Expedia and Freezing reservation

The Hostaway channel manager offers the option to set an Expedia reservation in Freeze mode. This allows you to edit the reservation manually inside Hostaway in order to update your listing calendar with the latest information.

When do you need the Freeze option?

Under some circumstances, an Expedia reservation can be excluded from the status update by the channel manager. In these cases, changes applied to the reservation on the Expedia or Expedia partner channel's end will no longer be provided by the API connection. The Expedia API doesn't provide this status change to the channel manager software.

When does this happen to an Expedia reservation?

Typically this happens when an Expedia customer support agent needs to make adjustments to the reservation on behalf of the customer or property owner. For example, when the guest contacts the Hotels.com helpdesk and asks to cancel the reservation for them or shorten or extend the days.

When this happens, the reservation will no longer provide its status changes by the channel manager connection. Due to this, it is possible that you have a reservation inside your Hostaway software that shows a confirmed reservation but on Hotels.com's side and/or in Expedia partner central, it shows as cancelled.

All types of channel manager software will be unable to detect these reservations and so it is not a bug if it happens to you, it is how it works.

How to verify and what to do about it?

Below we outline a number of known events that can happen to a reservation and potential risks of getting removed for the API sync update.

IMPORTANT: Always verify first if your Expedia listing has received or is still receiving other updates like price adjustments or the calendar being blocked due to an Airbnb reservation. If you see that Expedia doesn't update your listing, the listing might need to be remapped!

If you have any of the reservation cases below:

• A reservation on Expedia gets modified with new check-in check-out dates

You need to manually change the reservation, so it reflects the changes and set the option freeze (which will free up the calendar). You could also add an owner stay to the dates the reservation is active (in order to block those dates for that reservation)

• A reservation on Expedia gets cancelled

You could reach us and we will delete the reservation for you. If the reservation is sent to you again, then the option to freeze needs to be set for that reservation (it will free up the calendar)

• A reservation on Expedia gets assigned to a different room.
• A reservation on Expedia was marked as potentially fraudulent.
• A reservation on Expedia was cancelled due to failed payment to Expedia or the partners.

In these cases when you have received an email from Expedia or was informed by the agent about these changes:

1. Wait approximately 15-30 minutes before reviewing
2. Login to your Hostaway account
3. Go to the reservation menu and find the reservation.
4. Compare then the new status, rates, etc. in Expedia partner central to the status inside Hostaway.

It didn't update? Then you need to use the freeze option under the reservation detail view by clicking on the Edit button. 

Using the freeze option

1. In Hostaway under menu reservation, find the Expedia reservation and open up the detailed view by click on the guest name.
2. Click on the top right corner on the edit button.
3. Under tab Guest information, next to the Expedia channel name you see the option "Frozen reservation" that you activate with a switch button.
4. Click in the bottom on the save button to change its status in Hostaway to frozen. In this way, the reservation will ignore syncing with Expedia again and allows you to adjust it.
5. Do you need to adjust the pricing of the reservation? Click again on the edit button. You are now able to update the reservation. 
6. After making the changes we always recommend verifying if your connected channel calendars received the updates after, depending on the channels, 10-60 minutes.

Please note that freezing a reservation update will not freeze messaging. Freezing a reservation will only ignore any channel updates on reservation information and status changes. 

Questions about this option? Feel free to contact Hostaway support for more information.