Requires .local suffix to access RPi when in hotspot mode

[CompulsiveCoder]

I really like these scripts, great work. They work well except for one issue.
When connected to a WiFi network I can access the RPi via "hostname" but when in hotspot mode I can only access it via "hostname.local".
Is it possible to tweak these scripts or the configuration settings to remove the .local suffix and access the RPi directly via "hostname" while running in hotspot mode?
Having to access the web based UI on my RPi based system using different URLs causes problems for my web based UI and prevents it being seamless.
I will admit my understanding of RPi networking configuration is quite limited so my apologies if this is a bit of a dumb question with a simple solution. I just couldn't find the solution.