Find answers to common questions about multi-unit listings, unit assignment, availability behavior, and setup considerations in Hostaway.
How does Hostaway bill a multi-unit listing?
Hostaway bills each unit as one listing. For example, a multi-unit listing with 5 units is billed as 5 listings, the same as 5 separate listings. To learn more, see How does Hostaway billing work?
How is the price calculated when I create a multi-unit reservation manually?
When you create a reservation for a multi-unit listing from the dashboard, Hostaway uses the nightly rate of 1 unit as the starting price. If you add more units or other items, the price is not updated automatically, so adjust the price in the reservation before you save it.
How can I rename the units of a multi-unit listing?
Go to Listings, open the multi-unit listing, click Edit, and go to Units. There you can change the name of each unit.
Unit names are internal to Hostaway. They are not exported to any channel, so guests only see them if you add them to a message with the unit name variable. Inside Hostaway, you will see them on the calendar, and you can use them to search in the multi-calendar.
Can I set a different price for each unit?
No. Prices are set at the listing level, so all units of a multi-unit listing share the same calendar rates. If some units have different prices, for example because they are larger or have a better view, create a separate multi-unit listing for each group of units with the same price.
Can I sell fewer units on specific dates?
Yes. You can reduce the number of units available to book for any date range:
- Go to Calendar
- Select the date range on the multi-unit listing
- In the pop-up, go to Availability
- In the box Rooms to sell, enter the number of units you want to keep available
- Click Save
Hostaway blocks the remaining units for those dates, and they show a lock icon on the calendar. To make them available again, select the same dates and increase Rooms to sell.
Why do I see overlapping reservations (in red) on my multi-unit calendar?
A multi-unit listing can accept a reservation when there is at least one free unit each night, even if no single unit is free for the whole stay. For example, a 4-night reservation can come in when night 1 and 2 are free in Unit A and nights 3 and 4 are free in Unit B. In that case, the reservation is placed in a unit where it overlaps with another one, and both show in red. This is not an overbooking: the listing has enough units, but the reservations need to be rearranged.
To fix it, drag and drop one of the red reservations to a free space in another unit of the same listing, or open the reservation, click Edit, and change the unit.
To avoid it, turn on Smart Reservation Assignment in Listings > select the listing > Edit > Units. Hostaway then moves unlocked reservations between units automatically to fit new bookings. To learn more, see Multi-Unit Listings: Smart Reservation Assignment.
If you get many last-minute reservations from Booking.com, you can also turn on Refuse bookings when smart reassignment is impossible in the same section. Hostaway then adjusts your availability on Booking.com so that reservations that cannot be fitted into a single unit do not come in. Keep in mind that this setting can make you lose some bookings.
How do I change the number of units in a multi-unit listing?
Adding new units will increase the availability of the room.
To change the number of units:
- Go to Channel Manager > Listing Mapping
- Find the listing and click the three dots (⋮) next to it.
- Click Add or remove units.
- Enter the new number of units and Confirm the change.
However, removing/ reducing units will remove a row from the multi-calendar. If you select 1, this multi-unit listing will become a single unit again. The new number of units isn't sent to every channel; on Booking.com and Expedia, also update the number of rooms on the channel's side. When you reduce units:
- What happens to reservations: reservations that are still upcoming or in progress are moved to a remaining unit. Past, cancelled, and inquiry reservations that were on a removed unit aren't reassigned, so they no longer show a unit ID. This is expected and keeps each unit's history, including owner statements, accurate.
- Which unit is removed: Hostaway keeps the first units in the list and removes the last ones. You can't choose which unit is removed, and blocking a unit doesn't mark it for removal.
- Overlaps to watch for: if no remaining unit is free for an upcoming or in-progress reservation, it may be placed on the last remaining unit. This creates a real overlap that you need to resolve. It is different from the apparent double booking described in "Why do I see a double booking on my multi-unit calendar?", which is only a display issue.
- Before and after you reduce units: before reducing, move upcoming bookings off the last unit(s) and remove any long blocks. After reducing, check the multi-calendar for overlaps and resolve them.
Can I see financial reports per unit?
Yes. In Financial Reporting, you can filter by individual units of a multi-unit listing in Analytics, Rental Activity, Occupancy, Expenses & Extras, and Owner Statements. Select the unit in the listing filter and download the report as usual.
You can also assign expenses, extras, and owners to a specific unit, and create owner statements per unit. To learn more, see Financial Reporting: Multi-Unit Support.
If I change the units in the reservation, will the door code be changed?
The door code is copied to the other lock. If the lock supports custom code values, it will remain the same. So yes, it will be updated according to the changing units.
If I enable Dynamic Pricing for multiple units, how will I be charged per unit or per listing?
It follows the same flow as listing subscriptions and pricing per unit in multi-unit cases.
Why does a multi-unit reservation from Booking.com only block one unit on the Hostaway Calendar?
When a reservation is made on Booking.com and contains private data (like guest details), before the connection to the Payment Service Provider (PSP), only a summary of the booking is shared with the PSP. This summary typically includes basic details such as the room ID, but not the full breakdown of all rooms involved in the reservation.
As a result, Hostaway can’t identify that there are three different units for the booking, so only one reservation is created in our system during the import process.
What this means for you:
- We can't automatically detect if the reservation involves the same room listed multiple times or different rooms altogether
- After the import, we recommend reviewing both sides of the booking (Booking.com and our system) to ensure everything is correct
How to fix it:
- If you notice discrepancies, you can manually create two dummy direct bookings with references and assign the correct unified ID to each.
- Alternatively, you can set the rooms to sell for the affected dates to 0 to avoid any confusion.
Note: After the initial import connection, it’s always a good idea to check both systems and make adjustments as needed to ensure everything is synced correctly.
Can we generate financial reports broken down by individual unit?
- While it’s possible to have different door codes for each unit using our smart locks product to automate this process, we currently don’t support grouping financial data by unit.
- The "per reservation" view does show the assigned unit for each reservation, but breaking down financial data by an individual unit is not yet available.
Can we show the unit name or unit number in the Guest Portal for Multi-Unit listings?
No. Currently, the Guest Portal is designed to display only the main "parent" listing name and does not natively show the specific sub-unit name or unit number assigned to the reservation. Unit-level custom fields are also for internal use only and will not appear in the Guest Portal, regardless of whether they are set to public or private.
Workaround: If you need to share the specific unit number or door code with your guest, we recommend using Message Automations. You can insert the {{unit_names}} merge field into your automated message templates to dynamically share the assigned unit details.
Note: We highly recommend setting a delay on these automated check-in messages in case you need to manually redistribute or shuffle reservations between units on your calendar before the guest arrives
Can I restrict an Owner's access to a specific sub-unit of a multi-unit listing?
No. Currently, Hostaway user permissions and listing restrictions are managed strictly at the overall listing level. There is no setting within User Management that allows you to isolate or restrict calendar and reservation access on a per-unit basis within a parent-child listing structure. An owner assigned to a multi-unit listing will see calendar data and reservations for all units in that group.
If complete calendar and inbox isolation is critical for your owners, we recommend setting up these units as individual, standalone listings in Hostaway and linking them via the Cross-Listings (Multi-listings) feature.