ensuring hosts could safely take bookings from guests on the open internet.
2. Trust: helping both hosts and guests feel confident booking directly.
3. Standing out: giving hosts the tools to drive their own traffic and compete with OTAs.

We’re now entering the next phase: growth.

First, we want to expand Direct Premium into more countries, starting with Canada and eventually Europe. That expansion is complex, especially from a tax and compliance standpoint, but we’re making good progress.

Second, we’re focusing on helping existing Direct users generate more bookings. That includes improving site design, adding marketing automations, and exploring distribution partnerships to surface direct listings on more channels.

We already work with Google Vacation Rentals, which performs well for some users. We’re also in conversations with additional distribution platforms and aggregators. A guest-facing portal for Hospitable-hosted listings is something we’ve thought about, but we’re not ready to commit to that yet. It’s an open question, and we're actively exploring what the best path forward looks like.

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Thank you to everyone who submitted questions and participated in the live session:

And a special thanks to ​@Abby Grous for taking the time to answer each question thoughtfully and transparently.

The next Insider is around the corner, stay tuned!