Enter a direct booking or block dates yourself

When a guest books by phone, email, or in person, you add a manual booking to Smoobu yourself, and it counts as a direct booking. When the property needs to be off the market for cleaning, an owner stay, or maintenance, you block the dates instead. Both make the dates unavailable on all your connected channels, so you don't risk an overbooking.

Before you start

You need this in place before you enter anything:

• The property exists in Smoobu. If it doesn't yet, create it first; see How do I create a property in Smoobu?.
• The guest's details for a booking: name and stay dates at minimum. An email address is optional but strongly recommended, because without it you can't message the guest from Smoobu.

Enter a direct booking

1. Click Enter booking at the top of the page. It is available on every page in Smoobu.
2. In the General section, fill in the guest name, the property, the arrival and departure dates, the guest's email and language, and the number of adults and children. Leave the channel on Direct booking.
3. In the Price section, optionally record the base price, cleaning fee, any discount, and the prepayment and price amounts. Tick the received checkbox next to an amount the guest has already paid.
4. In the Additional details section, optionally add a phone number, check-in and check-out times, and notes. If you leave the times empty, Smoobu applies the property's default check-in and check-out times.
5. Click Save.

You can also start from the Calendar: click the arrival date on the property's row, hold the mouse button, and drag to the departure date. The same form opens with the property and dates already filled in.

If the guest hasn't confirmed yet and you only want to send a price proposal, create an offer instead of a booking; see Send a guest an offer or quotation.

Block dates

1. Open the Calendar.
2. On the property's row, click the first date you want to block, hold the mouse button, and drag to the last date. The entry form opens with the dates filled in.
3. Choose the block option instead of a booking.
4. Give the blocked period a name, for example Cleaning or Owner stay. The name shows directly on the blocked bar in the Calendar, so you can see at a glance why the unit is off the market.
5. Save.

The blocked period pushes out to all connected channels, so the dates show as unavailable everywhere. To change or remove a blocked period later, see Edit, move, extend or shorten a booking.

Why a block has to exist in Smoobu

Smoobu is the master calendar for every channel you connect. Anything that blocks your dates has to exist here: bookings you take directly, by phone or by email, and any dates you block by hand.

If you block a date only in a channel's own extranet, that block applies to that channel alone and Smoobu cannot see it. The next time your availability is synchronised, Smoobu sends its own picture of the calendar, the date is reopened, and a guest can book it. Enter your direct bookings and blocked periods here as soon as you take them, and they block every channel at once.

The rule runs the other way too: you cannot block dates on one channel only. A blocked period in Smoobu applies to every connected channel, and if you reopen those dates in a channel's extranet Smoobu closes them again at the next update, which is what protects you from an overbooking. Channel rules cannot fully close a range either, because a guest can still book a longer stay that covers it. If you need dates discouraged on one channel in particular, set a rule around those exact dates, or raise your price or your minimum stay on that channel for the period. Both make a booking unlikely; neither rules it out.

Check it worked

• The new booking appears in your Bookings list with status Booked and the channel Direct booking.
• On the Calendar, the booking shows as a solid bar on the property's row. If the property has buffer days configured (block N days before or after a booking), the hatched buffer cells appear immediately on both sides. Buffer days can be missing after a credit card or PayPal booking made through your own website; see Buffer days missing after a card or PayPal booking.
• A blocked period shows on the Calendar with the name you gave it, and the dates show as unavailable on your channels shortly after.

Common problems

Smoobu says the booking couldn't be created

The dates you picked almost always overlap something: an existing booking on the property, a buffer day from a neighbouring booking, or an automatic block from a linked main property or sub-property. The error message doesn't say which, so open the Calendar and look along the property's row for your date range: any solid bar or hatched cells point at the conflict. For how linked properties block each other, see Group a property and its sub-units so they can't be double-booked.

Direct booking is missing from the Channel dropdown

A browser translation extension (for example Chrome's auto-translate) can corrupt the dropdown labels. Turn off translation extensions and try again in a private or incognito window; the option reappears. If it is still missing there, contact the Smoobu team.

One guest wants to book several rooms

Smoobu has no group-booking entry, so enter each room as its own booking. To avoid re-typing the guest's details, start typing the guest's name in the Guest name field: Smoobu suggests existing guests and fills in their email, phone, and address for you.

Related articles

• Edit, move, extend or shorten a booking
• How do I cancel a booking?
• Send a guest an offer or quotation
• How do I create a property in Smoobu?

Still stuck?

If these steps didn't fix it, contact the Smoobu team: open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner. To get the fastest answer, please include:

• Your Smoobu User ID (in the profile-icon menu, top right).
• The property name or ID, if it's about one property.
• The Booking ID, if it's about one booking (Bookings, then View more).
• The channel name, if it's about channel sync (Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, and so on).
• A short step-by-step: what you did, what you expected, and what happened.
• Screenshots or a short screen recording of the problem.
• Your browser and operating system, if something looks wrong on screen.