The Booking Enquiries feature allows managers to approve bookings before they're formally accepted into the system. To use this feature they will need to change the "Bookings require approval or availability confirmation?" setting in Property Configuration.
Properties which use the approval process are marked as "Booking on Request" in the search results, whereas properties that don't are marked as "Instant booking".
The Approval process works as follows :
- Guest makes a booking.
- The booking is created as normal, however rooms are not blocked yet.
- The unapproved booking is viewable in the bookings page. From the "More" dropdown the manager can approve a booking.
- When the booking is approved an email is sent to the guest, containing a link to the confirmation page.
- When they click this link the guest is taken back to the Confirmation page. If gateways are configured at this point then they will be able to make their payment.
- Once payment is made then the booking is marked as paid.
Note : Bookings can also be rejected via the booking list.
Note : Bookings made by managers are automatically approved.
Note: The guest does not see the gateway option on the confirmation page when they first place the booking, they'll only see the gateway option after the booking is approved.