How do I manage and report on abandoned or incomplete bookings (pre-bookings)?

Recover more revenue and understand customer behavior by managing and reporting on abandoned or incomplete bookings in Checkfront. This guide shows you how to find, analyze, and act on pre-bookings to improve conversions.

You can learn how to manage, report on, and have the system notify you of abandoned or incomplete Customer bookings, including understanding incomplete bookings from the Customer's perspective.

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin or restricted permissions to View all Reports, Export Data, and Manage Notifications.
   

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

• This feature is available in both our classic version using classic items (Inventory > Items) and our classic version using classic products (Inventory > Products).  → Learn more about products

After a Customer submits the booking form, the system directs them to the payment page. The system then creates the booking with a temporary Pre-booking status and holds the booking inventory until payment is complete. 

A Pre-booking is a temporary status A Pre-booking is a temporary, internal system status that you cannot apply manually.

The system holds inventory within a Pre-Booking for 15 minutes. 

• If the booking is not completed before the hold time expires, the system releases the inventory. The Customer can extend the hold time when prompted.
• If payment is not completed, the system considers the booking abandoned or incomplete and keeps it in the Pre-booking status.

You cannot adjust a Pre-booking hold time There is no option to adjust the default Pre-booking hold time.

The system records abandoned pre-bookings for 30 days, while entries in the Account Activity report (Reports > Account Activity) showing the Pre-booking event are permanent.

This timeline gives you time to reconcile your reports and our Support team time to troubleshoot missing payments.

Within these 30 days, Staff can access Pre-bookings to change their status or add payment as needed. 

Ecommerce payment settings and booking statuses If your Ecommerce settings do not require payment to complete a booking, the booking status is automatically set to the default Customer Status in the Configuration area (Manage > Setup > Configuration). Bookings created through the Checkfront API bypass the Pre-booking status and are set to the default Staff Status selected in the Configuration area (Manage > Setup > Configuration).

While Customers do not see the internal Pre-booking, they can cancel a booking after arriving on the payment page (and before completing payment) by clicking the Back button.

The system returns the Customer to the booking page, where they can select Clear, then click the Confirm? button to confirm the selection.

A cleared Pre-booking converts to Void status A Pre-booking cleared by a Customer converts the booking's status from Pre-booking to Void in the system.

The following reporting tools allow you to filter results by the Pre-booking status:

• Booking Calendar
• Booking Index
• Daily List
• Daily Manifest

By default, reports exclude Pre-bookings, but you can include them by selecting the option from the Status filter.

You can also view and export the Account Activity report to view Pre-booking entries.

Learn more about reports For a detailed look at reports, check out the following article: Getting Started with Reporting: FAQ

You can schedule and receive notifications for abandoned bookings without payment. For example, you can schedule the system to send a notification 24 hours after pre-booking. Follow these steps.

1. Create or edit an existing notification in the Notifications area (Manage > Notifications).
2. Select Pre-booking for the Booking Status.
3. Choose the Scheduled option under the Deliver setting and set the desired timeframe, e.g., 1 day after the booking creation date.
4. Finish up the notification configuration by choosing the subject, recipients, inventory, and email content that works best for you.
5. After setting up the notification, click the Save button to save your changes.

What is an email notification? A notification is an email message sent to your Customers to confirm booking actions and may include a booking confirmation, notice of changes made to the booking, or a payment request.

Learn more about email notifications For a detailed look at email notifications, check out the following article: Introduction to email notifications