How do I create a website with Smoobu?

With the Website Builder you build a direct booking website from the properties you already manage in Smoobu, with the Booking Engine built in so guests can book and pay on your own site. You fill in your content in Smoobu, adjust the design in the editor, and publish. One fact to plan around: you can build your site on any account, but publishing it to a live web address requires a paid Smoobu plan.

Before you start

Have all of these ready before you build:

• Your properties set up in Smoobu, under Configuration > Properties.
• Photos and descriptions for each property you want to show.
• Your legal and contact texts: contact and imprint details, house rules, terms and conditions, and a privacy policy.
• A paid Smoobu plan if you want to take the site live. Building works without it, publishing does not.
• Optional: your own domain. The site works on a free Smoobu subdomain, and you can connect a domain you own at any point: .

Want inspiration first? See .

Your texts live in Smoobu, the design lives in the editor

The Website Builder has two work surfaces. Your content (headings, descriptions, house rules, property details) is entered in the Website Builder tabs inside Smoobu and flows into the site when you open the editor. The editor, opened with Go to Editor, is where you shape the design: colors, fonts, pages, and layout. In the editor, the text blocks that come from Smoobu are marked "View only". To change those texts, go back to the Website Builder tabs in Smoobu.

Steps

1. Open Configuration > Website Builder.
2. On the Basics tab, enter your website heading and upload your logo. These two also brand your standalone Booking Engine page, the booking page guests reach when you share a direct booking link without a full website.
3. Still on the Basics tab, choose your free web address (a subdomain such as yourname.myweb.smoobu.com). Type only your chosen name, without www. Smoobu adds the rest. Leave the extra languages for later: finish the whole site in your main language first, then add languages, because content added per language does not carry over between language versions. You add the languages at the bottom of this page; each language you add creates its own content tab to fill in. See .
4. On the Website Content tab, fill in the site-wide texts: header, description, about us, contact and imprint, house rules, further information, terms and conditions, and data privacy.
5. On the Accommodations tab, select the properties that should appear on the site. Then click Details & Photos on each property and complete it: marketing title, address (the map on your site places its pin from this address), rooms and beds, price per night to display, description, amenities, and photos. If the pin lands in the wrong place later, see .
6. Click Go to Editor and fine-tune the site: set your colors and fonts in the Theme panel, and arrange your pages in the Pages panel. A site can hold up to 10 static pages; the property-details page is generated for all your properties and only counts once.
7. Click Preview to check the site, including the tablet and mobile views.
8. Click Publish. The site goes live on your chosen web address. Publishing requires a paid Smoobu plan.

Check it worked

Open your web address in your browser: the site loads with your heading and logo, each selected property has its own page, and the booking form appears on the Book now page. To confirm bookings arrive in your Smoobu calendar, run a quick test: . Once your site is live, you can see how many people visit and how many book: see .

Common problems

The web address field won't accept my entry

Don't type www into the subdomain field; Smoobu adds it automatically. Enter just your chosen name, 4 to 45 characters, without special characters. If the name is taken, another host already claimed it; pick a different one.

My site is finished but doesn't show up online

A built site is not live until you click Publish in the editor, and publishing requires a paid plan. If you have published and the address still shows nothing, see My website isn't loading or can't be reached.

Not all of my properties appear on the site

First check the Accommodations tab: only selected properties are shown. If everything is selected and properties are still missing, note that the generated properties page displays up to 50 properties. There is no setting to raise this yourself; contact Smoobu Support if you manage more.

The editor won't open when I click Go to Editor

Contact Smoobu Support with a screenshot of the error. For this and other editor access problems, see I can't open the website editor.

Related articles

• How do I edit my website?
• My website isn't loading or can't be reached

Still stuck?

If these steps didn't fix it, contact the Smoobu team: open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner. To get the fastest answer, please include:

• Your Smoobu User ID (in the profile-icon menu, top right).
• The property name or ID, if it's about one property.
• The Booking ID, if it's about one booking (Bookings, then View more).
• The channel name, if it's about channel sync (Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, and so on).
• A short step-by-step: what you did, what you expected, and what happened.
• Screenshots or a short screen recording of the problem.
• Your browser and operating system, if something looks wrong on screen.