Question 1

Do I need to be tech-savvy to use Hosttello?

Accepted Answer

Not at all. If you can use Telegram, you can use Hosttello. Most hostel owners finish setup in under 10 minutes. The dashboard is designed to be self-explanatory, and we walk you through every step of the initial setup.

Question 2

How long does setup take?

Accepted Answer

The core setup is 5 minutes: create your account, add your rooms, and you can start taking bookings immediately. Connecting your first OTA takes another 2 minutes (paste an iCal URL). Connecting the Telegram guest bot takes about 2 minutes — no Meta Business account needed. (WhatsApp is coming soon.)

Question 3

Can I try it before I pay?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every account starts with a 14-day free trial. No credit card required. You get full access to every feature — walk-in bookings, OTA sync, Telegram bot, broadcasts, reviews, everything. If you don't subscribe after 14 days, your account becomes read-only (you never lose your data).

Question 4

What if I get stuck during setup?

Accepted Answer

Email us at support@hosttello.com and a real person will help you within a few hours. For quicker questions, most answers are in this FAQ or in our Help Center (linked from the dashboard). We also offer a free 20-minute onboarding call if you want someone to walk you through it.

Question 5

Can I import bookings from my existing system?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can paste OTA confirmation emails (we auto-parse Airbnb, Booking.com, Hostelworld, Expedia formats), upload a CSV, or import via iCal. For Cloudbeds, Mews, or Little Hotelier users, export your bookings as CSV from your old system and drop the file into Hosttello — we'll match rooms and create bookings automatically.

Question 6

Do you support WhatsApp?

Accepted Answer

WhatsApp is coming soon — it requires a verified Meta Business account and app review, which we're finalising. Today the guest bot runs on Telegram, which does exactly the same thing: same guest bot, same staff commands, same instant replies. Telegram sets up in about 2 minutes with no Meta account. When WhatsApp launches you'll be able to connect your existing WhatsApp Business number from the same dashboard — no migration of your data.

Question 7

What commands can my staff use?

Accepted Answer

Staff link their phone by sending /register to your Telegram bot, then they can use: /beds (check today's availability), /beds 2026-05-12 (check any date), /today (daily summary with check-ins, check-outs, revenue), /checkin (check in a guest), /checkout (check out a guest), /add

(create a booking from a text description or pasted email), /sync (trigger OTA sync now). Unregistered users only get guest-bot replies.

Question 8

What does the guest bot do automatically?

Accepted Answer

The bot handles common guest questions 24/7 without you lifting a finger. Guests can ask about bed availability ("Any beds tonight?"), pricing, directions, WiFi, breakfast, check-in times. The bot replies instantly with accurate info pulled from your dashboard. If a guest says "BOOK", the bot creates a pending booking and confirms it. For anything the bot can't handle, it forwards the message to your inbox so you can reply yourself.

Question 9

Is there a cost for messaging?

Accepted Answer

Telegram is completely free — no per-message or per-conversation fees, ever. When WhatsApp launches, Meta charges per conversation (the first 1,000 service conversations per month are free, then roughly $0.005-0.05 each depending on country, paid directly to Meta with no markup from us). For now, on Telegram, your messaging cost is $0.

Question 10

What languages is the bot available in?

Accepted Answer

English is fully supported. Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German are in beta. The bot detects the guest's language from their first message and replies in the same language. You can also customize every bot response in your dashboard if you want to adjust the tone or translate to another language.

Question 11

Which booking platforms does Hosttello sync with?

Accepted Answer

Airbnb, Booking.com, Hostelworld, Expedia, GetYourGuide, Google Calendar, and any platform that supports iCal. For platforms that don't support iCal, you can import bookings by forwarding confirmation emails to a dedicated Hosttello email — we parse the details and create bookings automatically.

Question 12

How fast does OTA sync work?

Accepted Answer

Hosttello polls your iCal feeds every 15 minutes automatically. For truly instant bookings, staff can run /sync from Telegram to trigger a sync right now, or forward a confirmation email via Telegram using /add to skip the polling entirely.

Question 13

Does Hosttello push availability back to Airbnb and Booking.com?

Accepted Answer

Hosttello imports bookings from all OTAs via iCal. iCal is one-way import — a limitation of the platforms' feeds, not Hosttello. We export your bookings as an iCal feed you can paste back into each platform so they know which beds are taken.

Question 14

What happens if two OTAs sync the same booking?

Accepted Answer

Hosttello deduplicates by each booking's external ID from the OTA. If the same booking arrives from Airbnb and your direct channel, we detect the duplicate and keep only one. If there's a real conflict (two different guests for the same bed), the dashboard flags it as a "double booking warning" so you can resolve it before check-in.

Question 15

Does Hosttello support tax calculation?

Accepted Answer

Basic tourist-tax support is included: you can set a per-night or per-stay tax amount per room, and it gets calculated automatically on bookings and shown on guest confirmations. Full invoicing and VAT reporting is on the roadmap for Q3 2026. For now, most hostels export their bookings as CSV and hand it to their accountant.

Question 16

Is there a contract or minimum commitment?

Accepted Answer

No. Hosttello is month-to-month. Cancel anytime from your dashboard in one click — no phone calls, no retention pitches. Your data stays available in read-only mode for 30 days after you cancel so you can export anything you need.

Question 17

What happens after the 14-day free trial?

Accepted Answer

You pick a plan (Starter, Pro, or Premium) from your billing page and pay with any major credit card via Paddle. If you don't pick a plan, your account goes read-only — you can still log in and export your data, but you can't create new bookings until you subscribe. We never auto-charge you or require a card to start the trial.

Question 18

How does the annual plan discount work?

Accepted Answer

If you pay annually, you get 2 months free — you pay for 10 months and get 12. So Pro costs $290/year instead of $348. You can switch between monthly and annual anytime from your billing page.

Question 19

Are there any per-booking or commission fees?

Accepted Answer

No. Hosttello charges a flat monthly fee and never takes a cut of your bookings. Unlike OTAs (15-30% commission), you keep 100% of your booking revenue. Telegram messaging is free, so the only third-party costs are standard payment-processing fees if you take payments through the booking widget — plus, once WhatsApp launches, Meta's per-conversation fees if you choose to enable it.

Question 20

Can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes, anytime. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing (you only pay for the days remaining in your billing cycle). Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing cycle so you get your money's worth. If you downgrade below your bed count (e.g., from Pro's 80 beds to Starter's 25), we notify you before the change so you can remove rooms first.

Question 21

Who owns my data?

Accepted Answer

You do. Hosttello is a tool, not an owner. You can export all your bookings, guests, messages, and settings as CSV or JSON at any time from your dashboard. If you cancel, your data stays accessible in read-only mode for 30 days so you can download everything before it's deleted.

Question 22

Is Hosttello GDPR compliant?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Guest data is encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3). We never sell guest data or use it for advertising. You can delete any guest record (or all records) at any time from your dashboard — we honor right-to-erasure requests immediately. Our full privacy policy and data processing agreement are available in your account settings.

Question 23

Where is my data stored?

Accepted Answer

PostgreSQL database hosted in the EU (Frankfurt) by default, with automatic daily backups retained for 30 days. Enterprise plans can choose US or Asia-Pacific regions. All connections use SSL/TLS. We run automated security scans and have a public status page at status.hosttello.com.

Question 24

How do I migrate from Cloudbeds, Mews, or Little Hotelier?

Accepted Answer

Export your rooms, bookings, and guests as CSV from your old system. Sign up for Hosttello, create matching room names, then import each CSV from the Settings → Import page. For complex setups, email migrate@hosttello.com and we'll help you do it for free — usually takes less than an hour. We've migrated hostels from every major PMS and can match room types, sources, and even historical bookings.

Question 25

What support do you offer?

Accepted Answer

All plans include email support (response within 24 hours, usually faster). Pro and Premium plans include Telegram support (live chat with the founder during business hours CET). Premium plans get a dedicated Slack channel with the Hosttello team. We also maintain a Help Center with step-by-step guides and video walkthroughs.

Question 26

What's your uptime guarantee?

Accepted Answer

We target 99.9% uptime and have hit it every month since launch. Our public status page at status.hosttello.com shows real-time uptime, incident history, and scheduled maintenance. Critical services (dashboard, bookings, OTA sync) run on redundant infrastructure — if one server goes down, traffic automatically routes to a backup.

Question 27

What is the best hostel management software for small and independent hostels?

Accepted Answer

Hosttello is built specifically for small-to-mid independent hostels, surf camps, and guesthouses (roughly 5–120 beds). Unlike enterprise PMS platforms aimed at hotel chains, it focuses on what independents actually need: fast walk-in bookings, automatic OTA sync (Hostelworld, Booking.com, Airbnb), a Telegram guest bot, commission-free direct bookings, and one flat monthly price with no per-booking fees. Most owners are fully set up in under 10 minutes.

Question 28

What is a good Cloudbeds, Little Hotelier, or Mews alternative for a small hostel?

Accepted Answer

Hosttello is a lighter, cheaper, faster-to-set-up alternative to Cloudbeds, Little Hotelier, and Mews for independent hostels. Those tools are powerful but priced and designed for hotels and larger properties. Hosttello gives you the core hostel workflows — beds, dorms, OTA sync, guest messaging, reviews — without the complexity or the per-booking cut, starting at a flat low monthly fee with a 14-day free trial and free migration from any of them.

Question 29

Is there a hostel PMS you can run entirely from your phone or from Telegram?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Hosttello is the hostel PMS that runs on Telegram. Your front desk can check availability, create bookings, check guests in and out, and trigger OTA syncs with simple Telegram commands (/beds, /checkin, /add, /sync), while a guest bot answers availability and pricing questions 24/7. There is also a full web dashboard, but you never need a laptop to run the day-to-day. WhatsApp support is coming soon.

Question 30

What is the best management software for a surf camp or kitesurf school?

Accepted Answer

Hosttello is one of the only PMS platforms built for surf and kite camps, not just hostels. Alongside standard bed and OTA management it adds a full lesson-scheduling engine — time-slotted sessions with per-class capacity, instructor assignment, recurring weekly timetables, live seats-left and online/chat booking — plus week-long package bookings ("Beginner Surf Week" as one unit), gear-rental tracking for boards, kites, wetsuits and harnesses, a daily auto-sent wave & wind forecast, and instructor logins. So you can run lessons and sell the whole experience, not just a bed.

Question 31

How much does hostel management software cost, and does Hosttello take commission?

Accepted Answer

Hosttello uses simple flat monthly pricing (Starter, Pro, Premium) with a 14-day free trial and no credit card to start. Crucially, it never takes a commission on your bookings — unlike OTAs that charge 15–30%, you keep 100% of your direct booking revenue. The only third-party costs are standard payment-processing fees if you take payments through the booking widget.

Question 32

Is Hosttello suitable for a very small hostel (under 20 beds) or a large one (100+ beds)?

Accepted Answer

Both. The Starter plan covers small hostels and guesthouses up to 15 beds; Pro covers up to 40; Premium handles up to 120 beds across as many as 3 properties. Because pricing is flat (not per-booking), it stays affordable for tiny properties while scaling to busy multi-dorm hostels.

Question 33

Can Hosttello manage volunteers and work-exchange staff (Worldpackers, Workaway)?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Hosttello includes dedicated volunteer / work-exchange management: track volunteers from Worldpackers, Workaway or direct, assign roles and beds, set agreed weekly hours, and log shifts so you can hold everyone accountable. It is one of the few hostel PMS tools that treats work-exchange as a first-class feature.

Question 34

Can I sell tours, lessons, and other activities through Hosttello?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The activities module lets you sell add-on services beyond the bed — day trips, surf/kite/skate lessons, cooking and yoga classes, gear rental, airport transfers, pub crawls — with price, duration, and capacity. Bookable activities can surface in your booking widget and guest bot, so you earn more revenue per guest.

Question 35

Does Hosttello work for hostels with international, multilingual guests?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The guest bot replies in the language a guest writes in (English fully supported; Spanish, Portuguese, French and German in beta), and you can customise every automated message. OTA sync, currency-flexible activity pricing, and timezone-aware automations make it well-suited to international hostels and camps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started