Moving a Booking to a Different Property

What happens if you have a guest who has booked one of your properties, but something has changed, and now they need to stay in a different one of your properties?

If you just need to change dates but at the same property, see our support doc on Extending a Stay. 

For channels such as Booking.com, etc., you may be able to contact the support staff and ask them to modify the booking, but you won't be able to make this change yourself.

Sometimes, making this change is easy!  And other times not, depending on the channel and booking modification. There are several different cases:

• Move booking inside OwnerRez (Direct Bookings and channels that act like direct bookings, Vrbo API bookings)
• Move booking on the channel (Airbnb)
• Cancel and rebook (Vrbo non API, Booking.com)
• Unlink calendars (all channels)
• Implications
  
  • Updated Rental Agreements

Here's what you can and cannot do to help your guests change properties:

Inside OwnerRez

For the following types of bookings, changing to a different property is easy, and you can make the change right in OwnerRez:

• Direct Booking
• Channel booking that's booked like a direct booking - Florida Rentals, Find Rentals, Houfy
• Vrbo API booking where both properties are in the same Vrbo account

  NOTE: This only works for moving Vrbo API bookings between properties that are in the same Vrbo API account.  If you are using multiple separate Vrbo API connections and you need to move between properties in different Vrbo accounts, skip down to the "Cancel and Rebook" section - sorry!

Here's how to make the change:

1. Go to the Overview tab of the Booking
2. Click the "Change/Move" button.
3. Change the Property dropdown to the new property, and save your changes.
4. Request an updated Rental Agreement. That's it!

Move booking on the channel (Airbnb)

You cannot move an Airbnb booking to another property in OwnerRez. If you change properties on an Airbnb booking, the entire date range, including past dates, must be available for the new property. There are a couple of ways to move an Airbnb booking, but both are done directly on the Airbnb platform. 

Option 1:

You (or the guest) can request a modification on Airbnb. On the Airbnb Host platform, you can modify an Airbnb booking to another property by navigating to that specific Booking > Support > Change Reservation > Change Property > and select one of your other available Airbnb Listings > click on Send Request.

If the guest approves, the booking will be moved, and the calendars / API connection will be automatically updated.

Option 2:

Ask the Airbnb guest to create a new booking on the target property. You, as the host, should do the following.

• Submit all of the information regarding the booking change to Airbnb directly as part of the original booking change.
  • By submitting this booking change information, the guest will be assured that Airbnb is aware of the changes and will provide the refund as promised.
• Alter the original booking on Airbnb and provide a refund. 

Another option is to just give the guest a $10 special offer on the new property and manually adjust all the pricing in OwnerRez to match the true price.

Cancel and Rebook

Unfortunately, for bookings of the following types, there is no way to move between properties.  You'll have to have the guest cancel and rebook.

• Vrbo non-API platform bookings
• Vrbo API bookings, if you are moving between properties in different Vrbo accounts
• Booking.com

Unlinking Channel Calendars

"But, what if I just want to update the calendar in OwnerRez?"  In fact, you can...

For channels like Airbnb and Booking.com, where the booking has to be moved on the channel side (or canceled and start over), you do have the option to make changes only in OwnerRez.  You can leave the booking just the way it is on the channel, unlink the OwnerRez booking from that calendar, and move the booking in OwnerRez.

To unlink the calendar, click the Move button to initiate the move process. You'll get a message that you can't move the booking because it's linked to the channel calendar. Click the "Unlink from channel" button and the booking will be unlinked from the channel which will open up the date and property selectors so you can move it on the OwnerRez calendar.

This is useful if, say, you want to move a booking across accounts but don't want the guest to have to cancel. The booking will remain on the old property/dates for its sourcing channel, but all other channels will see the original dates as available as they've been updated in OwnerRez.

All calendars on the new property will be properly blocked off, including with the original channel, which won't know it's really the same booking.

This can lead to problems if you happen to get in a dispute with the guest since the channel won't know you switched properties on them and thus did not technically fulfill what you agreed to, so make sure the guest confirms this is what they want to do.

When you unlink a booking from the channel calendar, financial updates will remain linked (unless you separately switch those to manual mode). So charges, payments, etc., will continue to update for that booking via API connection or Channel Bridge even though the calendar side is unlinked.

Implications

There are multiple implications around moving a booking to a different property.

• The first and main implication is that your guest's signed Renter Agreement is no longer valid. They would need to re-sign your rental agreement for the new property.
• Any Damage Protection policies issued for the booking are valid only for the original property booked. Moving a booking to another property may result in the original damage protection policy becoming null and void.
• Another rare issue is if the property is managed by a property manager and the booking is moved to a property owned by a different owner. This will require modifications to the booking data on both properties and commissions.

Updated Rental Agreements

OwnerRez Rental Agreements, once they are e-signed by the guest, are legally valid and binding contracts. As such, it is not possible to change them after they have been signed.

However, they are automatically populated with the most current information available at the moment they are signed. So if, after changing the dates of a booking, you want the guest to sign a new rental agreement, you can do that to include the changed dates.

Unfortunately, a common problem can occur if the System Message template for "Send Renter Agreement Form To Guest" has been edited to use the {BUFIXUP} field code and there is already an Agreement on file for the booking because the link takes the guest to a page that says "All done! Your booking has been completed".

To fix this, create a new email template for requesting an additional lease (different from the "Send Renter Agreement To Guest" template you're currently using to ask for the Renter Agreement, Security Deposit, Photo ID) by navigating to Settings > Messaging > Templates.

Add the {BULEASE} by clicking on the field code icon  or Insert Field.

Insert the {BULEASE} link in the new template by clicking on the Insert button.

Be sure to click Save! 

Then, when a guest needs to sign an updated Agreement, you can navigate to that specific Booking > Email this Guest.

Click on the Switch to Template drop-down list and select your email template that includes the {BULEASE} link. 

Click on Send Email.