Booking.com sends two kinds of guest messages to your Hostify inbox before a booking is confirmed: Inquiries and Requests to Book. Both need a response from you, but they work differently — especially when it comes to payment and your calendar.
You can tell them apart by the tag shown in your inbox:
Inquiry — yellow tag
Request to book — orange tag
Inquiry
The guest is just asking — no payment yet.
No money is charged or held.
Your dates stay open. Other guests can still book them while the inquiry is pending.
If you Approve, the guest has 24 hours to go back to Booking.com and pay. If they don't, the inquiry expires and nothing is booked.
Request to Book
The guest has already agreed to pay before sending the request.
Their card is pre-approved for the full stay (the money is held, not charged yet).
Your dates are blocked right away, so nobody else can book them while you decide.
If you Approve, the booking is confirmed right away and payment goes through automatically. The guest doesn't need to do anything else.
If you Decline, the block is removed and the dates open back up.
Side-by-side
| Inquiry | Request to Book |
Payment | Not taken yet | Held in advance |
Your dates | Stay open | Blocked while pending |
After you Approve | Guest has 24 hours to pay | Booking is confirmed and paid instantly |
After you Decline | Nothing happens | Dates open back up |
Inbox tag | Yellow "Inquiry" | Orange "Request to book" |
What you'll see in your inbox
Both types look similar: the guest's message, trip dates, and some basic guest info (email verified, phone verified, previous no-shows, etc.) on the left, and a summary of the booking on the right. You'll always have three choices: Approve, Decline, or Tag as no reply needed.
The tag on the message is what tells you whether it's an Inquiry or a Request to Book — and that tells you what happens as soon as you approve it.
Does every property qualify for Request to Book from Booking.com side?
No — Booking.com only sends Request to Book to properties that meet a couple of conditions:
Location — the property must be in one of these countries: United States, Australia, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, or Italy.
Payment setup — the property must be on Booking.com's merchant model, meaning Booking.com collects the guest's payment on your behalf. Properties on the agency model, where you collect payment directly from the guest, aren't eligible — this is because Request to Book automatically holds and then captures the guest's payment when you approve, which only works when Booking.com is handling that payment.
If your property doesn't meet these, it will simply continue receiving Inquiries as normal.