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 channel integrated bookings)
• Move booking on the channel (Airbnb)
• Cancel and rebook (Vrbo iCal connected, Booking.com)
• Unlink calendars (all channels)
• Transfer a payment or deposit between bookings
• Implications

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 channel integrated booking, where both properties are in the same Vrbo account

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

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. The updated booking will use the new property's payment method.
4. Review the Implications section for any other issues.
5. 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 / channel integration 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-channel integrated (iCal) platform bookings
• Vrbo channel integrated bookings, if you are moving between properties in different Vrbo accounts
• Booking.com

Unlinking Channel Calendars

See the Unlink Channel Calendar support article for more instructions.

Transfer a payment or deposit between bookings

OwnerRez doesn't support reassigning or transferring a processed payment or security deposit to another booking.

• If the guest is changing dates or properties and the booking type supports it, Change/Move the Booking to edit the existing booking, so its payment history stays attached.
• If there are two booking records and no money is moving, record a manual refund on the original booking and a manual payment on the new booking.
  • Add notes cross-referencing both ORB numbers. This process balances the OwnerRez ledgers without modifying or changing the processor transaction.
• If the money must move, refund or void the original booking (if within 24 hours of the original booking) and have the guest rebook.
• Security Deposit Holds and Refundable Damage Deposits must likewise be released for the original booking and re-reserved for the new one.

Implications

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

• The primary implication is that your guest's signed Rental Agreement is no longer valid. When a booking is moved to different dates or a different property, or changed in any way, OwnerRez recommends requesting an updated Rental Agreement.
  • For complete instructions, see the Updated Agreement section of the Rental Agreements Overview support article.
• Vrbo does not support moving bookings to other properties, and if a Vrbo booking is moved within OwnerRez, the Vrbo Smart Review for that booking will not be sent to Vrbo.
• 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.
• If Stripe tokenized payment methods are used with either the previous or updated property, the payment method may require more care. In these cases, you may need to Request Payment from the Guest and/or change the "Card to Use" on the updated booking by navigating to the updated Booking > Transactions > Request > Request New Credit Card (in advance) or Request Payment (if payment is currently due).
• 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. In this scenario, PMs may choose to cut a check between owner accounts outside the system to avoid paying an extra credit card fee for a refund.