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Connecting a custom domain to your Guesty Booking Engine

Connect a custom domain and subdomain to the Guesty Booking Engine via Guesty and your domain host DNS settings, to enhance your branding and provide a seamless booking experience for your guests. 

Before you begin

Ensure you have access to your domain host account to update your DNS settings.

Follow the instructions below or watch our video to connect a custom domain to your Guesty Booking Engine. 

Channel-specific instructions

GoDaddy

Connect a custom domain in Guesty

Follow the steps below to connect a custom domain to your Guesty Booking Engine.

Note:

If you use a Guesty Website, your Guesty Booking Engine custom domain must be different from your Guesty Website custom domain.

Step by step:

  1. Sign in to your Guesty account.
  2. In the top navigation bar, click the mode selector and select Growth mode.
  3. Click Distribution.
  4. Click the Guesty Booking Engine thumbnail.
  5. Clicknext to the relevant Booking Engine, and select Edit Booking Engine.
  6. Under "General settings" scroll down to the "Custom Booking Engine domain (web address)" section.

  7. Enter your custom domain, starting with "www". For example: www.mycompany.com. 

  8. Scroll back up to "Guesty Booking Engine domain (web address)".

  9. Copy the full domain name, ending in guestybookings.com.

    Important:

    Ensure you copy the Guesty Booking Engine domain and not the Custom Booking Engine domain.

  10. Click Languages in the left-side menu to navigate to the last action item.
  11. Click Save Booking Engine.

Connect your custom domain to your host account

Follow the steps below to update your domain provider's settings and link your custom domain to the Guesty Booking Engine. This ensures your website loads correctly when guests visit your URL.

1. Update CNAME Record

Follow the instructions below to configure a CNAME record in your DNS settings. This ensure guests are directed to your Guesty Booking Engine when booking from your custom URL. 

Step by step:

  1. Sign in to your Domain host account.
  2. Access the domain's settings. 
  3. Edit the existing CNAME record.
  4. Select the host/name as "www".

  5. Paste your Guesty Booking Engine domain copied earlier into the "value" field.

    For example, mycompany.guestybookings.com. 

Note:

Only the CNAME record is necessary; A records aren't required.

2. Set up a redirect URL

Follow the instructions below to ensure visitors are redirected to your custom domain, even if they enter a slightly different version of your URL. 

Step by step:

  1. In your Domain host account settings, enter your custom URL that includes www to provide the redirect. 

    For example, if a visitor searches for http://yourdomain.com they will be redirected to http://www.yourdomain.com.

  2. Select Permanent redirect (301) in your domain host settings if required.

  3. Allow several hours for the SSL certificate to update.

    If your Booking Engine does not show as secure after 24 hours, contact us.

Configure a subdomain

A subdomain is a domain that is a part of another domain. It is an added prefix to the site's URL to mark a separate section of your website.

For example

URL

Type

Purpose

www.mycompany.com 

Root domain 

Main website
book.mycompany.com Host name Subdomain where visitors can book properties
blog.mycompany.com  Host name Subdomain where visitors can read your blog

Add a custom subdomain in Guesty

Follow the instructions below to add a custom subdomain in Guesty.

Step by step:

  1. Sign in to your Guesty account.
  2. In the top navigation bar, click the mode selector and select Growth mode. 
  3. Click Distribution.
  4. Click the Guesty Booking Engine thumbnail.
  5. Click next to the relevant Booking Engine, and select Edit Booking Engine.
  6. Under "General settings" scroll down to the "Custom Booking Engine domain (web address)" section.

  7.  Enter your custom domain, starting with "www". For example: www.mycompany.com. 

  8. Scroll back up to "Guesty Booking Engine domain (web address)".

  9. Copy the full domain name, ending in guestybookings.com.

    Important:

    Ensure you copy the Guesty Booking Engine domain and not the Custom Booking Engine domain.

  10. Click Languages in the left-side menu to navigate to the last action item.
  11. Click Save Booking Engine.

Add a CNAME Record to your domain host provider

Step by step:

  1. Sign in to your Domain host account.
  2. Access the domain's settings.
  3. Click Add a CNAME record.
  4. Enter your host name (For example: "book.mycompany.com").
  5. Paste your Guesty Booking Engine domain copied earlier into the "value" field (referred to as "data" field for Google Domains). 

After configuring the CNAME record for your subdomain, you should have the following CNAME record in your DNS settings.

For example:

Type

Name

Value

CNAME

book

mycompany.guestybookings.com

Note:

The SSL certificate is automatically provided within 24 hours. If your site isn't secured after 24 hours, contact us.

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