Frequently asked questions

Oxto is a discovery and booking platform built around wine, food, travel, and hospitality experiences. Travelers can use Oxto to discover wineries, find unique experiences, explore events, and plan where to go based on their interests.

Travelers can explore wineries, experiences, and events on Oxto and find places that match what they are looking for. Depending on the experience, guests can request a reservation, purchase event tickets, or connect with a host or hospitality partner.

Yes. Travelers can browse Oxto and discover wineries, events, and experiences for free.

Oxto features wineries, wine tastings, special events, wine dinners, private experiences, local hosts, transportation providers, and other hospitality experiences.

Oxto is designed to make it easier to discover experiences that might otherwise be spread across individual websites, social media accounts, local recommendations, and multiple booking platforms.

Yes. Oxto features wineries across the United States, making it easier to discover wineries based on where you are traveling and the type of experience you are looking for.

Participating wineries can accept reservation requests through Oxto Reserve. Instead of searching across multiple winery websites, travelers can discover a winery and request a tasting directly through Oxto.

Oxto Reserve is Oxto's reservation platform for wineries and hospitality businesses. It allows travelers to request experiences while giving participating businesses the information they need to review and manage reservations.

Yes. Oxto is a place to discover wine events and hospitality experiences, including wine dinners, tastings, pop-ups, collaborations, educational experiences, release parties, and other special events.

Yes. Participating wineries and hosts can sell tickets directly through Oxto for eligible events and experiences.

Guests can use the eligible payment methods displayed during checkout. Available payment methods may depend on your device, location, and the payment options available for that transaction.

International guests may pay using an eligible payment method accepted during checkout. Your bank or card issuer may charge currency-conversion or international-transaction fees.

Oxto transactions are presented in the currency shown at checkout.

Google and Yelp can help you find businesses. Oxto is designed specifically around discovering experiences.

Instead of starting with a list of nearby businesses, Oxto helps travelers explore wineries, events, tastings, and hospitality experiences based on what they actually want to do.

Oxto is more than a directory. In addition to discovering wineries, travelers can find events, request reservations through participating businesses, discover local hosts, and explore hospitality experiences in one place.

Wine is at the center of the Oxto community, but the platform is built around the broader world of hospitality and experiences. This can include food, events, transportation, private experiences, and other businesses that complement wine and travel.

Yes. Oxto can be used to discover wineries, tastings, events, transportation providers, local hosts, and hospitality experiences when planning a trip to wine country or exploring a new destination.

Oxto helps wineries reach new customers and turn discovery into visits, reservations, event attendance, and long-term customer relationships.

Wineries can build a presence on Oxto and use additional tools for reservations, events, and guest acquisition.

Wine discovery is fragmented. Consumers often jump between Google, Instagram, winery websites, blogs, and recommendations when deciding where to visit.

Oxto gives wineries another way to get discovered by travelers who are actively looking for wine and hospitality experiences.

Oxto puts wineries in front of travelers during the discovery and planning process. Participating wineries can also use Oxto Reserve to convert that discovery into reservation requests.

The goal is to help wineries reach guests before they have decided which wineries they are going to visit.

Yes. Oxto Reserve allows participating wineries to receive and manage reservation requests through Oxto.

Oxto Reserve is Oxto's reservation product for wineries. It gives participating wineries a way to receive reservation requests from travelers discovering them through Oxto while managing those requests through their winery account.

No. Oxto is designed to complement a winery's existing website and marketing channels.

Your website remains an important destination for your brand. Oxto provides an additional discovery and distribution channel that can introduce your winery to travelers who may not already know you exist.

Reservations are one part of Oxto. Oxto combines discovery, reservations, events, and hospitality experiences rather than operating solely as a reservation system.

Yes. Wineries can promote eligible special events and sell tickets through Oxto, including wine dinners, release parties, educational tastings, winemaker events, collaborations, and other experiences.

Yes. Wineries can use Oxto to list events and sell tickets, giving them another distribution channel beyond their existing email list, website, and social media audience.

Yes. Wineries can use Oxto Reserve for reservation requests while also listing and selling tickets to eligible events through the Oxto platform.

Payments are securely processed through the winery's connected Stripe account. Applicable Oxto and Stripe fees are handled as part of the transaction, and eligible funds are paid out through Stripe according to the winery's payout schedule.

No. Guest payments are processed through the winery's connected Stripe account. Oxto does not manually hold winery payouts or transfer earnings to the winery.

Oxto can work for boutique wineries, established brands, appointment-only wineries, tasting rooms, destination wineries, and wineries looking to increase exposure to new guests.

It can be particularly valuable for wineries that want to expand beyond relying entirely on their existing customer list and social media following for traffic.

That is one of the problems Oxto is designed to address. Smaller wineries may offer exceptional experiences without having the marketing budgets, search visibility, or brand awareness of larger wineries.

Oxto creates another discovery channel where the quality and uniqueness of the experience can help drive consumer interest.

Traditional reservation platforms primarily focus on managing bookings. Oxto is designed around both discovery and conversion.

The platform brings together winery discovery, reservation requests, events, and hospitality partners so businesses can use Oxto not only to manage demand, but also to generate it.

Oxto Hosts are hospitality professionals, creators, and experience operators who offer experiences or services that complement the Oxto community.

This can include wine educators, event hosts, private tasting operators, chefs, transportation providers, itinerary planners, restaurants, wine shops, and other hospitality businesses.

Oxto is built for people and businesses creating experiences in wine, food, travel, and hospitality.

Potential partners include private chefs, sommeliers, wine educators, restaurants, wine shops, event producers, content creators, transportation providers, tour operators, itinerary planners, and other experience-driven businesses.

Oxto allows hospitality businesses and hosts to list eligible wine and hospitality events where travelers and local consumers can discover them.

Events can include wine dinners, tastings, pop-ups, educational experiences, chef collaborations, winery partnerships, and other hospitality events.

Hospitality operators can use Oxto to list eligible experiences and events centered around wine, food, travel, and hospitality.

Oxto gives operators a dedicated platform for reaching people actively looking for experiences rather than relying only on social media or their existing audience.

Restaurants and hospitality operators can use Oxto to promote eligible wine dinners and other wine-focused events to an audience interested in wine and experiences.

Wine professionals and eligible hospitality partners can use Oxto to create events, reach potential guests, and sell tickets through the platform.

Yes. Private chefs creating eligible food, wine, or hospitality experiences can use Oxto to reach guests and collaborate with other businesses in the Oxto ecosystem.

Yes. Wine shops can use Oxto to promote eligible tastings, educational events, winemaker events, dinners, and other experiences.

Yes. Sommeliers, wine educators, creators, and independent hosts can use Oxto to build experiences and connect with consumers interested in wine.

Eligible drivers and transportation providers can participate in the Oxto ecosystem, helping travelers connect the different parts of their wine and hospitality experience.

Yes. Eligible itinerary planners and travel professionals can use Oxto to connect with travelers looking for help planning wine and hospitality experiences.

Hosts can create and sell eligible ticketed experiences or use Oxto to generate reservation requests for services they provide.

The specific revenue model depends on the type of experience or service offered.

Eligible hosts and hospitality partners can use Oxto Reserve to receive reservation requests for qualifying services and experiences.

Oxto is building an ecosystem that connects wineries with hospitality professionals and experience operators.

That creates opportunities for partnerships such as winery dinners, private tastings, chef collaborations, educational events, transportation services, and other experiences that bring wineries and hospitality businesses together.

Social media can generate awareness, but posts disappear quickly and audiences may not be actively looking for an event when they see them.

Oxto gives hospitality experiences a dedicated place to be discovered by people who are specifically exploring what to do, where to go, and what to book.

No. Oxto is designed to give great hosts and hospitality businesses a distribution channel beyond their existing audience.

A strong experience should not require a massive social media following to be discoverable.

Guest payments are processed securely through Stripe and added to your connected Stripe balance. Stripe then sends available funds to your linked bank account according to your payout schedule.

Payout timing depends on your Stripe account, bank, and payout schedule. New Stripe accounts may have a longer wait before the first payout.

After that, eligible payouts commonly arrive within a few business days. You can view the expected arrival date for each payout directly through Stripe.

The payment will appear in your Stripe account after it is successfully processed. It may initially appear as pending before becoming available for payout to your bank.

Availability timing can vary depending on your account and the transaction.

No. Guest payments are processed through your connected Stripe account. Oxto does not hold your payouts or manually transfer your earnings to you.

Select Manage on Stripe from your Oxto dashboard.

From Stripe, you can view payments, available and pending balances, upcoming payouts, and your payout history. Stripe also supports payment, refund, dispute, and payout management for connected accounts.

Oxto charges different fees depending on what you sell:

• Service reservations: 1.5% per confirmed reservation.
• Ticketed events: 3% of the ticket price on the free plan, or 1.5% on Oxto Reserve (0% on the annual plan).

Hosts using Oxto Reserve also pay the applicable monthly or annual subscription fee. Subscription fees are separate from reservation, ticketing, and payment-processing fees.

Yes. Stripe charges its applicable payment-processing fee when a guest pays online. This is separate from Oxto's fees.

Your Stripe processing rate may depend on your Stripe account, payment method, and transaction type.

For ticketed events, Oxto's applicable platform fee and Stripe's applicable processing fee are deducted as part of the transaction.

The 1.5% reservation fee applies to each confirmed service reservation. You can review reservation activity and applicable Oxto charges through your account.

There is no need to manually calculate or submit individual transaction fees.

Eligible full or partial refunds can be issued through the payment or reservation management tools available through Oxto and Stripe.

The refunded amount is returned to the guest's original payment method and deducted from your Stripe balance.

If your available Stripe balance is insufficient, the refund may create a negative balance that is covered by future payments or another funding method permitted by Stripe.

Stripe generally does not return the payment-processing fee associated with the original transaction when a payment is refunded.

Oxto's ticketing and reservation fees are generally nonrefundable once a transaction or confirmed reservation has been processed.

Exceptions may apply when Oxto cancels or reverses a transaction because of a platform error.

The outcome depends on the cancellation policy applicable to the reservation or event.

When a guest qualifies for a refund, the refunded amount is deducted from your Stripe balance.

If the original payment has already been included in a payout, Stripe may deduct the refund from your remaining balance or future payments.

Yes. You can issue either a full or partial refund when that option is available for the payment.

The amount selected for refund is returned to the guest's original payment method.

Once a refund is submitted through Stripe, the guest's bank or card issuer determines how quickly it appears in the guest's account.

Timing can vary depending on the payment method and financial institution.

A dispute occurs when a guest asks their bank or card issuer to reverse a payment.

Stripe will notify you and provide an opportunity to respond with supporting information. The disputed amount and any applicable dispute fee may be deducted from your Stripe balance while the dispute is reviewed.

If the dispute is ultimately decided in your favor, the disputed funds are generally returned to your balance.

Oxto uses Stripe to securely process guest payments and facilitate payouts to your bank account.

Connecting Stripe allows you to accept payments, receive payouts, issue refunds, review transactions, and manage payment-related account information.

Banking, identity, and payout information is collected and managed through Stripe. Oxto does not store your full bank-account or card details.

Oxto does not directly access your bank account to withdraw funds.

Your payout information is managed through Stripe and used to send eligible funds to your linked account. Refunds, disputes, and other payment adjustments are generally managed through your Stripe balance and Stripe's payment infrastructure.

Select Manage on Stripe from your Oxto dashboard.

From Stripe, you can review or update the bank account or other eligible payout method connected to your account.

Stripe may request additional personal or business information before enabling or continuing payments and payouts.

Open Manage on Stripe to view any outstanding requirements. Payments or payouts may be delayed or paused until the requested information has been submitted and verified.

Guests can use the eligible payment methods displayed during Oxto checkout.

Available options may depend on the guest's device, location, and the payment methods enabled for the transaction.

International guests may pay using an eligible payment method accepted during checkout. Their bank or card issuer may apply currency-conversion or international-transaction fees.

Oxto transactions are presented and paid out in the currency shown during checkout.

Hospitality discovery is fragmented.

Travelers search across Google, social media, blogs, individual websites, and recommendations to figure out what to do. At the same time, wineries and independent hospitality operators often struggle to reach consumers beyond their existing audiences.

Oxto brings discovery, experiences, reservations, events, and hospitality partners together in one platform.

Oxto is built for both sides of the hospitality experience: people looking for memorable things to do and the businesses and individuals creating them.

Oxto combines three pieces of the hospitality ecosystem that are traditionally fragmented: discovery, booking, and distribution.

Travelers get one place to discover experiences. Wineries get tools to reach and convert new guests. Hosts and hospitality partners get a platform to distribute and monetize what they create.

Oxto operates as a platform connecting travelers with independent wineries, hosts, and hospitality businesses.

The participating business provides the underlying experience or service, while Oxto provides technology for discovery, reservations, ticketing, and related platform functionality.

The participating winery or Host provides and sells its experience or service to the guest. Oxto provides the platform and technology that facilitates discovery, reservations, ticketing, and payments.

Payments are processed using Stripe's connected payment infrastructure.

Oxto features wineries and hospitality experiences across the United States, with availability varying by destination and participating businesses.

Travelers can begin exploring wineries and experiences directly on Oxto.

Wineries interested in reservations, events, or additional platform features can join Oxto and explore its winery tools.

Hosts and hospitality partners can join Oxto to begin offering eligible experiences and services.