Guests may extend or change their stays due to weather delays, travel disruptions, a desire to stay longer, remote work flexibility, or special events in the area. However, the process for extending or changing the dates can vary depending on how you received the booking. This support article covers the three steps required to extend a stay: changing the dates, changing the charges, and collecting additional payments as needed.
Some users find it easier to manually change charges prior to changing the dates.
- 1. Changing the Dates
- 2. Recalculate the Charges
- 3. Manually Change Charges
- 4. Collecting the Payment
- 5. Rental agreement
- Listing Channels
1. Changing the Dates
This is the simplest part of the process and the most urgent; you wouldn't want another guest to book and take the dates your first guest wanted! The process for changing booking dates is similar to the cancellation process, and the same rules apply to changing dates for Direct Bookings, Google Vacation Rentals, Vrbo Channel Integrated, and other Listing Channels.
There are a couple of different ways to change booking dates. The first is to navigate to the specific Booking Overview tab and click the Change/Move pencil icon.
Alternatively, you can navigate to the booking overview tab, click the upper-right kebab menu, and select Change/Move Booking from the dropdown list.
On the Change Booking page, note the following.
- The blue Email Options checkboxes. By default, OwnerRez will send notifications when the dates change. Usually, you want this, but in case you don't, you can deselect the checkboxes. You can also manually edit the notification to the guest if desired.
- The option to add Damage Protection in the gold area.
Click Save. Your changes will be immediately pushed to the OwnerRez master calendar, pushed across any channel integration connections, and updated in any iCal Calendar Exports you have set up.
This will ensure all your calendars across all your channels are correctly updated. Depending on the channel, this might appear as a booking, a block, or a combination of the two, but the end result should be that the nights are all correctly blocked and unavailable to anyone else.
Immediately after clicking Save on the Move/Change for the booking, a pop-up will appear asking, "Do you want to recalculate the charges to match your changes?"
If you gave the extra night to your guest for free, all you have to do is select "No, stick with the current charges," and you're done! Usually, though, you expect the guest to pay to extend their stay.
Be careful with this method, as it will completely recalculate all the charges based on your current rates. If the guest made the booking a while ago, they might have done so at older, lower rates, used a discount, or selected additional services. These will be wiped out by the Recalculation, so use this method only if you know there is nothing different about this Booking.
Users should closely review the recalculated charges before clicking on Continue with either new or current charges.
The default template for the Your Booking has changed! system message will appear, allowing users to edit the email message before sending by clicking on Send Email.
3. Manually Change Charges
If there is anything at all different about what this Booking should be charged, users should follow the instructions to Manually Change Charges.
4. Collecting the Payment
See the Collect Payments Manually support article for complete instructions.
5. Rental agreement
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.
To request that your guest e-sign an updated renter agreement, follow the instructions in the Request e-Signature from Guest section of our Setup & Configure Legal Agreements support article.
Listing Channels
Airbnb
Even if Airbnb channel integrated, you cannot change dates in OwnerRez and have those changes reflected in Airbnb. The dates can only be modified within Airbnb's system, even if you're using a channel integration. Follow the instructions in Airbnb's Modifying a home reservation as a host help center article.
Per Airbnb policy, bookings longer than 28 days and arriving more than 30 days in the future can be changed by the guest without your approval.
Booking.com
For Booking.com changes, first follow the instructions to convert to manual charges, then modify the charges as described in Changing the Charges, and collect the payment manually.
Vrbo
If this is a booking from Vrbo and you are not utilizing the Vrbo channel integration, all date modifications must be done on the Vrbo platform.
- Users must remove the OwnerRez export iCal from Vrbo to make the change and then re-add the OwnerRez export iCal.
- Charges and payments can be manually changed in OwnerRez.
- After activating a Vrbo channel integration connection, Vrbo removes any previous iCal connection. Any booking changes or cancellations made to a pre-channel integration connection booking must be manually modified on the Vrbo platform and manually updated in OwnerRez, as described in Manually Change Charges.
If this is a Vrbo booking and you are using the Vrbo channel integration, you are in full control of the booking in OwnerRez!