Nothing broke. When you first connect a channel such as Booking.com or Airbnb, Smoobu imports the bookings that already exist on that channel for the present and future, and those first imports can look odd: a booking may arrive with the status Overbooking, or not appear on the Calendar. On Booking.com the guest count also shows 1 guest on every booking imported when you first connected the channel. These are leftovers of the first import, not sync failures. Bookings made after the connection is live look normal. The same Overbooking flag can also turn up much later, long after a connection has settled, if the channel stopped delivering bookings for a while and you covered the dates yourself in the meantime. The last section covers that case. Separately, from 28 September 2026, new Booking.com bookings and any changes Booking.com sends to existing ones arrive without the guest's phone number. That is a privacy change on Booking.com's side, not a fault. More on it in its own section below.
Why an imported booking can show the status Overbooking
When you connect a channel, Smoobu imports that channel's real bookings for current or future stays. Most of them arrive as regular bookings. A booking shows the status Overbooking only when there is an actual clash on the Smoobu calendar: most commonly, several imported bookings land on the same Smoobu property (a Booking.com listing that stands for several identical rooms; see the last section), or the imported dates collide with dates already taken in Smoobu. If an imported booking shows Overbooking, check whether two bookings really share the same property and dates; if they don't, there is nothing to resolve.
A booking with the status Overbooking is hidden on the Calendar, so an imported booking with that status can look as if it is missing. To confirm one imported correctly, search the guest's name in the search bar at the top of Smoobu. If the booking comes up, the import worked; it may still be flagged as Overbooking if its dates clash, as described above.
Booking.com's first import shows 1 guest on every booking
Booking.com's initial import doesn't include the number of guests, so Smoobu shows 1 guest by default on every booking it brings in at connect time. This is specific to Booking.com: Airbnb imports the full guest details, so its imported bookings already show the right count. Bookings made after the connection is live carry the correct guest count. If you need the real number on an imported Booking.com booking, open the booking, click Edit, and set it yourself.
Booking.com bookings no longer include the guest's phone number
From 28 September 2026, Booking.com no longer sends guests' phone numbers to channel managers such as Smoobu. Booking.com is doing this to protect guests' data. The change applies worldwide. It is not a sync problem: all other booking details still arrive as before, such as the guest name, dates, price and status.
- New bookings made on or after 28 September arrive in Smoobu without a phone number.
- Changes to existing bookings that Booking.com sends on or after 28 September arrive without a phone number too, even if the booking itself was made earlier.
- Phone numbers already in Smoobu stay. A number Smoobu received before 28 September stays saved on the booking, even when Booking.com later updates that booking.
To get a guest's number anyway, whichever channel they booked through, see How do I get my guest's phone number or email address?.
Changing an imported booking's property needs Book Again
There is one situation where editing an imported booking matters for sync: reassigning it to a different property while you split a Booking.com listing that stands for several identical rooms. In that migration, the imported bookings arrive with the status Overbooking and you move each one to its correct room. After you change the property in the booking's Edit form, click the circular Book Again button (the circular-arrows icon). Saving alone records the change in Smoobu, but the channel's availability isn't corrected, so the wrong dates stay blocked or open on Booking.com. The full migration, step by step, is in Split a Booking.com listing with several rooms into individual listings.
A booking you covered during a sync disruption now shows Overbooking
When a channel stops delivering bookings for a while, the advice is to cover the dates yourself so they cannot be sold twice while the import catches up: either enter the missing booking by hand with the Channel set to the one it came from, or block the dates. A booking is missing, or dates are blocked for no reason has both options.
Once the channel starts delivering again, the real booking arrives. If what you entered matched it exactly, down to the guest name and the arrival and departure dates, the two merge into a single booking and there is nothing further to do. That is the whole point of copying the details exactly.
The flag appears when something did not match, or when you blocked the dates rather than entering a booking. Smoobu then sees two separate entries on the same property and the same dates, and marks the clash with the status Overbooking.
Nothing is wrong with the stay itself. The flag lives on your Smoobu calendar. Nothing is cancelled on the channel, your guest keeps their stay, and you do not need to contact them.
Clearing it is the same job as after a listing split:
- Open your Bookings list and enable Filters > Status > Overbooking. Adjust the date range as needed.
- Cancel the entry you made yourself: the stand-in booking, or the blocked period you placed on the Calendar. See How do I cancel a booking? for a booking, or Edit, move, extend or shorten a booking for a blocked period.
- Open the booking that came in from the channel, the one still marked Overbooking, and click the circular Book Again button on its details page.
Book Again is the step that matters. It re-fires the booking pipeline, including the availability update back to the channel, and that is what clears the overbooking state in the sync. Cancelling your own entry alone leaves the channel holding stale availability. Afterwards the booking shows the status Booked and disappears from the Overbooking filter.
Common questions
How do I tell an import leftover from a real overbooking?
An import leftover appears the moment you connect, on a booking that already existed on the channel, and there is only one booking for those dates. A real overbooking is two different bookings for the same property with overlapping dates. That can happen, rarely, when two channels confirm a booking within the same minute, before Smoobu can block the dates on the second channel. In that case you decide which booking to keep, then resolve the other one: cancel it on the channel's own site, or move it to another free property in Smoobu.
Do my direct bookings and blocked periods import when I connect?
No. A channel connection imports only bookings made on that channel. Bookings you took elsewhere (direct bookings, phone bookings, owner stays) and blocked periods you placed on the channel's calendar never import on their own. Enter them in Smoobu yourself, before you connect or right after, or those dates stay open for sale on your channels. How does Smoobu keep my calendars in sync? explains what flows automatically and what doesn't.
Related articles
- How does Smoobu keep my calendars in sync?
- How do I connect Booking.com to Smoobu?
- My Booking.com bookings or availability aren't syncing
- Split a Booking.com listing with several rooms into individual listings
- A booking is missing, or dates are blocked for no reason
Still stuck?
If this didn't answer your question, the Smoobu team is happy to help. In Smoobu, open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner for a quick question during business hours.
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