How long can I hold a request?

[Alice7]

A guest has made a request for booking but is waiting for a new credit card to arrive before she wants to proceed with payment. She's asked me to hold the request until the middle of next week. Can I hold it for this long and will this impact negatively on my response rate?

Thanks, I would appreciate your advice on this.

Alice

[Zeke0]

Decline and block the dates that the guest is requesting. Let her know that you're declining for now to keep up a positive response rate, and have blocked the dates so no one else can book. Have her message you when she's ready and when she does, unblock the dates, send her a special request and she can complete the booking.

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

You need to accept or decline within 24 hours.  If you decline she can request again.  Or she can withdraw her request now and request again when she is ready.  If you want to trust her you can block those dates and tell her to message you to unblock them when she is ready to book.  Lots of times these type of requests never end up booking and paying so you should ask yourself if you want to take the chance of missing a certain booking for a possible booking.  It may be best to tell her you can't hold the dates for her without payment, but you would be happy to approve her when she is ready, if the dates are still open. 

If her request was a request instead of an inquiry and you accept it may book her and then the system may cancel her if the card is not valid.  So she should withdraw her request if she wants to wait.  It is not really your concern if she is not ready to book but went ahead and made the request anyway.

If it was an inquiry and you pre-approve then she would have 24 hours to book or the whole thing would expire and she would have to start over when she is ready to pay.

Kerrin

[Alice7]

Thanks so much Zeke and Kerrin for your speedy replies. I think I'm too nice sometimes and just want to make it easier for other people but then do all the running around myself finding stuff out for them!! You're both right. She is in a different time zone to me too so it's hard to get speedy responses from each other as one of us is often asleep! But I think I will take your advice and tell her to cancel her request and I'll block the dates but give her a time limit of a week to get her credit card details sorted out, otherwise I'll unblock the dates. Does that sound fair?

Thanks again for your advice.

Alice

[Denise80]

Can I ask something too please? 

I had an inquiry from a lady who I pre-approved. That was 3 days ago and she is still on my dshboard as 'pre-approved'. I thoght she would only have 24 hours to accept? Thanks ofr any replies!

[Soniya0]

Pre approve simply means she can proceed to book. It doesn't block your calendar hence she doesn't have to respond within a time. Some guests are courteous and prompt and respond immediately. Many others don't bother. So I'd say don't bother about it too much.

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

@Denise80You can remove your preapproval and message her that you are now declining her unless she contacts you again.  Or you can just leave it open for her in case she books.

[Margarete57]

Thank you for all this information, it makes things a bit clearer. I blocked the dates that were asked because the credit card needed approval and it is a bank holiday the following Monday. I blocked the calendar and will give them time till Tuesday. thanks again