Create a "Book Now, Confirm, Pay Deposit" reservation setup

This is a similar setup to our "Book Now, Pay Later"  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

To do this you will first need to set up a payment gateway that will allow you to accept credit card payment from your customers. Once you have set this up then you can proceed.

Step 1- First set your deposit amount by going to Manage->Ecommerce  

Step 2-  Go to Manage->Setup->Configuration and make sure Customer Status is set to Waiting. 

-- It is important to note that we are using the Waiting status because this status does not lock the inventory because it has not been confirmed yet. Other statuses such as Pending or Reserved will lock the booking. For more information on statuses please visit: https://www.checkfront.com/support/docs/layout/booking-statuses

Step 3-  Go to Manage->Layout->Statuses and click Add to create a new status that will be the trigger to send out the payment request. Name the new status "Collect" or "Payment" or whichever you feel is appropriate and then click Save. 

Step 4-  Go to Manage->Notifications to create a new notification. Change the "Booking Event" to match your newly created status. Choose who receives the email such as the customer and/or staff 

Important- Be sure to include the variable {$BOOKING_PAYMENT_URL} in the text area. 

You can include this variable as is, or make it the target of a link by using simple HTML code. This will direct customers to your payment gateway with the appropriate invoice data included.

Step 5- For the items that you want this feature to apply to, go into the pricing tab of each item and turn off Ecommerce. You may need to click on the "Additional Options" on the lower part of the screen to see this

 The customer will receive the email notifying them that the booking has been confirmed. Once the customer has paid, the invoice status will change to "Deposit". Depending on how you have scheduled notifications setup additional notifications will be sent asking for the rest of the payment at a later time. For more information on schedule notifications please visit https://www.checkfront.com/support/docs/manage/email-notifications

I hope that was reasonably clear. If you encounter any issues setting that up, please send an email to support@checkfront.com