Is "Request to book" available for Booking.com?
Yes, "Request to book" is available to all markets on Booking.com.
The feature allows hosts to disable "Instant booking" and assess booking requests from guests before accepting or rejecting them.
“Request to book” is sometimes also referred to as “inquiry”, but it should be noted that these are two different events, relating to different event messaging rules. In fact, the Booking.com request to book feature is treated as an “Inquiry” on Hospitable, and the “New inquiry” event messaging rule should be used to communicate to guests when they request to book your property.
You can read more about the request-to-book feature and how to enable it on Booking.com here.
How does the request to book on Booking.com work?
A guest can make a request to book a property on Booking.com. This request will be sent to the host to accept or decline.
The host has 24 hours to accept or reject the request. If the host does nothing in the 24 hours, the request gets automatically rejected.
After the host accepts the request to book, the guest has another 24 hours to complete their booking.
If the guest does not complete the booking within 24 hours of the host accepting their request to book, the request expires with no booking.
Eligible property types
The request to book feature is not available for all property types.
The feature was intended for short-term rental hosts, and not for hotels.
Eligible property types are:
Holiday homes
Apartments
Villas
For any questions about your eligibility or about the request to book feature in general, please contact Booking.com's support directly.
How do I accept or reject a request to book from a Booking.com guest?
You can accept or reject a guest's request to book with you directly from the Hospitable inbox.
These are the only actions a host can take on a request to book from Booking.com.
Why can't I message a guest who requested to book with me on Booking.com?
Booking.com does not yet allow hosts to message guests who made a request to book through a third-party software like Hospitable.
When you receive a request to book, and if you want to message the guest, you need to go to the Booking.com Pulse app or Extranet.
The only exception to this is if the guest made the request to book using the iOS Booking.com app on their phone or device.