| Purpose | Add and manage the primary and third-party reservation sources used to identify how bookings reach your property. |
| Best for | Property owners, general managers, and administrators responsible for reservation-source configuration. |
| Use this when | You need to add a booking source, configure a commission or tax/fee, or edit, activate, deactivate, or delete an existing source. |
| Requirements | Property Owner access or a role with the Sources permission. |
| Expected result | Your reservation sources are available with the intended status, commission, and tax/fee configuration. |
| Limitations | Adding or deactivating an OTA as a third-party source does not connect or disconnect that channel. Commission percentages configured here are used within Cloudbeds and are not sent to OTAs or agencies. |
Introduction
Reservation Sources identify where bookings come from and help Cloudbeds PMS apply the appropriate source configuration to reservations. Sources can also be associated with taxes, fees, and commission percentages used within Cloudbeds.
Cloudbeds PMS uses two source types. Primary Sources identify direct booking origins, while Third-Party Sources identify bookings from OTAs, wholesalers, travel agents, and corporate clients. Use the workflows below to add a source or maintain an existing one.
Table of contents
Before you manage reservation sources
Access to reservation-source settings is controlled by the Sources privilege assigned to the user's role. Property Owners have access by default. Other users need this privilege enabled before they can add or change reservation sources.
Enable the Sources privilege for a role
If a user cannot manage reservation sources, review the privileges assigned to their role:
- Open the Account
and select Settings.
- Go to Users and open the Roles tab.
- Open the role you want to review or edit.
- Under the Property privileges, locate Sources.
- Enable the Sources privilege and save the role.
The Sources privilege allows users assigned to that role to edit and configure reservation sources. For more information about managing roles and privileges, see Add, edit or delete roles.
Choose a reservation source type
After confirming access, choose the source type based on how the reservation reaches the property:
- Primary Sources: Use for direct booking origins used when creating reservations in Cloudbeds PMS.
- Third-Party Sources: Use for OTAs, wholesalers, travel agents, and corporate clients.
Manage reservation sources
Expand the workflow that matches the reservation source you want to create or manage. Each workflow starts from the Sources page so it can be followed independently.
Add primary sources
Primary Sources identify direct booking origins used when creating reservations in Cloudbeds PMS.
Open the Account and select Settings. Then follow the numbered steps below, which match the numbers shown in the images.
- Go to Property.
- Open the Sources tab.
- Select Primary Sources.
- Click Add Source.
- Enter a Source Name.
- Select the taxes or fees to apply to reservations created through this source, if needed.
- Click Save.
After saving, the new source appears in the Primary Sources list.
For complete instructions on creating and assigning taxes and fees, see Set Up and Apply Taxes and Fees.
Add third-party sources
Third-Party Sources identify reservations from OTAs, wholesalers, travel agents, and corporate clients. Use this page to configure how those reservations are identified and reported inside Cloudbeds PMS.
How third-party sources work
Third-party source settings in Cloudbeds PMS identify and configure reservations from external booking sources. They do not manage the actual channel connection.
- Adding an OTA on the Sources page does not connect that channel to Cloudbeds PMS.
- Deactivating an OTA source on this page does not disconnect the channel.
- Commission percentages configured for a source are used within Cloudbeds for reporting and are not sent to the OTA or agency.
- If payment processing is enabled, configure the appropriate processing method for each supported OTA collect type.
When a new channel is connected through Distribution, Cloudbeds automatically creates the corresponding third-party source.
Add a third-party source
Open the Account and select Settings. Go to Property > Sources, then follow the numbered steps below. The numbers match the annotations in the images.
- Select Third Party Sources.
- Click the option for the source type you want to add, such as Add New Wholesaler, Add New OTA, Add New Corporate Client, or Add New Travel Agent.
- Configure the source:
- For a Wholesaler, Travel Agent, or Corporate Client, enter the Source Name.
- For an OTA, select the channel from the Source Name list.
- Enter a Commission Percentage, if applicable.
- Select the taxes or fees to apply, if needed.
- Click Save.
Commission behavior
Commission percentages configured for Reservation Sources are used within Cloudbeds for reporting. Changing a commission here does not change the percentage configured in the OTA or agency extranet, and Cloudbeds does not send the commission percentage to the OTA or agency.
Commission settings are used by reporting such as the Payout / Commission Report. The report calculates commission from the rules configured in Cloudbeds, which may differ from the amount invoiced by an OTA.
When you change or add a commission percentage, Cloudbeds can recalculate previous bookings using the new commission. This recalculation applies across reservation statuses, so review the change before confirming it.
Channel Collect and Hotel Collect sources
If the same channel uses both Channel Collect and Hotel Collect with different commission percentages, add the source separately for each payment type so the appropriate commission can be configured.
The example below shows separate payment types with different commission percentages under the same channel.
If payment processing is enabled for your property, configure the processing method required for each supported OTA collect type. See How to set up automatic/scheduled payment processing for OTAs and Booking Engine.
For complete instructions on assigning taxes and fees to reservation sources, see Set Up and Apply Taxes and Fees.
Edit, activate, deactivate, or delete reservation sources
Use the controls in the Sources list when an existing reservation source needs to be activated, deactivated, edited, or deleted.
Open the Account and select Settings. Go to Property > Sources and open the source type you want to manage. The numbered actions below match the numbers shown in the image.
- Activate or deactivate the source: Turn the Active/Inactive toggle on or off.
- Edit the source: Click the pencil icon.
- Delete the source: Click the x icon.
Changes to reservation sources require the Sources permission. If an action is unavailable or returns an access error, ask your property administrator to review the permission assigned to your role.
Related articles
Now that you can create and maintain reservation sources, review the reservation-source overview for additional context about how source types are used across Cloudbeds PMS:
Comments
This is my third urgent request for assistance. I cannot get our third party corporate activated.
Please respond asap
Hi Lisa,
Your request has been forwarded to our Support Team who will get back to you over email. We also noticed that you have an open ticket with our Customer Coaches ticket #1179653 where our coach is trying to contact you at the same email address you reached out to us.
Regards,
My new primary source that I added does not return any available rooms when creating a new reservation, please assist
Hello!
Thank you so much for reaching out.
Please contact our Support Team for dedicated assistance with this request. They will be able to verify all the corresponding details and assist you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Selecting "Check this article Applying Taxes and Fees To Reservation Sources to learn more." yields a page not found error.
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