How do I connect a custom domain to my WanderOS site?
Description: Step-by-step guide to connecting your own custom domain to your WanderOS direct booking site, using the guided flow or manual DNS setup.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have:
Domain ownership. You must own a domain through a registrar such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Squarespace Domains, or Cloudflare.
DNS access. You must be able to access and modify your domain's DNS settings.
Registrar login credentials. For the guided flow, you'll need to sign in to your domain provider account during setup.
Where do I connect my custom domain?
Log in to app.wander.com.
In the left sidebar, expand Channels → Website.
Select Domain.
In the Connect your domain field, enter the full URL of your custom domain (e.g.,
yourbrand.com).
Important: this will replace any existing website at that URL.
If you already have a website at the domain you're connecting (for example, an existing direct booking site on Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, or another platform), connecting it here will redirect that domain to your WanderOS site instead. Visitors who go to your URL will no longer see your old website — they'll land on your WanderOS site.
Before you connect, make sure you're ready to fully retire the old site, or that you've already moved any content (pages, blog posts, contact forms) you want to keep over to WanderOS. This change can be reversed by disconnecting the domain — see How do I disconnect my custom domain from my WanderOS site? — but during the transition guests may see a broken or in-between experience.
Want to keep your existing website?
If you'd rather keep your current site and use WanderOS only as the booking engine, connect a subdomain (like book.yourbrand.com) instead of your root domain. Your existing site stays live at yourbrand.com and the subdomain routes to WanderOS. See How do I use WanderOS as a booking engine on a subdomain? for the full setup.
How does the guided flow work?
After you enter your domain and continue, WanderOS launches a guided setup window:
Auto-detection. The system identifies your domain provider (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Squarespace, Google Domains, Cloudflare, etc.) automatically. This works for 50+ providers.
Sign in to your domain provider. You'll be prompted to log in to the account where your domain is registered. This authorizes the system to apply the required DNS records on your behalf.
Authorize the changes. Confirm that you want the necessary DNS records added. The required records are configured automatically. You don't need to copy or paste anything.
Confirmation. Once the records are applied, you'll see a success screen. DNS propagation can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to fully roll out across the internet.
If your provider is supported, this is usually a 2-3 minute process end to end.
What if I want to add the records manually?
If your provider isn't supported by the auto-detection flow, or you prefer to update DNS yourself, you can add the required records by hand.
Start the guided flow as described above.
On the setup screen, click Go to our manual setup.
Copy the DNS records shown (typically a mix of A, CNAME, and TXT records).
Log in to your domain provider's DNS settings.
Add each record exactly as shown, including type, host, and value.
Save the changes.
Return to WanderOS. The system will detect the records once DNS propagates.
Manual setup can take longer to propagate (often 24-48 hours depending on your provider).
How do I know it worked?
Once DNS has propagated:
Visiting your custom domain in a browser loads your WanderOS direct booking site.
The Domain page in WanderOS shows the domain as Connected.
Email campaigns begin sending from
contact@[yourdomain]instead of the fallback address.
If the domain still shows as pending after a few hours (guided flow) or 24-48 hours (manual setup), reach out to support.
How do I disconnect my domain later?
If you ever need to remove your custom domain from your WanderOS site (for example, you're moving to a new platform or reverting to an old site), you can disconnect at any time from the same Domain page. For the full step-by-step, see How do I disconnect my custom domain from my WanderOS site?.
Best Practices
Use the guided flow when possible. Auto-detection handles 50+ providers and removes the risk of pasting a record incorrectly.
Don't change DNS records during propagation. Wait for the new records to fully roll out before making additional changes.