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Hostex stays your operations PMS and channel manager. Haven is the branded direct-booking site, checkout, guest guide, CRM, and protection on top.
A native Hostex API connector is rolling out gradually; only hosts who see a Connect Hostex card under Host Dashboard → Integrations can use it today. Everyone else connects through Haven's direct Airbnb integration. That is the full Haven product — not a lite mode, and not “iCal-only calendar sync.”
Hostex already publishes your listings to Airbnb. Haven connects to that Airbnb account and imports the same inbound data a native Hostex connector would:
Haven-authored daily prices can be sent back to Airbnb. Checkout, the guest portal, guidebooks, and protection are the same as on a native PMS connection.
Haven cannot create a Hostex or Airbnb reservation through the Airbnb API. Direct bookings and Haven manual blocks close those dates through the listing’s Haven iCal feed.
Add that feed in Hostex, not only in Airbnb. Hostex then closes Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com together. Airbnb does not pass an iCal-sourced block back to a connected PMS, so adding the feed only in Airbnb leaves your other Hostex channels bookable.
See Connect via Airbnb when you use another PMS and Calendar Sync (iCal).
Airbnb reports only which nights are closed, not which stay closed them. When two stays from your other Hostex channels meet on the same day, Haven shows one Blocked via Airbnb bar across both. To record each guest, click the bar, choose Convert to Direct booking, and set the first guest's check-in and check-out. The other nights stay blocked; click them and convert the second guest the same way. See Convert synced dates to a Direct booking.
The native connector syncs listing content, fees, prices, availability, reservations, door codes, reviews, and guest messages directly from Hostex, and Haven bookings are created in Hostex so no iCal feed is needed. It is enabled account by account; ask Haven support to turn it on. Until you see the Connect Hostex card, the Airbnb path is how you run Haven on a Hostex stack.
Hostex keeps its own copy of each listing you publish to a channel. Haven imports photos, the description sections, amenities, guest count, bathrooms, check-in times and house rules from that copy. It uses Airbnb's version first, then Vrbo's, then Booking.com's. A Hostex property that isn't connected to any channel has no listing content in Hostex, so only its name and address come over and you fill in the rest in Haven.
Fees and rules come from the same channel listing: cleaning fee, security deposit, extra-guest fee, weekly and monthly discounts, early-bird and last-minute discounts, checkout time and cancellation policy. Hostex-synced settings are locked in Haven's listing editor; change them in Hostex or on the channel. If Hostex has lost its connection to your Airbnb account, re-authorize Airbnb inside Hostex and the fees come over on the next sync.
Open and closed dates come from your Hostex property, and nightly prices and minimum stays from its Airbnb listing (or the first channel listing Haven reads content from). Dates you close in Hostex show as blocks in Haven.
It works the other way too. Blocks, nightly prices and minimum stays you set in Haven are sent to Hostex, which passes them to every channel. Each channel keeps its own price ratio from Hostex, so a channel set to 110% stays 10% above Haven's price.
Guest conversations from Hostex appear in your Haven inbox. Replies, Haven's guidebook and door-code messages, and your own message automations post into the guest's Hostex conversation, so the guest gets them on the channel they booked on. These sends follow your Account → Guest communications switches. Messages Hostex sends by itself (its own automations) show in Haven as messages from you.
Door codes you set on a Hostex stay's check-in details come into Haven for the guest guide.
Guest reviews from Hostex import as testimonials you can show on your site.
Turn on Add Haven details to Hostex stays on the Hostex card under Integrations. Haven then writes each stay's guidebook link and booking reference into Hostex custom fields. Insert them in a Hostex automation with {{cf.haven_guidebook_url}} and {{cf.haven_booking_ref}}.
When you change the dates or guest count of a Haven booking, the Hostex reservation updates too, and cancelling a Haven booking in Haven cancels it in Hostex. When a guest buys early check-in or late checkout through Haven, the new arrival or departure time goes onto the stay's check-in details in Hostex, on any booking channel.
Stays that came from Hostex or its channels (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, or a booking made in Hostex) have no Cancel Reservation or Modify reservation in Haven. Cancel or change them in Hostex, and the change syncs back to Haven.
Cancel reservation on a Haven booking that still has a Hostex reservation, while that connection can receive a reservation cancel, also cancels the booking in Hostex. A stay that is still synced from Hostex has no Cancel reservation button in Haven — change it in Hostex. A stay you converted to Direct has no pricing record, so Modify reservation stays hidden, and Convert to Direct does not show it. If that converted stay no longer has a Hostex reservation link, cancelling it in Haven does not cancel the original dates in Hostex. Not every direct booking is sent to Hostex: the cancel reaches Hostex only when the reservation link is still there and outbound reservation changes are allowed.
Hostex files every booking under a custom channel (where it came from) and an income method (how the guest paid). Right after you connect (and any time on the Hostex card under Integrations), Haven asks which ones to use. It starts you on Booking Site and Stripe, since Haven guests pay by card through Stripe. Click Save and Haven bookings start appearing in Hostex.
Hostex does not let other apps add channels, so for bookings labelled "Haven" in Hostex, add a custom channel named Haven on Hostex's Custom Options page. While the Haven setup or the Hostex card is open, Haven checks every few seconds and switches to your Haven channel as soon as it exists. A channel you picked yourself is never changed.
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