For hosts
Take shortlet bookings online
Guests choose dates on your calendar and pay online before their request reaches you. You decide the rules. Your door code and Wi-Fi stay hidden until you approve their check-in. You are paid within 7 days of the stay.
Why take shortlet bookings online, not by chat and transfer
The guest has paid before you decide
A booking request only reaches you once the guest has paid online through Paystack. Unpaid holds never land in your lists, so you are not chasing anyone for money.
No two guests on one night
Nights are held for 30 minutes while a guest pays. Once booked, they are crossed out on your calendar and nobody else can take them.
The price adds itself up
Cabans works out each stay from your calendar: night prices, your discount, the cleaning fee and the caution deposit. The guest sees the total before paying.
One page for every stay
Requests, arrivals, guests staying now, check-outs and deposits sit on one "Bookings" page. A badge shows how many requests are waiting.
How you get paid
The guest pays Cabans online through Paystack when they book. After the stay, Cabans pays you.
- When: within 7 days after the guest's stay.
- Sooner: when the guest finishes the trip and approves the payment, your payout is processed straight away.
- How much: what the guest paid for the stay, plus any bills and stay extras they paid, less any refund, less the 5% Cabans commission.
- The caution deposit is settled on its own after check-out. You release it, or raise a dispute and our team decides.
What it costs you
- 5% commission on each booking. That is what Cabans charges hosts for a booking.
- No payment fee for you. Paystack charges a fee for handling the guest's payment. The guest pays it, on top of your price, and sees it before paying.
Any refund comes off the payout. If a guest cancels in time, or you decline or cancel, the guest gets a full refund, so there is no payout for that stay.
What you control
Two places hold your rules. The "Availability, prices and booking rules"section on the listing's edit page goes live as soon as you save it. The listing's own details wait for approval by the Cabans team first.
Live as soon as you save
| Take bookings online | On or off. Turning it off pauses new bookings; bookings you already have are kept. |
| Instant book | Off as standard. When on, paid bookings are confirmed straight away, without waiting for you. |
| Time to accept a request | 2, 6, 12, 24 (standard), 48 or 72 hours, or 7 days. After this the request is declined and the guest refunded in full. |
| Minimum stay and Longest stay | 1 night and 90 nights as standard. Each can be anything from 1 to 731 nights. |
| Maximum guests | Optional. The booking box stops guests choosing more. |
| Guests can book up to | 30 days, 2, 3 or 6 months, 1 year (standard), 18 months or 2 years ahead. |
| Cleaning fee | Optional. A fixed amount added once to each stay. Discounts never apply to it. |
| Calendar | Closed weekdays, blocked dates (the reason stays private), price windows, special day prices and notes only your team sees. |
On the listing, after approval
| Night price and payment frequency | A price per day is charged for each night. A price per week is shared over its 7 nights. |
| Check-in and check-out times | 14:00 and 11:00 unless you change them. |
| Caution deposit | A fixed naira amount, never a percentage. Guests pay it once per stay. |
| Cancellation cut-off | 24 hours, or 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 14 or 30 days before check-in. 48 hours if you choose none. |
| Longer-stay discounts | Up to 3 tiers by number of nights, for example "7+ nights, 10% off". |
| Free nights offer | For example "Stay 5 nights, get 1 free". A stay gets this or a discount, whichever saves the guest more, never both. |
There is no "no cancellation" option: every shortlet lets guests cancel for a full refund up to your cut-off. What you choose shapes who books. The Host Academy walks through each choice in short lessons. Two guides help with the big decisions: which cancellation cut-off to pick and instant book or request to book. For offers and growth, see weekly and monthly discounts for hosts and how to get more shortlet bookings. To charge more on busy nights, read shortlet pricing for busy dates. Before your first guest, work through your first booking: a host checklist. Taking bookings elsewhere too? Read how to avoid double bookings on several platforms. Setting your rules? Read should you charge a cleaning fee? and one night or more? Setting a minimum stay.
How a shortlet booking reaches you
- You get an email: "New booking request for" your property, or "New confirmed booking for" it when instant book is on.
- In your seller menu, "Bookings" shows an amber badge with the number of requests waiting.
- Open the request and press "Accept booking", or "Decline". Declining refunds the guest in full and reopens the nights.
- The request shows how long you have left, for example "Answer within 21 hours". After that it is declined for you.
Arrival without handing out codes early
Write your stay information once and Cabans shows each part at the right time. House rules, arrival instructions and the Wi-Fi network name appear once a booking is confirmed. The Wi-Fi password and door code appear only while the guest is checked in, and they are never emailed.
- The guest presses "I have arrived" and you get an email.
- You press "Hand over keys". The guest sees the house rules and can send requests, but not the codes.
- You press "Approve check-in". The guest now sees the door code and Wi-Fi password. They get an email saying so, without the codes in it.
You can also ask guests to upload an ID before they arrive. Only you and the Cabans team can see it. It is kept securely for up to 6 years, as data laws require, and then deleted. Our guide to asking guests for ID shows how to do it fairly.
A caution deposit with clear rules
Guests pay your deposit with the booking. After check-out you release it, or raise a dispute with photos and our team decides.
How the caution deposit works →Run it with your team
Give staff the right access, sell stay extras such as bottled water, and bill guests for what they use.
Managing bookings, guests and team →Get set up in 7 steps
- 1
Open your seller dashboard
Hosting uses a business profile. After signing in, choose "List & Sell", then "Go to seller dashboard".
- 2
Make the listing a Short Let
Press "Create New Listing", or edit one from "Listings List". Under "Do you want to Rent it or Sell it?" choose "Short Let".
- 3
Set the price, times and deposit
Enter "Rent Price (₦)" and a "Payment Frequency" of "Per Night", "Per Day" or "Per Week". Set check-in and check-out times and "Caution deposit (₦, fixed amount)". Enter 0 for no deposit.
- 4
Choose your cancellation cut-off and offers, then save
Pick how long before check-in guests can cancel for a full refund. Add a longer-stay discount or a free nights offer if you want one. These listing changes wait for approval by the Cabans team before guests see them.
- 5
Turn on "Take bookings online"
On the listing's edit page, open "Availability, prices and booking rules". Tick "Take bookings online". Choose "Instant book" or a "Time to accept a request". Set the minimum and longest stay, maximum guests and any cleaning fee.
- 6
Set your calendar and save it
Close days you are not free, and add price windows or special day prices. Then press "Review and save calendar" and "Save and publish calendar". Calendar changes go live at once.
- 7
Add your stay information
Write your house rules, arrival instructions and check-out checklist. Add the Wi-Fi details and door code, then press "Save stay information". Guests see the codes only once you approve their check-in.
Guests can book once your listing is a published short let, your store is published and allowed to sell, and "Take bookings online" is ticked. The screen-by-screen guide is how to make your short let bookable online.
Frequently asked questions
Do guests pay before I accept a booking?
Yes. A booking request only reaches you once the guest has paid online through Paystack. Accept it to confirm the stay, or decline it and the guest is refunded in full. With instant book on, paid bookings are confirmed without you.
How much does Cabans charge hosts?
Cabans charges a 5% commission on each booking. The payment fee that Paystack charges is paid by the guest, on top of your price, so it does not come out of your payout.
When do I get paid for a booking?
Within 7 days after the guest's stay. It is faster when the guest approves the payment after their trip: the payout is then processed straight away. You receive what the guest paid for the stay and any bills or extras, less any refund and less the 5% commission.
Can I choose which guests stay?
Yes. Leave "Instant book" off and you accept or decline each paid request. You have the answer time you chose, 24 hours as standard. If you do not answer in time, the request is declined for you and the guest is refunded.
Can I stop guests from cancelling?
No. Every shortlet on Cabans lets guests cancel for free up to a cut-off you choose, from 24 hours to 30 days before check-in. A cut-off longer than 15 days only applies in full to bookings made more than 30 days ahead. Closer bookings can be cancelled free until at most 15 days before check-in. A guest who books after your cut-off has passed cannot cancel.
What if a guest leaves early?
The unused nights are not refunded, unless you approve a refund. If you do, those nights are refunded to the guest and go back on sale on your calendar.
I also take bookings elsewhere. How do I keep my calendar right?
Close those nights on your Cabans calendar with "Block These Dates". You can add a private reason such as "Already booked privately". Guests only see "Closed". Cabans does not link to other calendars, so do this each time you take a booking somewhere else.
Can my team manage bookings for me?
Yes. Add team members to your store and give them a role. Booking emails go to the store email, the owner and up to 10 team members who can process orders.
Ready to take your first booking?
List your shortlet, turn on "Take bookings online", and guests can book from your calendar.