What happens when the guest doesn’t complete the booking payment on the website?
When a guest starts a reservation on the website, selects a payment method, and doesn’t complete the transaction, Stays automatically creates a pre-reservation in the accommodation’s calendar.
This pre-reservation temporarily blocks the selected dates, allowing the guest to complete the payment within a time frame defined by you.
What is a pre-reservation and how does it affect the calendar?
A pre-reservation is a temporary block created when a reservation started on the website does not have its payment completed.
While it is active, the dates remain blocked in the accommodation’s calendar, even without confirmed payment. This helps prevent overbooking and ensures availability for the guest.
How long does a pre-reservation stay active and how does automatic deletion work?
The duration of the pre-reservation is defined by you in the Stays settings.
After the configured time expires, unpaid reservations are automatically deleted. Stays performs these checks and deletions every 15 minutes.
The time limit must be configured using only one time unit, such as minutes, hours, or days.
Reservations made via bank slip or bank transfer may have a different expiration time from standard pre-reservations. This is defined in a specific field further down on the same settings page.
How to set the pre-reservation expiration time?
To configure the expiration time:
Go to [Settings > Reservations > Pre-reservations];
Find the [Pre-reservations from website] section;
- Enable [Cancel incomplete website reservations automatically?];
Set the waiting time for payment;
Save the changes.
What are incomplete reservations and how can I manage them?
Incomplete reservations are reservation attempts made on the website where the guest selected a payment method but did not complete the transaction. These cases generate pre-reservations in the calendar.
You can find incomplete bookings:
In [Reservation Center > Incomplete reservations (website)];
On the dashboard, if the user has a agent profile.
When accessing the details of an incomplete reservation, you can view basic guest information, accommodation details, stay dates and the reservation code.
These cases can be assigned to reservation agents to contact the guest and attempt conversion.
Does Stays send emails to guests with incomplete reservations?
Yes. Stays provides a default email template that can be automatically sent to guests with unconfirmed reservation.
The email can be sent when:
The guest starts a reservation on the website and doesn’t complete the payment;
The team performs a direct sale with pending payment;
The first contact is made after a reservarion through a sales channel.
This email sending can be disabled or customized, including per channel.
The email includes the accommodation name, check-in and check-out dates, total reservation amount, confirmation deadline, the amount required to secure the reservation, the pre-reservation code and your business contact details.