A Booking Request is a booking for a rental or activity that is marked as Pending when a customer books it online or booked through the system.
BookingCentral offers two options for a Pending/Booking Request:
1. Rentals or Activities can be set as Pending for Web Sales through the Settings (pending for all bookings online)
2. An individual booking can be created in the system as a Pending Booking (pending for only that booking).
This article will focus on the first option: setting a product to be pending when booked online.
Attributes of a Booking Request/Pending Booking in BookingCentral includes:
- Rentals or Tours set as Pending in the Settings will still block availability when booked.
- A booking request/pending booking will ask for the customer's credit card at checkout, but does not collect payment at the time of booking. It will show the customer the amount due based on the deposit rule that is set for the product.
- Customers will receive a Booking Request email notification (can be customized in the Settings).
- The business will need to confirm and collect payment for the booking through the system.
- A business can decline a Booking Request/Pending booking
- If a booking request is declined, there is a email notification that is sent to the customer (can be customized in the Settings).
Setting up a Booking Request
To enable a rental or activity to be Pending, follow the steps below.
- Go to the Settings tab
- Select Rentals or Tickets depending on your setup
- Select the product or + Add to create a new item
- On the Overview page, enable the request/pending setting in the Web Sales section
When a Customer books this Rental/Activity
With these settings, a customer will be able to book this rental online, and will receive an email similar to the one below.
Once the Booking Request is in the system, the business will need to decide how to handle the request. Options include:
- Open the booking request in the system, and Confirm Request. This will update the status to Confirmed, and send a confirmation email to the customer.
- Open the booking request in the system, and Decline Request. This will update the status to Declined, make the rental available again, and send a declined email to the customer. Note: if a deposit was collected, it will need to be refunded back to the customer.
