Group a property and its sub-units so they can't be double-booked

If you rent the same space in more than one way, for example a whole house and also its individual rooms, group them in Smoobu so a booking on one blocks the others. This stops a guest booking the whole house while another guest already has one of its rooms. You set this up under Configuration > Properties.

Before you start

You need these in place before you group anything:

• Every property already created in Smoobu (the main property and each sub-unit), under Configuration > Properties. The grouping dropdown can only pick a property that already exists. See .
• A clear idea of which property is the whole space (the main property) and which are the parts (the sub-units).

How a group blocks double bookings

When you make one property a sub-unit of another, Smoobu links their calendars:

• When the main property is booked, none of its sub-units can be booked. The whole space is sold, so the rooms are not separately available.
• When any sub-unit is booked, the main property can't be booked. Part of the space is sold, so you can't sell the whole thing.

The blocks appear automatically on each calendar, and they push out to every connected channel, so the unavailable unit shows as blocked everywhere, not just in Smoobu.

Group your properties

1. Open Configuration > Properties.
2. Open the sub-unit you want to link and click Edit (the pencil icon).
3. In the Group accommodations field, open the Select parent unit dropdown and choose the main property.
4. Click Save.
5. Repeat for each sub-unit that belongs to the same main property.

A group is always two levels deep: one main property and one or more sub-units, with no further nesting. A property is either a main property or a sub-unit, never both. Once a property has at least one sub-unit, the grouping field stops appearing on its own edit form, and once a property is set as a sub-unit it drops out of the parent dropdown for every other property.

Check it worked

Open the Calendar and add a manual booking on one sub-unit. The main property's row should immediately show a block for those dates, and the same happens the other way round. If nothing blocks, the link didn't save: reopen the sub-unit's Edit form and check the main property is still selected.

Set prices and channel listings for each unit

The main property and each sub-unit are separate properties in Smoobu, each with its own rate plan, so set their prices independently under Pricing. There is no rule that the main property's price must equal the sum of its sub-units. Price them however suits your market: some hosts set the whole space at a discount to encourage full-house bookings, others at a premium.

For channels, most hosts list both the main property and the sub-units, so larger groups book the whole space and smaller groups book a single room. The block between them keeps the other unit from being booked elsewhere once one is sold. When you connect Booking.com, Airbnb, or another channel, map both the main property and its sub-units unless you have a specific reason not to.

Listing a hotel or B&B with many rooms

Smoobu does not have a separate hotel mode. Every property in Smoobu is a single bookable unit, with an availability of one. To run a guest house, hotel, or B&B, create each room as its own property and group the rooms as sub-units of the building, exactly as above. Each room then has its own calendar, price, and channel listing, and the building blocks correctly when rooms sell.

Because a Smoobu property is always one unit, any channel listing that holds more than one identical unit (an availability greater than one) has to be split so each unit maps to its own Smoobu property before it can sync correctly. Booking.com is the most common case. See .

Common problems

I listed the whole place and a room separately, and both got booked for the same dates

They were not grouped in Smoobu, so nothing blocked one when the other sold. Group them first with the steps above, then the block prevents the overlap. Always group before you list on any channel.

Two owners need separate invoices and payouts from one setup

A group lives inside one Smoobu account, and each account connects to only one payment provider, so a shared main-property-and-sub-units setup still shares that single payment connection. If two owners each need their own invoicing and payouts, they need separate Smoobu accounts. Smoobu's own Booking Engine also can't show units from two accounts together. To offer both owners' units in one storefront, use an external booking tool such as MotoPress or HBook and link it to both accounts by iCal. If you only need a shared calendar and not a shared store, an iCal connection between the two accounts is enough.

Related articles

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.