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Multi-Unit Rental Types

Group identical listings under a single property and manage availability, bookings, and allocation across all units.

Written by David

What are Multi-Unit Rental Types?

Multi-Unit Rental Types let you group multiple identical listings — such as hotel rooms of the same type, or apartment units with the same layout — under a single leading listing. Instead of showing every room individually on your website, guests see one listing with the number of available units. When they book, the system assigns one (or more) of the available units automatically.

Example: You have 5 identical "Studio Room" units. Rather than listing all 5 separately, guests see a single "Studio Room" with "3 available" and can book the quantity they need.

Prerequisites

  • Your account must have Calendar Service v2 enabled.

  • The Multi Unit toggle must be turned on for your account (contact support if it's not visible).

Setting Up Property Groups

Property groups define which listings belong together. You manage them from Settings → Multi Unit.

Creating a Group

  1. Go to Settings → Multi Unit

  2. Click Create New Group

  3. Enter a group name (e.g., "Studio Room", "Deluxe Suite")

  4. Select a leading listing — this is the listing that will be displayed on your website and represent the group

  5. Add the other unit listings to the group

  6. Click Save

Managing Groups

  • Edit a group to change its name, leading listing, or unit members

  • Add/remove listings at any time — listings can only belong to one group

  • Delete a group to unlink all listings (the listings themselves are not deleted)

Important Notes

  • Only parent listings can be added to a group (child/sub-listings cannot)

  • A listing that belongs to a group cannot be deactivated — remove it from the group first

  • The leading listing is the one shown on your website; its photos, description, and pricing are what guests see

Enabling Multi-Unit Mode on Your Website

Once your property groups are set up, you need to enable multi-unit mode on your booking website. The steps differ depending on whether you use the Booking Engine App or the WordPress Plugin.

Booking Engine App

  1. Go to Apps → Websites and select your Booking Engine website

  2. Click General Settings

  3. In the Main tab, find the Multi-Unit mode toggle (only visible when Calendar Service v2 is active)

  4. Toggle it ON

  5. Click Save

The toggle description reads: "Show only leading listings from property groups. Each listing displays the number of available units."

WordPress Plugin

  1. Go to Apps → Websites and select your WordPress website

  2. Click General Settings

  3. In the settings form, find the Multi-Unit mode toggle (only visible when Calendar Service v2 is active)

  4. Toggle it ON

  5. Click Save

Both apps share the same underlying setting (multi_unit_mode). Once enabled, the multi-unit behavior applies to that specific website.

How Multi-Unit Availability Works

When multi-unit mode is enabled on a website, the system changes how listings are displayed and searched:

Search Results & Map

  • Only the leading listing from each property group is shown in search results and on the map

  • All non-leading unit listings are automatically hidden — they won't appear in search, map markers, or top listings

  • The leading listing displays additional fields: the number of total units in the group and the number of available units for the searched dates

  • If no dates are specified in the search, total units is shown as the available count

Pricing

  • When a guest views pricing for a multi-unit listing, the system checks availability across all units in the group

  • If the leading listing itself is available, its pricing is used

  • If the leading listing is booked but other units are free, the pricing from the first available unit is used

  • The price shown is always per unit — guests multiply by their desired quantity

  • If no units are available for the requested dates, the listing shows as unavailable

Top Listings

  • When configuring top/featured listings for your website, the listing selection dropdowns automatically exclude non-leading units

  • Only standalone listings and group leaders appear in the selection list

How Multi-Unit Bookings Work

Single Unit Booking

When a guest books 1 unit, the flow is identical to a standard reservation — one reservation is created for the leading listing (or the first available unit in the group).

Multi-Unit Booking

When a guest books multiple units (quantity > 1):

  1. The system checks that enough units are available for the requested dates

  2. A separate reservation is created for each unit

  3. All reservations share the same confirmation code

  4. Payment is split proportionally across all units

For payment and confirmation, the guest only needs to confirm once — the system automatically detects all sibling reservations and processes them together. This applies to all payment methods including Stripe and MercadoPago.

Error Handling

If a multi-unit booking cannot be completed, the guest receives a clear error message:

  • "Multi-unit mode is not enabled for this website" — the website setting is not active

  • "Listing is not part of a multi-unit property group" — the listing isn't in a group

  • "Only N units available for the requested dates" — not enough units are free

Smart Booking Allocation

Smart Booking Allocation (SBA) automatically distributes reservations across units in a group to balance occupancy and reduce wear. You can configure SBA per group with settings for advance scheduling, shuffle mode, and manual allocation triggers.

👉 Read the full Smart Booking Allocation guide

Website API Changes (v3.1)

If you're using the Websites API to build a custom booking website, the following changes apply when multi-unit mode is enabled:

New Fields on Listings

Field

Type

Description

is_multi_unit

boolean

Whether this listing is a multi-unit group leader

total_units

integer

Total units in the group

available_units

integer

Units available for the searched dates

New Field on Settings

Field

Type

Description

multi_unit_mode

0 or 1

Whether multi-unit mode is enabled on this website

Booking Multiple Units

Send quantity in your POST /reservations request to book more than one unit. The response returns a reservations array (instead of a single reservation) with a shared confirmation_code.

For full API details, visit your Developer Portal → Websites API 3.1 documentation.

FAQ

Can I mix different listing types in one group?
You can, but it's designed for identical or near-identical units. The leading listing's details (photos, description, pricing) represent the entire group on the website.

What happens if I remove a listing from a group?
The listing becomes a standalone listing again. It won't appear as a unit in the group, but existing reservations for that listing are not affected.

Can a listing belong to multiple groups?
No, each listing can only be in one property group at a time.

What if there aren't enough units available?
The system will return an error with the number of available units, allowing the guest to adjust their quantity.

Does this work with both Booking Engine and WordPress websites?
Yes. Both the Booking Engine app and the WordPress plugin support multi-unit mode. The toggle is in the same location (General Settings) for both apps.

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