Potential guest wants to place a deposit to hold dates open

[Renee216]

I have a long term rental that a military family is wanting to rent when it becomes available In august. Problem is there is a small possibility he will be stationed somewhere else and won’t know for a few weeks. She would like to put a deposit down to hold it until they know. I’m ok with that since I will have an answer a couple of weeks before it becomes available and I feel pretty confident it will rent to someone else if they don’t need the place. Is there a way to accept this deposit on the platform without them committing to a reservation? If not, I will have to find another avenue. 

[Emiel1]

@Renee216 

Without a confirmed reservation it is impossible to exchange money with a guest via resolution centre.

other options are:

- The guest can book first night, with option to extend ("change option') to full reservation.

If stationed elsewhere, guest can cancel and if not refunded by your cancellation policy, you can manually refund (guest looses Airbnb Service fees).

- The guest can book full reservation. If stationed elsewhere you shorten ("change option") reservation to 1 night with minimum price. Guest looses minimum  price + service costs, but will be refunded remaining nights + Airbnb Service fees. To free up this one night on your calender, guest can cancel it.

[Renee216]

@Emiel1, 

Thanks for your response. I felt pretty sure that we couldn’t exchange funds without a confirmed reservation but you gave me some options I hadn’t thought of.