Confirmation mode By Admin: Review and Approve/Decline new reservations manually

Some hosts prefer to review each new reservation request manually before approving it instead of automatic approval by online payment. It allows them to check the availability on other platforms before approving the booking request and prevent overbooking, contact the guest personally over the phone or email to get additional information, or send further instructions before arrival, etc. Learn how to set this type of booking confirmation and how it works by reading the steps below:

To enable the confirmation mode by admin manually, you need to go to Accommodation > Settings, select a proper option, and save the changes.

Now the Booking flow will work in the following way:

• guest searches for available accommodation for the needed dates or checks the availability of a specific property on your site;
• guest proceeds to the checkout page, fills in the information, and makes a reservation
• guest receives an email notification about the created booking. The booking has a status 'Pending Admin' which blocks the availability of accommodation on the booked dates. The booking with this status is also added to the iCal export file so it can be imported by the third-party OTAs.
  The Email Template of the notification can be edited at Accommodation > Settings > Customer Emails - New Booking Email (Confirmation by Admin #)
• the owner also gets an email notification about a new booking
  The Email Template of the notification can be edited at Accommodation > Settings > Admin Emails - Pending Booking Email #
• admin needs to log in to the Dashboard or open the mobile application to change the status from 'Pending Admin' to 'Confirmed' or 'Cancelled'.
• once the booking is approved or canceled, the guest receives a notification about it. The owner does not get any notifications because he changed the status manually and hi knows about this change.
  The Email Templates of the notifications can be edited at Accommodation > Settings > Customer Emails - Approved Booking Email # or Cancelled Booking Email #

If you do not get email notifications during tests you may check this article - What to do if booking notification emails are not delivered

By default, the guest will pay for the stay on arrival or in any other way without using the Hotel Booking plugin. 
You may also charge the guest before arrival via the payment link by using the Payment Request addon. It allows using the inbuilt payment methods and use deposit settings to charge the full or deposit amount.