How to: Create a "Book Now, Pay Later" Configuration

A quick note about this type of booking flow:

This is similar to our "Book Now, Confirm, Pay Deposit" booking flow, whereby third-party agents need to confirm or negotiate with operators that booking inquiries can be confirmed before asking the customer for a payment. This tutorial differs slightly as it will ask for a deposit payment instead of a full payment

 

This Booking flow is currently only available for Checkfront accounts using Items (Inventory > Items). 

Hey there, everyone!

We have put together an official video tutorial on our YouTube channel detailing how to accomplish a "Book Now, Pay Later" configuration!

⇨ Click here to view the video

Here are the written instructions:

1) Set your Ecommerce settings to take a 0% deposit at checkout.

Go to Manage > Ecommerce Setup > Settings, update the Deposit Mode to "Take a percentage deposit”, set the value to 0%, and then hit Save.

2) Update your system-wide configuration settings.

Go to Manage > Setup > Configuration and ensure the Customer Status is set to Waiting.

Important - We are using the Waiting status because it does not lock the inventory as the booking has yet to be confirmed. Other statuses such as Pending or Reserved will lock the booking’s inventory.

For more information on Booking Statuses, check out: Booking Status: Introduction

3) Create a new status that will be used to send a notification requesting payment.

Go to Manage > Layout > Statuses and select + Add. Name the new status Payment Request or whichever you feel is appropriate and then select Save.

4) Create a new notification.

Go to Manage > Notifications and select + New Notification. Determine a relevant subject heading, delivery rate, recipients, and then set the Booking Status to your newly created status ‘Payment Request’. 

Important - Be sure to include the variable {$BOOKING_PAY_FULL_URL} in the text area of your email.

5) Trigger the notification.

Now when an item is booked the customer’s invoice will initially be set to the Waiting status. After you’ve reviewed and confirmed the booking you can update their invoice to the new status ‘Payment Request’ to trigger the email requesting payment from the customer.

Once the customer has paid, the system will automatically update their invoice to the Paid status.

6) One last step - disable the 'Pay Now Link'.

By default, the system will include a 'pay now' button at the time of the request. To disable this, navigate to Manage > Layout > Invoice and make sure 'Options' has 'Pay Now Link' unchecked.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email at support@checkfront.com :)