How to create your first property?

New to Nowistay? Follow the complete setup checklist so you don’t forget anything.

Adding your properties to Nowistay is fast and simple. When you click “Add a property”, a short wizard guides you through a few questions to find the best way to import your properties, often in just a few clicks.

The smart setup wizard

The wizard starts with one question: How do you manage your bookings today? Answer I use a PMS or I manage everything myself. If you use a PMS, it then asks Do you want to keep your current PMS?: Yes, keep it or No, migrate.

Based on your answer, you’ll follow one of three paths:

• You don’t use a PMS (or want to quit your current PMS), and list on Airbnb → import directly from Airbnb
• You use a supported third party PMS → connect it and import all your properties at once
• None of the above → add your property manually (still quick!)

You can always skip the wizard and go straight to manual creation if you prefer.

Path 1: Import from Airbnb

Don’t use a PMS? No problem. If you list your properties on Airbnb, you can import them directly using Nowistay’s built-in Airbnb integration.

Here’s how it works:

1. The wizard asks you first how you manage your bookings: click I manage everything myself (or I use a PMS, then No, migrate if you leave it)
2. The wizard asks if you list on Airbnb, click “Yes, import from Airbnb”
3. If your first name, last name or mobile phone are missing from your profile, the wizard asks for them first (Complete your profile): your first name signs the AI assistant’s messages to guests, your phone receives alerts, and every imported property reuses them.
4. Nowistay then checks whether an Airbnb account is already connected and offers the matching option:
   • No Airbnb account connected yet: click Connect with Airbnb. You are redirected to Airbnb to authorize the connection, then brought back to Nowistay where your listings appear.
   • An Airbnb account is already connected: its listings that are not imported yet appear under Import from your connected Airbnb account. To add listings from a different Airbnb account, click Use another Airbnb account.
   • The listing belongs to someone else (you are a co-host): click Ask the owner to authorize and follow the section below.
5. Select the properties you’d like to import and click “Import”

Before you click “Connect with Airbnb” or “Use another Airbnb account”: sign in to the right Airbnb account in your browser first, or sign out of the current one. Airbnb authorizes the account you are currently logged in with. If that account is already connected to Nowistay, Airbnb refuses the request and you land back on your properties without a new import.

Your property details, photos, and listing information are pulled in automatically. It’s as easy as connecting your PMS.

Good to know: importing from Airbnb connects Nowistay as your channel manager (PMS). This triggers a few automatic changes on the Airbnb side (fee model, calendar management, instant booking). None of them affect your revenue negatively, and each one has a simple fix. Read our complete guide: What changes when you connect Nowistay as your channel manager.

Note : If Airbnb shows a red message saying there could be only one software connected, it means you have another software connected as a channel manager with Airbnb. Airbnb allows only one channel manager. You’ll have to disconnect Airbnb from that software and then retry again from Nowistay.

To disconnect it from Airbnb (works whatever your previous software is):

1. Log into your Airbnb account.
2. Click Menu (your profile picture, top right), then Account settings.
3. Open Privacy.
4. Under Connected services, find the other software and click Remove access, then confirm.

The connection is removed immediately. Then come back to Nowistay and click Connect with Airbnb again. More details, including how to do it from the other software’s dashboard: Disconnect Airbnb from your current PMS.

Co-hosting a listing? Ask the owner to authorize

Airbnb only accepts a channel manager connection from the account that owns the listing. If you manage a listing as a co-host, you cannot authorize it from your own Airbnb account, but you can ask the owner to do it in two minutes, without a Nowistay account on their side.

1. Click Ask the owner to authorize, enter the owner’s email address and click Send the request.
2. The owner receives an email from Nowistay with a link valid for 7 days. They click Continue to Airbnb, sign in with the Airbnb account that owns the listing and approve the connection. If Airbnb asks which listings to share, they should include yours.
3. Meanwhile Nowistay shows Waiting for the owner’s authorization with three actions: Copy link (to send the link yourself, by WhatsApp for example), Send again and Cancel request. You can leave the page: we email you as soon as the owner has authorized.
4. Once authorized, come back and choose the listing you manage, exactly as with your own account.

Good to know: the owner authorizes their whole Airbnb account, so you may see their other listings in the list; only import the ones you manage. Airbnb allows a single channel manager per account, so the owner must not be connected to another software.

Path 2: Import from your PMS

If you already use a property management system, connecting it to Nowistay lets you import all your properties automatically: names, addresses, photos, and details included.

Currently supported PMS integrations:

• Beds24: connect with your invitation code
• Smoobu: connect with your API key
• Lodgify: connect with your API key

Once connected, Nowistay detects your properties and offers to import them. Simply select the ones you want and click “Import”. A progress bar shows you the import status in real time.

If your PMS is not listed, don’t worry, just click “My PMS is not listed” and you’ll be taken to manual creation.

Path 3: Add a property manually

If you don’t use a supported PMS and don’t list on Airbnb, you can always add your property by hand. It only takes a minute.

Fill out the form with:

• Property name
• Host’s first and last name
• Mobile phone
• Property address
• Maximum guest capacity

You can optionally add links to your listings on rental platforms, then upload a representative photo of your property and click “Create”.

What happens next?

No matter which path you chose, once your property is created you’re taken to Activate your properties: choose a plan for each property and start your free trial, or come back to it later from your subscription page. Then comes the next step: creating your digital welcome book. You can generate it with AI, copy it from another property, or start from scratch. The welcome guide doesn’t need a plan, so you can also write it before starting your trial.

You can edit, delete, or access your property’s welcome guide anytime from your dashboard.