From Chris Cranford:

This is definately an issue in JestClient's start method when it gets the configuration property.

It is defaulting to the ElasticsearchEnvironment.Defaults.SERVER_URI

The properties doesn't hold the ElasticsearchEnvironment.SERVER_URI "elasticsearch.host" property.

The properties do contain hibernate.search.default.elasticsearch.host tho

Setting it in the hibernate.properties merely as "elasticsearch.host" works however.