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# Booking requests vs instant bookings

**For each unit, you choose whether guests send a booking request that you confirm yourself, or make an instant booking that is confirmed after their first payment.**

## Booking requests

- A guest sends a booking request.
- The booking gets the unit's _Initial status_: _Pending_ (the default for new units) or _Confirmed_.
- The guest can follow the status of their booking on their [guest page](https://www.bookingmood.com/en-US/docs/bookings/guest-page).
- You confirm or cancel the booking yourself. You can also create an invoice, which is added to the guest page.

Want to confirm requests automatically once the guest pays? Turn on _Automatically confirm booking requests after initial payment_ in the unit's settings. This requires an automated [payment method](https://www.bookingmood.com/en-US/docs/bookings/payments).

## Instant bookings

- A guest makes a booking.
- The invoice is created right away, and the guest is asked to pay.
- The booking is _Pending_ until the first payment is received. It then becomes _Confirmed_ automatically, and the guest receives a confirmation.
- If there is nothing to pay up front, the booking is _Confirmed_ immediately.

With an automated payment method, you can also turn on _Cancel bookings when initial payment fails_. A payment fails when it expires or when the payment provider rejects it. Under _Payment expires after_, set how long guests have to pay.

## Choose between booking requests and instant bookings

- Open a unit.
- Click on _Settings_.
- At _Instant bookings_, choose one of the options:

| Option | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| Never | Guests always send a booking request. |
| On available dates | Guests book instantly on free dates. On dates that already have a pending booking or blocked period, they send a booking request. |
| On pending and available dates | Guests book instantly on free dates, and also on dates that only have a pending booking or blocked period. |

For booking requests, also choose the _Initial status_.

When a guest books [multiple units](https://www.bookingmood.com/en-US/docs/bookings/book-multiple-units) at once and one of them only accepts booking requests, the whole booking becomes a booking request.

Última modificación 28 de octubre de 2026