Booking Engine Plus filters FAQ

A Booking Engine Plus filter may not show if it is turned off in Booking Engine settings, hidden by the Guest occupancy filter configuration, or missing the setup data it needs to display options to guests.

Use this checklist to confirm the setup:

1. Go to Account Menu → Settings → Booking Engine → Settings → Filters.
2. Confirm the related filter is enabled:
   • For guest search options, review Guest occupancy filter.
   • For amenities, turn on Display amenities filter.
   • For accommodation types, turn on Display accommodation type filter.
3. If the Guest occupancy filter is set to Do not show, the guest selector will be hidden from the Booking Engine search panel.
4. If the Amenities filter is enabled, confirm at least one accommodation has amenities configured at the accommodation level.
5. If the Accommodation type filter is enabled, confirm your accommodation types are configured in Cloudbeds PMS.
6. Save your changes and refresh the Booking Engine page.

If the setting is enabled and the filter still does not appear as expected, contact Cloudbeds Support with your property ID and a screenshot of the Booking Engine.

The Amenities filter uses amenities configured at the accommodation level. If no accommodations have amenities configured, the filter has nothing to display to guests.

To resolve this, review your accommodation setup and confirm amenities are assigned to the relevant accommodations.

This message appears when the exact filter combination selected by the guest does not return a matching accommodation. The Booking Engine may still show other rooms available for the selected dates below the message so guests can continue browsing.

In this example, the guest is searching for 5 adults and has also selected specific accommodation types and an amenity. The full combination does not return an exact match, so the Booking Engine displays the message: Your filters returned no results, but there are other rooms available for your dates below.

The image below shows the applied filters and the no-results message. The Filters panel shows the selected adult count, accommodation types, and amenity, while the results page continues to display other available rooms for the selected dates.

To troubleshoot, test the search criteria one filter at a time instead of reviewing the full combination all at once. This helps you identify which setting, availability rule, or accommodation setup is preventing an exact match.

• Start with the dates only to confirm the property has availability for the selected check-in and check-out dates.
• Add the guest count next to confirm whether any accommodation can support the selected adult and child count.
• Add the accommodation type filter to confirm whether the selected room types are available for the selected dates and party size.
• Add the amenities filter last to confirm whether the selected amenities are assigned to accommodations that are also available for the selected dates and party size.

Some Booking Engine Plus filters prioritize matching accommodations instead of hiding all non-matching accommodations. This means matching accommodations appear first, while other available accommodations may still appear lower in the results and remain bookable.

This behavior helps guests compare the best matches without removing other available options from the booking flow.

When guests select multiple amenities, Booking Engine Plus prioritizes accommodations that include all selected amenities.

Other available accommodations may still appear lower in the results and remain bookable, depending on availability and the filter behavior.

The Accommodation type filter lets guests filter by the accommodation types configured for your property, such as Private Room, Deluxe Ensuite, dorm room, suite, cabin, or other configured types.

When guests select an accommodation type, matching accommodation types appear first in the results. Other available accommodation types may still appear lower in the results and remain bookable.

If guests select multiple accommodation types, the Booking Engine can prioritize accommodations that match the selected types while still showing other available options when possible.

The Booking Engine search panel defaults to 1 guest to keep the broadest set of accommodations visible when guests first open the Booking Engine.

This helps avoid excluding dorm-style accommodations from initial results and helps avoid showing higher occupancy-based rates before the guest selects their actual party size.

If you want the Booking Engine search panel to open with 2 adults by default, enable Set default number of adults in filter to 2 in the Booking Engine Filters settings. This option is available when the Guest occupancy filter is set to Total guests or Adults and children.

1. Go to Account Menu and click Settings  
2. Go to Booking Engine  
3. Click Settings, and you'll see the Filters tab by default
4. On the Guest occupancy filter option
   • Set it to Total guests or Adults and children.
   • Turn on Set default number of adults in filter to 2.
5. Click Save.

The image below shows the Filters settings with the Guest occupancy filter set to Total guests and the default adults toggle enabled.

When the Guest occupancy filter is set to Total guests, the Booking Engine only receives the total number of people in the search. It does not know how many of those guests are adults or children.

For example, if a guest searches for 10 guests, the Booking Engine can use that total to show accommodations that support 10 people. However, because the search does not include an adult and child breakdown, the adult and child steppers still need the guest to confirm the exact party mix before booking.

In this case, the steppers may start with a default value such as 2 adults and 0 children. The guest can adjust those values before confirming the accommodation. If the property uses occupancy-based pricing, the price may update when the adult or child values change.

The image below shows a search result for 10 guests. When the guest opens the adult and child steppers later in the booking flow, the steppers show 2 adults and 0 children by default because the original search provided a total guest count, not a specific adult and child mix.

When guests search by Total guests, the Booking Engine knows the total party size, but it does not know the exact adult and child mix. Because of this, guests may need to confirm the number of adults and children later in the booking flow.

For example, a search for 4 guests could mean 4 adults, 2 adults and 2 children, or another combination. The Booking Engine may ask the guest to confirm the pax mix when they add or select an accommodation so occupancy rules and occupancy-based pricing can be applied correctly before the booking is completed.

The same total guests search can look different depending on whether Require accommodation unit selection is enabled or disabled.

Unit selection enabled Unit selection disabled

In this example, the guest searched for 4 guests. The Filters panel shows the total guest count, but the Booking Engine still needs the guest to confirm how many of those guests are adults and how many are children.

When Require accommodation unit selection is enabled, the guest selects a specific unit first. Then the Booking Engine asks the guest to confirm the number of adults and children for that unit.

When Require accommodation unit selection is disabled, the guest may still be asked to confirm quantity, adults, and children when adding the accommodation. This helps the Booking Engine apply occupancy rules and occupancy-based pricing before the booking is completed.

Choose the Guest occupancy filter option based on how you want guests to search by party size.

• Use Total guests when you want broader discovery and want guests to fine-tune adult and child values later in the booking flow.
• Use Adults and children when you want results to reflect the exact party composition immediately.
• Use Do not show when you want to hide the guest selector from the Booking Engine search panel.

The Do not show option hides the guest selector from the Booking Engine search panel. It controls what guests can select from the Booking Engine interface, but it does not remove guest values from Booking Engine URLs that were already created and shared.

Example: A reservations specialist or front desk agent creates a Booking Engine link while the Guest occupancy filter is set to Adults and children, and the Amenities and Accommodation type filters are enabled. They search for 2 adults and 1 child, select a few amenities and accommodation types, then copy the generated URL and send it to a guest through WhatsApp, social media, or email.

The image below shows the customer-facing Booking Engine after filters were applied. The URL contains values for dates, adults, children, accommodation types, and amenities.

The image below shows the Booking Engine Filters settings before the link was created. The Guest occupancy filter is set to Adults and children, and both the Amenities and Accommodation type filters are enabled.

These mobile examples show the guest opening the previously shared link. The Booking Engine still shows results for 2 adults and 1 child, and the Filters panel still contains the values that came from the URL.

After the link is shared, a property admin changes the Booking Engine Filters settings. The Guest occupancy filter is set to Do not show, and the Amenities and Accommodation type filter toggles are turned off.

The image below shows the updated settings after the original link was already created.

If the guest opens the previously shared link, the Booking Engine can still show results for 2 adults and 1 child because the adult and child values are already included in the URL. However, the guest-facing filter panel no longer lets the guest select amenities or accommodation types because those filters were turned off in Booking Engine settings.

These mobile examples show the same shared link after the filters were disabled in settings. The adult and child values still affect the results, but the filter panel no longer shows selectable guest, amenity, or accommodation type options.

Booking Engine links can include parameters that pass search values into the booking flow. These parameters may include currency, checkin, checkout, adults, kids, guests, room_type, rate_plan, promo, accommodation_types, or amenities.

A URL with parameters may look like this:

https://hotels.cloudbeds.com/en/reservation/<property-code>/?currency=usd&checkin=2026-11-19&checkout=2026-11-23&adults=2&kids=1&accommodation_types=183234;183237;224550&amenities=air-conditioning;alfresco-shower;balcony

In this example:

• currency=usd sets the currency shown to the guest.
• checkin and checkout set the stay dates.
• adults=2 and kids=1 pass the party composition into the booking flow.
• accommodation_types passes selected accommodation type IDs.
• amenities passes selected amenity values.

When these parameters are included in a shared URL, the Booking Engine can use them to filter or prefill results, even if a related selector is hidden from the search panel.

This can happen with links from Google Hotel Search, allotment blocks, targeted room or rate plan links, promo links, messaging apps, social media posts, or manually created Booking Engine URLs.