The model
Three things a guest experiences — the Online Check-in form, the Contract, and the Arrival instructions email — all resolve the same way, in this order:
- Per-property override, if that property has customised it.
- Account default, if you've set one under Account defaults.
- Built-in fallback — a sensible empty/standard default (a plain standard contract, an empty check-in form template, arrival instructions turned off) if you've never touched either level.
Nothing is ever unconfigured: every property always has an effective form, contract, and arrival setting, even if you've never opened these pages.
Where each level lives
Account defaults has its own section (three tabs: Online Check-in, Contract, Arrival) that edits the account-wide default directly — this is what any property without its own override uses.
Per-property settings live on that property's own Check-in form, Contract, and Arrival pages. Each one shows which level currently applies and lets you diverge from it.
How the UI shows which level applies
Each per-property page states its status plainly and offers to undo it:
- Check-in form — "Using account default" when unmodified, or "Custom form — this property has its own check-in form" once it diverges, with a Revert to account default button.
- Contract — three states: "Standard contract" (nobody's customised anything), "Using your account's custom contract" (you set an account default and this property just inherits it), or "Custom contract for this property" (a property-level override), each with its own revert option.
- Arrival instructions — "Using account default" or "Custom arrival instructions — this property has its own configuration," again with a revert action.
Before you've created an override, the editor still opens pre-filled with whatever is currently effective (the account default, or the built-in fallback), so you always see and edit from what the property would actually use — saving from there is what creates the override.
When to use each level
Set the account default once for the form fields, contract text, and arrival-instructions wording you want everywhere — most hosts only manage one or two properties' worth of nuance, so the default alone covers them. Reach for a per-property override only when one listing genuinely needs different wording or fields — a different language mix, a property-specific house rule, or arrival instructions that mention a lockbox code that varies by address.
The pitfall to know
"I edited the account default but this property didn't change" almost always means that property already has its own override — overrides don't get silently updated when you change the account default underneath them, by design, since a host who deliberately customised a property presumably wants to keep it that way. Check that property's own page for the "Custom…" status, and use Revert to account default there if you actually want it back in sync.