When do guests pay?

[J62]

Hi - I have a guest who wants me to hold the accomodation for a week until he gets paid.  I have pre approved it and he now has 23 hours to book.  Does he pay at that point or later on? Thank you in advance!

[Lawrene0]

He has to pay when he books, @J62. Received wisdom on this forum (and also my own personal experience) says do not block dates for someone who won't commit to booking, who is "thinking about it" or "needs to get paid". It seems like the nice thing to do, but you are likely to end up with no booking at all at that time. Best to tell anyone wanting you to do this that you are happy for them to book, but unfortunately it is first-come-first-served. If he is serious, he will book, and not merely ask you to hold his dates.

Pre-approving is great, though. That doesn't hurt anything, and helps your response time metrics.

[Farah1]

@Lawrene0 I believe pre-approval does not block calendar, right?

[Lawrene0]

Hi, @Farah1. Pre-approval only blocks the calendar when you tick the box that asks whether you want to block the dates. I never do that. 

So pre-approval is good, blocking for only 24 hours is okay if @J62 wants to do that by ticking the box, but manually blocking for the week that this prospective guest seems to be asking is ill advised I think.

[Farah1]

@J62 once the reservation is confirmed, in this case for him to finish his booking since you already sent the pre-approval, then his card will be charged right away as soon as the reservation is confirmed.