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Cloudbeds Booking Engine Troubleshooting

Gabriela Garcia
Updated
Purpose Identify and resolve common problems that prevent guests from selecting accommodations or completing bookings through Cloudbeds Booking Engine.
Best for Front desk staff, property managers, and administrators investigating guest booking issues.
Use this when The Add button is unavailable, a Base Rate or rate plan is missing, a billing field cannot be selected, or an error occurs during booking.
Requirements The affected booking dates and accommodation or rate plan, plus access to the relevant settings or assistance from a property administrator.
Expected result Identify a likely cause, correct a supported configuration issue, or gather the information Support needs to investigate further.

Introduction

Cloudbeds Booking Engine uses your accommodation, rate plan, booking, and payment settings to determine what guests can select and how they can complete a reservation.

Some settings may prevent guests from adding an accommodation even when its rates and availability are visible. Other settings can hide specific offers from the Booking Engine.

Start with the symptom guests see. After making a change, repeat the same guest-facing search using the affected dates and accommodation to confirm the result.

Table of contents

Who this affects and how

Role What to know
Front desk staff Use the symptoms in this article to reproduce the issue, then share the affected dates and accommodation with an administrator. Start with disabled Add buttons if a room appears but cannot be selected.
Manager/GM Review whether inventory limits and rate restrictions match the property's sales policy before changing them. See Base Rate inventory and rate-plan visibility.
Admin Check and update the relevant configuration, then test the guest-facing result. Begin with Quantity per booking for disabled Add buttons and Sellable inventory for missing Standard Rates.

Why is the Add button disabled or greyed out?

Symptom: An accommodation and its rate offers appear in the Booking Engine, but the Add buttons are faded or cannot be clicked, even though inventory and prices appear available.

Cause to check: Limit inventory per booking is enabled, and Quantity per booking for that accommodation type is set to 0. This setting limits how many units of the same accommodation type a guest can add to a single reservation. When the value is 0, guests cannot add that accommodation.

For example, when this limit was set to 0 for Deluxe Room in a demo property, both its Standard Rate and Non Refundable offers remained visible, but their Add buttons were disabled, as shown below.

Booking Engine showing Deluxe Room with Standard Rate and Non Refundable offers and disabled Add buttons.

Check and correct Quantity per booking

  1. In Cloudbeds PMS, open the Account Menu and go to Settings > Booking Engine > Settings > Accommodations.
  2. Locate Limit inventory per booking and check whether it is enabled.
  3. Under Quantity per booking, find the affected accommodation type.
  4. If the value is 0 and guests should be able to book that accommodation, enter a positive quantity that matches the property's intended per-reservation limit. Review the values for other accommodation types before saving.
  5. Click Save, then repeat the same dates and guest search in the Booking Engine. Confirm that Add is available again.

The following example shows Limit inventory per booking enabled, with quantity limits configured for individual accommodation types. The quantity can be adjusted for each type independently.

Booking Engine Settings showing Limit inventory per booking enabled and the Quantity per booking fields for accommodation types.

 Important: Limit inventory per booking is different from Limit inventory. The first restricts how many units guests can add to one reservation. The second controls sellable inventory for Base Rates. If an offer is missing rather than showing a disabled Add button, see Why does a Standard Rate disappear when Limit inventory is enabled?

If Add remains disabled after correcting the quantity, review other rate-plan configuration issues. If the problem continues, contact Support with the affected dates, accommodation, screenshots, and settings already checked.

Why does a Standard Rate disappear when Limit inventory is enabled?

Symptom: An accommodation type may still appear in the Booking Engine, but its Standard Rate is missing while another rate plan remains visible.

Cause to check: Limit inventory controls Sellable inventory for Base Rates only. When Sellable inventory for an accommodation type is set to 0, its Base Rate is not offered through the Booking Engine. Other eligible rate plans may still appear.

The following example illustrates how this setting affects the available offers for Deluxe Room.

Before changing the inventory limit

In this example, Deluxe Room has two offers available in the Booking Engine: Non Refundable and Standard Rate. Both offers display an Add button and can be selected.

Booking Engine showing Deluxe Room with Non Refundable and Standard Rate available before the sellable inventory limit is changed.

Check Sellable inventory

If the Standard Rate is missing, check whether the property's inventory settings are preventing it from being offered.

  1. In Cloudbeds PMS, open the Account Menu and go to Settings > Booking Engine > Settings > Accommodations.
  2. Locate Limit inventory. If enabled, review the Sellable inventory value for the affected accommodation type.
  3. If the value is 0, the accommodation's Base Rate is not offered through the Booking Engine. If the Base Rate should be available, enter the quantity the property intends to sell.
  4. Click Save and repeat the guest-facing search to confirm whether the Standard Rate appears.

In the following example, Limit inventory is enabled and Sellable inventory for Deluxe Room is set to 0.

Booking Engine Settings showing Limit inventory enabled and Sellable inventory set to zero for Deluxe Room.

After setting Sellable inventory to 0

When the same Booking Engine search is repeated, Standard Rate no longer appears for Deluxe Room. However, the Non Refundable rate plan remains visible and can still be selected.

This happens because Limit inventory applies to Base Rates only. It does not automatically remove other eligible rate plans from the Booking Engine.

Booking Engine showing Deluxe Room with only Non Refundable available after Sellable inventory was set to zero.

If an accommodation type has no other eligible rate plans, it may disappear from the Booking Engine results entirely.

 Remember: Setting Sellable inventory to 0 is not the same as setting Quantity per booking to 0. The first affects Base Rate availability, while the second prevents guests from adding units of the affected accommodation type to a reservation.

For a complete explanation of both controls, see Booking Engine Settings page overview.

Why is a rate plan not displayed on the Booking Engine?

If a rate plan does not appear in guest-facing results, check whether it is active, available for the Website/Booking Engine source, and eligible for the selected dates. Review booking restrictions and pricing as well.

If the missing offer is the Standard Rate, also check Limit inventory.

Expand the relevant reason below to review its configuration.

The rate plan is not active

A rate plan must be active for the relevant sources before guests can book it through the Booking Engine.

  1. In Cloudbeds PMS, open Main Menu > Rates and Availability > Rate Plans & Packages.
  2. Locate the affected rate plan in the Rate Plans & Packages table.
  3. Check the Active for Sources/Booking Engine toggle. A green toggle with a checkmark indicates the rate plan is active. A grey toggle indicates it is inactive.
  4. If the rate plan should be available, enable the toggle.
  5. Repeat the original Booking Engine search to check whether the rate plan appears. If it remains missing, review the other possible causes below.

In the following example, the Sail & Stay Catamaran Package is active. An inactive rate plan would have the toggle switched off.

Rate Plans and Packages table showing the Active for Sources/Booking Engine toggle enabled for a rate plan.

The rate plan has booking restrictions

Rate plans may have restrictions that prevent guests from booking them for certain dates or lengths of stay. These can include minimum and maximum length of stay, booking cutoffs, last-minute booking restrictions, and eligible days of the week.

  1. In Cloudbeds PMS, open Main Menu > Rates and Availability > Rate Plans & Packages.
  2. Find the affected rate plan and click the plus (+) icon next to its name to expand its configured periods and restrictions.
  3. Review the Start Date, End Date, Min LOS, Max LOS, Cut-off, Last Minute Booking, and Days of Week fields, as applicable.
  4. Compare those values with the guest's check-in and checkout dates and the date the guest is making the booking.
  5. If the restrictions do not match the property's intended booking policy, edit the rate plan, correct the applicable settings, and save.
  6. Repeat the Booking Engine search to verify whether the rate plan appears.

The following example shows an expanded rate plan with Min LOS = 5 and Max LOS = 5. This means the illustrated rate-plan period requires a five-night stay. A guest searching for a shorter or longer stay would not meet those restrictions.

Expanded rate plan displaying Start Date, End Date, minimum and maximum length of stay, cutoff, last-minute booking, and days-of-week restrictions.

For complete configuration instructions, see Rate Plans and Packages: Everything you need to know.

The rate plan is not available for the Website/Booking Engine source

Even when a rate plan is active, it must also be available for the Website/Booking Engine source to appear in guest-facing Booking Engine results.

  1. In Cloudbeds PMS, open Main Menu > Rates and Availability > Rate Plans & Packages.
  2. Locate the affected rate plan. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on the right and select Edit.
  3. In the rate plan's configuration, find Which sources is the rate plan available for?
  4. Open the source-selection dropdown and look for Website/Booking Engine under Direct.
  5. If the source is not selected and the property intends to sell the rate plan online, select it and save the changes.
  6. Repeat the guest-facing search to verify whether the rate plan appears.

To edit an existing rate plan, open its three-dot menu and select Edit, as illustrated below.

Rate Plans and Packages table showing the Edit option in the three-dot action menu for a rate plan.

In the rate plan settings, make sure Website/Booking Engine is selected. The following example shows this source enabled under Direct.

Rate plan source selection dropdown with Website/Booking Engine selected under Direct.

You can also identify inactive rate plans from the Active for Sources/Booking Engine column, as shown in this example.

Rate Plans and Packages table showing an active rate plan and an inactive rate plan in the Active for Sources/Booking Engine column.

If Website/Booking Engine is selected and the rate plan is active but still does not appear, check the rate plan's restrictions, applicable dates, and pricing.

The rate plan discount reduces the price to zero or less

If a discount equals or exceeds the underlying room rate, the resulting price can be zero or negative. A rate plan with no payable room price may not appear in the Booking Engine.

  1. In Cloudbeds PMS, open Main Menu > Rates and Availability > Rate Plans & Packages.
  2. Locate the affected rate plan, click the three-dot menu (⋮), and select Edit.
  3. Under Is this a derived rate plan?, check whether Yes is selected.
  4. If the rate plan is derived, review the adjustment type, percentage or fixed amount, and the rate selected under Derived from.
  5. Check the underlying rate for the affected booking dates and compare it with the configured adjustment.
  6. Determine whether the resulting price is zero or less.
  7. If the pricing does not reflect the property's intended offer, correct the applicable rate or adjustment and save.
  8. Repeat the guest-facing search to verify whether the rate plan appears.

In the following example, the Senior Discount 60+ for 2026 rate plan is configured at 7% below the Base Rate. The calculation fields show how the price is derived. This example illustrates where to check pricing adjustments; it does not represent a zero-price rate plan.

Edit Rate Plan showing a derived rate plan configured with a 7% discount from the Base Rate.

Why can't a guest select the Billing State?

Symptom: A guest cannot select a state or province in the billing address section of the Booking Engine payment form, or the form asks them to select a country first.

Possible cause: The Billing Country field is not displayed in the payment form. The guest may be unable to select a state or province without first selecting a billing country.

The following example shows the current guest-facing payment form. The billing address section includes separate fields for State and Country.

Guest-facing Booking Engine payment form showing billing address fields, including State and Country, with the Country dropdown awaiting a selection.

Check the Billing Country configuration

  1. Open the property's guest-facing Booking Engine and proceed to the payment step. Check whether the guest can select a Country in the billing address form.
  2. In Cloudbeds PMS, open the Account Menu and navigate to Settings > Finance > Payment Options > Credit Card.
  3. Locate Billing Address Requirements and review whether billing address information is required for Booking Engine reservations.
  4. Under Credit Card Configuration, find Billing Country and Billing State.
  5. Check whether Display Field is selected for Billing Country. If it is not selected and the property needs guests to provide their billing country, enable it.
  6. Review the Make Field Required selections for both Billing Country and Billing State to ensure they match the property's intended payment requirements.
  7. Click Save if you made changes.
  8. Return to the Booking Engine and repeat the guest-facing payment flow. Select a billing country and check whether the State field can now be completed.

The following screenshot shows Finance > Payment Options > Credit Card, including the Billing Address Requirements section and the Credit Card Configuration table. The Display Field column controls which billing fields appear when guests provide their credit-card billing information.

Cloudbeds PMS Finance Payment Options, Credit Card tab, showing Billing Address Requirements and Credit Card Configuration with Billing Country and Billing State display and required-field selections.

  Note: Displaying a field and requiring guests to complete it are separate settings. Review both columns before saving, especially when billing address information is required by your payment configuration.

If Billing Country is already displayed and the State field still cannot be selected, do not change unrelated payment settings. Contact Support with the affected Booking Engine link, payment configuration, and a screenshot of the issue.

What if a booking fails or troubleshooting does not resolve the issue?

If the Booking Engine displays an unexpected error, or the problem continues after the relevant settings have been checked, the cause may require further investigation. A generic error message alone does not identify the cause. Do not change unrelated Booking Engine or payment settings to try to clear it.

Before contacting Support: Note the step at which the issue occurred and whether it is safe to reproduce it without submitting another real payment. If a payment may already have been processed, do not retry it until its status has been checked.

If you cannot resolve the issue, contact the Cloudbeds Support Team and include:

  • The Booking Engine link and the affected accommodation or rate plan.
  • The check-in and checkout dates, number of guests, and steps taken before the problem.
  • The exact error message or unavailable control, with a screenshot that contains no sensitive information.
  • The settings already checked and any changes or tests performed.
  • For payment-related issues, the payment method or gateway involved, whether the gateway was recently changed, and the step where the failure occurred. Do not include payment card details or credentials.

These guides provide additional information about Booking Engine settings, rate plans, and customization:

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2 comments
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  • Avatar
    Christine Smyth

    Hi,

    I want to add a background image to the landing page.  A photo that sits in the background with the little box for dates, promo code etc. At the minute its just white and looks very plain

    How can I add this?

    Thanks

    Christine

    0
  • Avatar
    Juss Reyes

    Hello, Christine Smyth!

    You can add a Feature image to your Cloudbeds Booking Engine page. Please feel free to learn more in this article section.

    Kind regards!

    0

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