Bookings & Guests

Understanding Booking Lifecycle

How a Booking Happens When a guest visits your booking engine and decides to book a property, a multi-step process kicks off behind the scenes. Understanding this flow helps you know what to expect and when to take action. The Guest Checkout Process Here's what happens from the moment a guest clicks "Book" on your booking engine: - Guest selects dates and property — The guest browses your listings, picks a property, selects their check-in and check-out dates, and proceeds to checkout. - Guest enters details and payment info — At checkout, the guest fills in their name, email, phone number, and credit card details. If they have a discount code, they can apply it here. - Payment is authorized — The guest's card is authorized — funds are held but not charged yet. If 3D Secure verification is required by their bank, they'll complete that step automatically. - Reservation is confirmed — Once payment authorization succeeds, the reservation is created with a Confirmed status. You'll see it immediately in your Bookings list, and the guest receives a confirmation email. - You capture the payment — When you're ready, you capture the authorized payment. This is when the guest's card is actually charged. - Booking completes after the stay — After the guest's stay, the reservation moves to Completed status. OnSeason uses manual payment capture. When a guest books, their card is authorized (funds are held) but not charged. You decide when to capture the payment — giving you control over the timing. Reservation Statuses Once a booking is confirmed, you'll see one of these statuses in your Bookings dashboard: - Confirmed — The guest has booked and payment is authorized. This is an active reservation. - Completed — The stay is finished and the booking is closed. - Cancelled — The reservation was cancelled (by you or the system). See Cancellations & Refunds for details. - Failed — Something went wrong during payment or creation. The booking was not completed. Payment authorizations typically expire after 7 days. Make sure to capture payments promptly to avoid expired authorizations that require the guest to re-authorize. Booking Codes Every reservation gets a unique booking code like FA-DB-ABC123. This code appears on the guest's confirmation email, is used in all communications between you and the guest, and can be searched in your Bookings dashboard to quickly find a specific reservation. The format is always FA- followed by two letters and six characters (letters and numbers). Direct vs Network Bookings You'll see two types of bookings in your dashboard: - Direct bookings — Guests booked through your own booking engine (your website or your-slug.staycy.app). You receive the full booking amount minus payment processing fees. - Network bookings — Guests booked one of your properties through another Property Manager's site via the OnSeason Network. Commission splits apply for network bookings. Your Bookings list shows the booking type for each reservation, so you always know where a booking came from.

Managing Bookings

Your Bookings Dashboard The Bookings section of your dashboard is where you manage all your reservations. You'll find a table listing every booking with key details at a glance: booking code, guest name, property, check-in and check-out dates, status, and total amount. Finding a Specific Booking Use the search bar at the top of the Bookings list to quickly find what you need: - Search by booking code — Enter the full or partial code (e.g., FA-DB-ABC123) - Search by guest name or email — Type the guest's name or email address You can also filter your bookings to narrow down the list: - By status — Show only Confirmed, Completed, Cancelled, or Failed bookings - By date range — View bookings within a specific time period - By property — See bookings for a particular listing Viewing Booking Details Click any reservation in the list to open the detail panel. Here you'll find everything about the booking: - Guest information — Name, email address, and phone number - Stay details — Check-in date, check-out date, property name, and number of guests - Payment breakdown — Subtotal, platform fees, any discounts applied, and total amount - Booking type — Whether this is a direct booking or a network/channel booking - Discount code — If the guest used a promo code, you'll see which one and the discount amount Check-in Instructions and Notes You can add helpful information to each booking directly from the detail panel: - Check-in instructions — Add key codes, directions, Wi-Fi passwords, or any information your guest needs for their arrival. These can be shared with the guest via messaging. - Reservation notes — Add internal notes visible only to your team. Use these to track special requests, issues, or anything else you want to remember about this booking. Check-in instructions and reservation notes are saved per booking. Check-in instructions can be shared with guests, while notes remain private to your team. Common Tasks - Find a specific booking — Go to Bookings in your dashboard and use the search bar. Enter a booking code (e.g., FA-DB-ABC123) or the guest's name. - View booking details — Click any row in the bookings table to open the detail panel with full information. - Add check-in instructions — Open the booking detail panel, scroll to Check-in Instructions, and enter the information your guest needs. - Add a reservation note — Open the booking detail panel, scroll to Notes, and add your internal note. Only your team can see these. Calendar View For a visual overview of your bookings, switch to the Calendar view at the top of the Bookings section. The calendar shows a monthly view with reservations displayed as colored blocks across their check-in to check-out dates. Click any reservation on the calendar to view its details, and navigate between months using the arrow controls to see upcoming or past bookings. The calendar is especially useful for seeing availability gaps and understanding your booking density at a glance.

Cancellations & Refunds

Cancelling a Booking - Sometimes you need to cancel a reservation — whether due to a guest request, property issue, or other circumstances. OnSeason makes the process straightforward and gives you control over the refund. - Find the reservation — Go to Bookings in your dashboard and locate the reservation you need to cancel. You can search by booking code or guest name. - Open the detail panel — Click on the reservation to open its detail panel. - Click Cancel Reservation — In the detail panel, click the "Cancel Reservation" button to start the cancellation process. - Choose your refund option — Select how much to refund the guest: Full refund, Partial refund (you choose a percentage from 1-99%), or No refund. - Add a reason (optional) — Enter a cancellation reason for your records. This is optional but recommended so your team has context for why the booking was cancelled. - Confirm the cancellation — Review your choices and confirm. The reservation status changes to Cancelled immediately. Cancellations cannot be undone. Once a reservation is cancelled and a refund is issued, it cannot be reversed. Double-check the booking details before confirming. Refund Options When cancelling, you have three refund choices: - Full refund — The guest receives the entire booking amount back. Use this when cancelling due to property issues or when offering maximum goodwill. - Partial refund — The guest receives a percentage of the booking amount back (you choose 1-99%). Useful when a cancellation fee applies or for late cancellations. - No refund — No money is returned to the guest. Applies for no-show situations or non-refundable bookings. Refunds typically take 5-10 business days to appear on the guest's bank statement. The refund is processed immediately through Stripe, but each bank has its own processing timeline. Let your guest know they should allow up to 10 business days. What Happens When You Cancel When you confirm a cancellation, several things happen automatically: Reservation status changes to Cancelled in your Bookings list Refund is processed via Stripe (if you chose full or partial refund) - PMS is updated — if the booking was synced to your PMS through Calry, the reservation is also cancelled there - Guest is notified — a cancellation email is sent to the guest automatically - Records preserved — the booking remains visible in your list with Cancelled status, so you always have a complete history Only Confirmed reservations can be cancelled. Completed bookings (past stays) or already-cancelled reservations cannot be cancelled again. Cancellation Policies Your cancellation policies determine the default refund terms for guest-initiated cancellations. You can configure your policy in Bookings > Policies — see Set your cancellation policy for details.

Guest Profiles

Every guest who books through your booking engine gets a profile in OnSeason. Here's how to find and use guest information to provide great service. Guest profiles are created automatically when someone books through your booking engine. You don't need to add guests manually. Finding Your Guests To view your guests, navigate to Bookings > Guests in the sidebar. You'll see a list of every guest who has booked through your booking engine. Each row in the guest list shows: Guest name and email address - Number of bookings — how many times they've booked with you - Total spent — the total amount across all their reservations - Last booking date — when they last made a reservation - Marketing opt-in — whether they've agreed to receive marketing emails Use the search bar at the top to find a specific guest by name or email. The list shows 20 guests per page — use the pagination controls to browse through your full guest list. Guest Profile Details Click on any guest to open their full profile in a side panel. Here you'll find everything OnSeason knows about them: - Contact Information — name, email address, and phone number - Booking Statistics — total bookings, total amount spent, and average booking value - Marketing Preferences — whether the guest opted in to marketing communications and when - Booking History — a complete timeline of all their reservations, each showing the property name, reservation code (e.g., ON-XXXXXX), check-in and check-out dates, number of nights, price, and a status badge (confirmed, completed, cancelled, and more) Internal Notes - Add private notes about guests that only your team can see — guests never see these. Notes are great for tracking special requests, preferences, or anything your team should know before a guest's next stay. - Add a note — Open a guest's profile and click "Add Note" to create a new note (up to 10 KB per note). - View and manage notes — Notes display with the author's name, avatar, and timestamp. You can edit or delete your own notes at any time. Notes are internal to your team. Guests cannot see notes you add to their profile. Admins and Owners can delete any team member's notes, while Members can only edit or delete their own. Who Can Do What Different workspace roles have different levels of access to guest management: - Viewers — Can view the guest list and profiles (read-only) - Members — Can also send messages and add or edit their own notes - Admins & Owners — Full access, including deleting any team member's notes and managing guest data For more on roles, see Understanding Roles & Permissions.

Messaging Guests

Need to reach a guest about their upcoming stay? OnSeason lets you send messages directly from their profile — delivered straight to their email. Sending a Message - Find the guest — Go to Bookings > Guests and find the guest you want to message. Use the search bar to look them up by name or email. - Open their profile — Click on the guest to open their profile panel. - Click Send Message — Click the "Send Message" button to open the message composer. - Write your message — Enter a subject line (up to 255 characters) and write your message content. - Send — Click "Send" — the message is delivered to the guest's email address. Messages are sent as emails to the guest's registered email address. Guests reply directly to their email — not through the OnSeason platform. Message History All messages you and your team send to a guest are saved in their profile under the Messages section. Each message shows: - Sender name — who on your team sent it Subject line and a content preview - Timestamp — when the message was sent - Delivery status — sent or pending This history helps your team stay aligned on guest communications. Everyone with access can see what's already been communicated. Viewers cannot send messages. You need at least a Member role in the workspace to message guests. See Understanding Roles & Permissions for details. Tips for Guest Communication - Keep messages professional and concise — guests appreciate clear, relevant communication - Include booking details for context — mention the reservation code (e.g., ON-XXXXXX) and dates so the guest knows which stay you're referring to - Use messages for practical information — check-in instructions, special requests, local recommendations, or pre-arrival details work well - Coordinate with your team — check the message history before reaching out to avoid sending duplicate or conflicting information

Guest Data & GDPR

As a Property Manager using OnSeason, you're responsible for handling guest data with care. OnSeason gives you the tools to comply with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation — the EU law governing personal data) and respect your guests' data rights. Your Responsibilities When guests book through your booking engine, you are the data controller — you decide how and why their personal data is processed. OnSeason acts as a data processor on your behalf, storing and managing the data according to your instructions. This means: You must respond to guest data requests within the legally required timeframe (typically 30 days under GDPR) You are responsible for having a lawful basis for processing guest data (booking fulfillment is a valid basis) You should be able to explain to guests what data you hold and why GDPR applies to all guests in the EU/EEA, regardless of where your business is based. If you accept bookings from European guests, these rules apply to you. Exporting Guest Data If a guest asks what data you hold about them (Right of Access) or wants a copy of their data (Data Portability), you can export everything in a few clicks. - Open the guest's profile — Go to Bookings > Guests and click on the guest who made the request. - Find Data Management — Scroll to the "Data Management" section at the bottom of their profile. - Export their data — Click "Export Guest Data" — a JSON file downloads automatically. The exported file contains all data OnSeason holds about the guest: personal details, booking history, messages, internal notes, and marketing preferences. The exported file includes a timestamp and the guest's name in the filename for your records. Store exported data securely and share it with the guest via a secure channel. Deleting Guest Data If a guest requests that their data be erased (Right to Erasure), OnSeason lets you permanently delete their personal information. - Open the guest's profile — Go to Bookings > Guests and click on the guest who made the request. - Find Data Management — Scroll to the "Data Management" section. - Click Delete Guest Data — Click "Delete Guest Data" to open the confirmation dialog. - Review what will be deleted — Read the confirmation dialog carefully — it explains exactly what will be removed. - Confirm by typing DELETE — Type DELETE in the confirmation field to prevent accidental deletions. - Permanently delete — Click "Permanently Delete" — this action cannot be undone. What Gets Deleted When you delete a guest's data, the following is permanently removed: personal information (name, email, phone number), all messages sent to the guest, all internal notes about the guest, and marketing preferences. - Booking records are anonymized — the reservation data stays in your system for financial records, but all personal identifiers are removed. You can still see that a booking happened (dates, property, amount) but not who made it. Deleting guest data is permanent and cannot be undone. Booking records will be anonymized but not deleted, as they are needed for financial reporting and tax compliance. Who Can Delete Guest Data Only Admins and Owners can permanently delete guest data. Members and Viewers cannot access the delete function. This restriction prevents accidental data loss. Best Practices - Export before deleting — download the guest's data before deletion, in case you need records for legal or tax purposes Keep a log of data requests and your responses for compliance auditing - Respond promptly — GDPR requires action within 30 days of receiving a request - Review your retention policy — consider how long you keep guest data after their last booking and document your decision