Use this guide to understand how Booking.com Request to Book reservations work in Hostaway and how to review and manage booking requests.
 

How to use Booking.com's Request to Book?

Booking.com's Request to Book functionality allows you to review a reservation request before accepting or declining it, providing an alternative to the classic Instant Book model.

Activating this feature will allow you to choose to accept the reservations that work best with your schedule, bring you the most value, and come from guests who will respect your property. To make full use of it, make sure to review your requests to book before they expire in 24 hours.

Eligibility criteria

The feature is in pilot mode on Booking.com, so only eligible properties can participate. The listing must fit all 3 criteria to join the pilot:

1. The property was created via API after September 12th, 2023, or created via join.booking.com in 2023

2. The property type is one of the following: Holiday Home, Apartment, or Villa

3. The feature is available worldwide, so the property can be located in any country.

Setting up Booking.com's Request to Book on your Hostaway account

If your listing fits the eligibility criteria:

• Before exporting your listing to Booking.com, contact us so that we can activate the feature for you. Once the feature is activated on your Hostaway account, you can export your listing to Booking.com
• If you have a Booking.com listing that is eligible for the pilot, you can switch it on directly from Booking.com's extranet

Request to Book Flow

Once the initial setup is done, all reservations made from Booking.com to the property will go through the Request to Book flow:

Where to find Booking.com inquiries?

1. The guest makes a reservation request from Booking.com
2. Hostaway receives the booking request and creates a new inquiry for your listing, and you have 24 hours to accept or decline it before it expires
3. The inquiry is visible on your listing's calendar (if you enabled inquiries in this view) or on the reservation page

Request to book and information

You can review the request before accepting or declining it. Please note that the information we receive from Booking.com about the request is limited; we will only have access to all guest information when the inquiry is converted into a confirmed reservation.

You will find the following details in Hostaway:

• Listing
• Check-in date
• Number of nights
• Number of guests
• An optional note left by the guest 
• The Booking.com request ID

Accept or decline Booking.com inquiries

• You can accept or decline the request from the reservation page and the calendar. If you decide to decline a request to book, you'll be prompted to select a reason and, optionally, a message for the guest
• If the request is approved, Booking.com notifies the guest, and the reservation's status in Hostaway is updated to "Inquiry preapproved". The listing's calendar will not be blocked until the guest finalizes the reservation on Booking.com, and the guest will only be able to finalize the reservation if the calendar remains available
• The guest has 24 hours to finalize the booking on Booking.com. Once done, the inquiry will be converted into a reservation, and you'll be able to see all reservation details
• NOTE: The API does not support actively messaging the guest while the request to book is pending approval; doing so will return an error in the Hostaway inbox.

Inquiry Price vs. Reservation Price

Key Differences

Inquiry price and reservation price may differ — this is expected behavior on Booking.com.

• The inquiry price is calculated based on the calendar pricing at the time the guest submits their booking request
• The reservation price is calculated based on the calendar pricing at the time the guest confirms the booking

Why Prices Can Change

Booking.com does not block availability during the booking request process. This means:

• Pricing remains dynamic throughout the request-to-book workflow
• The final price may be higher or lower than the initial inquiry price
• Guests are notified of any price changes before confirming their reservation
• Guests can choose to proceed with the updated price or cancel

The Booking.com Request-to-Book Process

1. Guest submits a booking request
   Price is based on calendar rates at the time of request
2. Host reviews and accepts the request
   Availability remains open; pricing may fluctuate
3. Guest confirms the booking
   Price is recalculated based on current calendar rates at the time of confirmation

Result: Two different prices may appear — one at the request stage and one at the reservation stage.

Booking.com & Hostaway Reservation Status when Request to Book is enabled

Switching the listing from Request to Book to Instant Booking

You can switch your listing back to the Instant Booking model in Booking.com's Extranet:

1. Go to your Booking.com Extranet > Property > Policies

2. Scroll down until you find the box "How you Receive Bookings" > Edit

3. Select "All guests can book instantly"

4. Save

If you switch the listing to "Instant Booking", guests will be able to immediately book your property from Booking.com, creating a confirmed reservation.

To learn more, please read this Booking.com article.