diff --git a/pkg/ffresty/ffresty.go b/pkg/ffresty/ffresty.go
index ed5f677..31cb863 100644
--- a/pkg/ffresty/ffresty.go
+++ b/pkg/ffresty/ffresty.go
@@ -256,9 +256,22 @@ func NewWithConfig(ctx context.Context, ffrestyConfig Config) (client *resty.Cli
 		}
 		rCtx := req.Context()
 		// Record host in context to avoid redundant parses in hooks
-		u, _ := url.Parse(_url)
-		host := u.Host
-		rCtx = context.WithValue(rCtx, hostCtxKey{}, host)
+		var u *url.URL
+		if req.URL != "" {
+			u, _ = url.Parse(req.URL)
+		}
+		// The req.URL might have only set a path i.e. /home, fallbacking to the base URL of the client.
+		// So if the URL is nil, that's likely the case and we'll derive the host from the configured
+		// based instead.
+		if u == nil && _url != "" {
+			u, _ = url.Parse(_url)
+		}
+		if u != nil && u.Host != "" {
+			host := u.Host
+			rCtx = context.WithValue(rCtx, hostCtxKey{}, host)
+		} else {
+			rCtx = context.WithValue(rCtx, hostCtxKey{}, "unknown")
+		}
 		rc := rCtx.Value(retryCtxKey{})
 		if rc == nil {
 			// First attempt
diff --git a/pkg/ffresty/ffresty_test.go b/pkg/ffresty/ffresty_test.go
index 255d416..5580cd5 100644
--- a/pkg/ffresty/ffresty_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ffresty/ffresty_test.go
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ func TestMTLSClientWithServer(t *testing.T) {
 	var restyConfig = config.RootSection("resty")
 	InitConfig(restyConfig)
 	clientTLSSection := restyConfig.SubSection("tls")
-	restyConfig.Set(HTTPConfigURL, ln.Addr())
+	restyConfig.Set(HTTPConfigURL, ln.Addr()) // note this does not have https:// in the URL
 	clientTLSSection.Set(fftls.HTTPConfTLSEnabled, true)
 	clientTLSSection.Set(fftls.HTTPConfTLSKeyFile, privateKeyFile.Name())
 	clientTLSSection.Set(fftls.HTTPConfTLSCertFile, publicKeyFile.Name())