diff --git a/api/external/nova/messages.go b/api/external/nova/messages.go
index 15c652ba4..a0a5a8616 100644
--- a/api/external/nova/messages.go
+++ b/api/external/nova/messages.go
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ const (
 	EvacuateIntent v1alpha1.SchedulingIntent = "evacuate"
 	// CreateIntent indicates that the request is intended for creating a new VM.
 	CreateIntent v1alpha1.SchedulingIntent = "create"
+	// ReserveForFailoverIntent indicates that the request is for failover reservation scheduling.
+	ReserveForFailoverIntent v1alpha1.SchedulingIntent = "reserve_for_failover"
 )
 
 // GetIntent analyzes the request spec and determines the intent of the scheduling request.
@@ -160,6 +162,9 @@ func (req ExternalSchedulerRequest) GetIntent() (v1alpha1.SchedulingIntent, erro
 	// See: https://github.com/sapcc/nova/blob/c88393/nova/compute/api.py#L5770
 	case "evacuate":
 		return EvacuateIntent, nil
+	// Used by cortex failover reservation controller
+	case "reserve_for_failover":
+		return ReserveForFailoverIntent, nil
 	default:
 		return CreateIntent, nil
 	}
diff --git a/internal/scheduling/reservations/failover/reservation_scheduling.go b/internal/scheduling/reservations/failover/reservation_scheduling.go
index 873e5dbca..6859d2cc4 100644
--- a/internal/scheduling/reservations/failover/reservation_scheduling.go
+++ b/internal/scheduling/reservations/failover/reservation_scheduling.go
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ func (c *FailoverReservationController) queryHypervisorsFromScheduler(ctx contex
 	// Note: We pass all hypervisors (from all AZs) in EligibleHosts. The scheduler pipeline's
 	// filter_correct_az filter will exclude hosts that are not in the VM's availability zone.
 	scheduleReq := reservations.ScheduleReservationRequest{
-		InstanceUUID:     "failover-" + vm.UUID,
+		InstanceUUID:     vm.UUID,
 		ProjectID:        vm.ProjectID,
 		FlavorName:       vm.FlavorName,
 		FlavorExtraSpecs: flavorExtraSpecs,
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ func (c *FailoverReservationController) queryHypervisorsFromScheduler(ctx contex
 		IgnoreHosts:      ignoreHypervisors,
 		Pipeline:         pipeline,
 		AvailabilityZone: vm.AvailabilityZone,
+		SchedulerHints:   map[string]any{"_nova_check_type": string(api.ReserveForFailoverIntent)},
 	}
 
 	logger.V(1).Info("scheduling failover reservation",
@@ -218,7 +219,7 @@ func (c *FailoverReservationController) validateVMViaSchedulerEvacuation(
 		IgnoreHosts:      []string{vm.CurrentHypervisor},
 		Pipeline:         PipelineAcknowledgeFailoverReservation,
 		AvailabilityZone: vm.AvailabilityZone,
-		SchedulerHints:   map[string]any{"_nova_check_type": "evacuate"},
+		SchedulerHints:   map[string]any{"_nova_check_type": string(api.EvacuateIntent)},
 	}
 
 	logger.V(1).Info("validating VM via scheduler evacuation",