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KI-Symbolbild: Zwei Holzchalets mit Terrasse und Liegestühlen hinter einem Naturbadeteich mit Rohrkolben in einem Alpental.
Practical article Selling Austria and Germany

Selling a holiday property when future bookings exist: keep guest transactions and the property transaction separately organised

How do I prepare a sale when stays are already agreed for the holiday property after the planned transfer date?

Automatically translated – the German version is legally binding. Show original (German)

Published
19 Oct 2026
Applies to
Austria and Germany
For whom
Owners & landlords
Article ID
WX26-P05-0042

You want to sell a property that has so far only been made available to guests for short-term stays. Bookings already exist for months after the planned transfer. Maybe amounts have been paid in advance or a service provider looks after the guests. That means, alongside the property sale, there is an ongoing operational inventory. Our editorial method for Austria and Germany prepares coordination of this. It does not decide any automatic contract takeover or the local permissibility of the accommodation.

Record the booking inventory that actually exists

Compile the accommodation, intended period and confirmed status for each transaction. Keep an enquiry separate from a booking that has come about under the actual conditions. Which legal binding exists will, in case of doubt, be examined on the basis of the specific text.

Note payments received, outstanding amounts and expressly agreed additional services with their reference. An aggregated revenue figure does not show which stay extends beyond the planned sale date. Changes that have already been declared also belong in the record.

Distinguish change of ownership from change of operator

Who is actually to provide the service to the guests? Is the previous operation to end, continue or be changed on a basis yet to be examined? Give this intention fully to the contractual and, if applicable, operational advice.

The article does not assume that a property buyer automatically takes on all guest obligations, nor that the previous provider may cancel at will. Booking platforms are also not described as having specific transfer functions. The actual conditions must be clarified with the responsible authorities.

An invented stay after the desired transfer

An owner wants to sell in autumn. For a later holiday period there is already a confirmed guest agreement with payment in advance. The buyer wants to use the property themselves at that time.

The owner therefore treats the booking as a concrete open condition of arrangement. She sets text, payment and intended wish for use side by side and has the appropriate course of action examined. A booking line is not simply deleted from the calendar, and the advance payment is not distributed as free sales proceeds without comment.

Include services and access

Which cleaning, key or care services have been agreed specifically? Who holds which information for the next stay? A commissioned person should not stand in front of a locked door because only the parties to the purchase know of a change.

Personal guest data are not treated without examination as part of the public property file. Required disclosure, entitlement and suitable method belong in the coordination. The article does not provide a blanket data protection release for a change of operator.

Make the accounting process comprehensible

Record actual payments and services yet to be performed with clear allocation. An internal offsetting against the purchase price does not alone answer every question towards guests and service providers. Which amounts are to be treated on which basis will be clarified individually.

After examination, communication, calendar and processing are brought to the same confirmed status. Record which guest and service transactions are still open and who will carry them forward.

This ensures that the planned property transfer is not quietly treated as the complete conclusion of all ongoing stays. The buyer knows the periods of use that actually need to be arranged, and existing guest transactions remain findable with their real services and payments.

Sources and context

Eigene redaktionelle Empfehlungen und ausdrücklich erfundene Fälle. Keine externen Markt-, Rechts-, Steuer- oder Technikbehauptungen; keine externe Recherche für diesen begrenzten Gegenstand.

Created with the help of AI and editorially reviewed. General guidance only; not individual legal, tax or financial advice. Errors and later changes are possible.