Online Booking
Use this page to let guests book a site or room from your website, and to know what happens after they do.
Quick steps
- Make sure each site type you want online is Active, has Bookable on the storefront ticked, and has at least one active site. See Site Types & Sites.
- Set a deposit and a cancellation policy on each site type (under Policies) so guests pay up front and agree to your terms.
- Share your booking page:
/stayon your storefront address, for examplehttps://yourstore.trafficstores.ca/stay. - Or put the booking form on your own website: on the Lodging Dashboard, open Booking Widget (Get the code for your website), click Copy on Inline Widget or Popup Button, and paste it into your site.
- Guests pick dates, enter their details and click Confirm Booking. The booking lands on your Reservations list, and the guest gets a confirmation email plus reminders before arrival.
When a guest cancels a paid booking online, refund them yourself through your card processor.
Common questions
A site type is missing from the booking page. It needs to be Active, have Bookable on the storefront ticked, and have at least one active site.
An online booking shows as Owing. The guest didn't finish paying, or the type has no deposit. The site is still held. Contact the guest, take payment at the desk, or cancel it.
Can guests pay when they arrive instead? Yes, if your store has the newer booking controls. Tick Let guests pay on arrival under Settings → Edit Settings → Operations → Lodging Features, then choose each site type's Online payment option.
The widget shows nothing on my website. Copy the code again from the dashboard. Older copies could point at the wrong address.
More detail: your booking page, and what the guest fills in
Guests can book with you any time, from your website, without calling the front desk. They pick a site type, choose their dates, add any extras, pay their deposit by card and get a confirmation email — and the booking lands on your Reservations list like any other.
Your Booking Page
Your booking page is /stay on your storefront address — for example https://yourstore.trafficstores.ca/stay, or https://yourbusiness.com/stay if your storefront has a custom domain. It works as soon as lodging is switched on, even if you do not use the rest of the online store.
The page, Book Your Stay — "Choose your accommodation and pick your dates." — shows a card for every site type that:
- is Active,
- has Bookable on the storefront ticked, and
- has at least one active site.
Each card shows the photo, the price ("From $X", or a price range), Up to N guests, a few amenities, and a Book button. If your types have more than one Category, the page shows a tab for each category; types with no category go under General. When nothing can be booked, the page says "No accommodations are currently available for booking."
The page title and subtitle, and the Book a Stay link in your storefront's menu, can be changed in the storefront editor. See Storefront.
What the Guest Fills In
Clicking Book opens the site type's page: its photos, price, guest limit and description, with a Booking Summary beside the form showing the price for the chosen dates and how many sites are free — for example "4 sites available", or "No sites available for these dates", which disables the button.
| Section | What they enter |
|---|---|
| Scheduling | Start Date and End Date. If the type has rental packages, they first pick a Duration and the end date fills itself in; a start day the package does not allow is cleared with "This package starts only on: ...". If the type has check-in time slots, they pick a Check-in time. |
| Guests | Number of Guests, up to the type's Max Guests. |
| Add-Ons | Only when you have active add-ons: a quantity box for each, starting at 0. |
| Your Information | Name and Email (both required), Phone, and Special Requests. |
| Cancellation Policy | Only when the type has one: the policy, and a required tick box — "I have read and agree to the cancellation policy above." |
Then Confirm Booking.
The booking is checked against the same rules as every other booking — blackout periods, minimum stays, bookable nights, guest limits and free sites. Online bookings are also refused for an arrival date that has already passed ("That arrival date has already passed.") and without an email address ("An email address is needed so we can send your confirmation.").
The guest is matched to your customers by email address, and a new customer is created if there is no match.
More detail: paying online and paying on arrival
Paying for the Booking
What the guest pays online depends on the site type's deposit and on how your store takes card payments online.
Site type with a deposit — the guest pays the deposit by card straight after Confirm Booking.
They are asked "How would you like to pay?" — Pay deposit now ("50% today — balance due at arrival", or the flat amount) or Pay in full now, plus Pay when you arrive if the type lets them choose (see Paying on arrival). This works the same whether your store takes cards online through Stripe or Helcim.
Site type with no deposit — nothing is charged online. The one exception: a type set to Let the guest choose: pay now or pay on arrival offers Pay in full now and Pay when you arrive.
When a payment goes through, the booking records the deposit (or the full amount) as paid. A card saved during a Stripe payment, or a Helcim customer record, can then be used for a damage hold.
The booking is made — and the site held — before the card is taken. If the guest backs out of the card form, the booking stays Confirmed and the guest is told their reservation is confirmed but the deposit has not been collected. These bookings show Owing on your Reservations list. Follow up, or cancel them.
If your store does not take card payments online at all, online bookings are made without any payment and show the full amount as owing.
The confirmation page
After booking, the guest sees Reservation Confirmed! with their confirmation number, site type, dates, nights, guests and total, and where the money stands:
| The guest… | Page shows |
|---|---|
| Chose to pay on arrival | Due on arrival — "Nothing has been charged. We take payment when you arrive." |
| Paid in full | Paid today — "Paid in full. There is nothing to settle at check-in." |
| Paid a deposit | Paid today and Balance at check-in — "Your deposit has been received. The balance is due when you arrive." |
| Paid nothing | Still to pay — "No payment has been taken yet. Your room is held, and we will be in touch to arrange it." |
Paying on arrival
Some properties take the card at the desk, never online. This is available to stores that have the newer booking controls switched on.
-
Go to Settings → Edit Settings → Operations → Lodging Features and tick Let guests pay on arrival. Click Update Settings.
-
On each site type, under Policies, choose its Online payment:
Option What the guest gets Card required at booking Pays online as usual. Let the guest choose: pay now or pay on arrival Adds Pay when you arrive — "Nothing is charged now. We hold the room and you settle at check-in." — next to the pay-now choices (pay the deposit, or pay in full). Works with Stripe and Helcim. Never charge online: always pay on arrival No payment online — "No payment is taken online. We hold the room and you settle when you arrive."
Bookings made this way show a Pay on arrival badge on the Reservations list and Due at check-in on the reservation. Walk-ins and phone bookings are not affected.
More detail: emails, texts and the trip details page
Emails and Texts the Guest Receives
| Message | When |
|---|---|
| Booking Confirmed — [number] (email) | Straight after booking. It lists the dates, nights, guests, total, amenities, any deposit required and your cancellation policy, and has a Need to cancel? Click here link. |
| Booking confirmed (text) | Straight after an online booking, if your store sends text messages and the guest gave a phone number. It reads "[Store]: booking confirmed (#[number]). Check-in [date], N nights. Questions? Reply to this number." |
| Your stay at [Store] is in 1 week (email and text) | About seven days before check-in. |
| See you tomorrow at [Store] (email and text) | The day before check-in. |
The reminders go to the email address and phone number on the booking's customer record, for every booking that is still Pending or Confirmed — including bookings you took at the desk. A booking with no customer record gets no reminders. Texts need Enable SMS notifications switched on in Settings → Edit Settings → Notifications. Each reminder is sent once.
The trip details page
Both reminders link to a Your Trip page made just for that booking. It shows:
- Stay details — the accommodation, dates, guests, total and Balance due at arrival.
- Liability waiver — a Sign waiver now button if you have sent them a waiver that is not signed yet, "Signed on [date]." once it is, or "No waiver on file. Contact us if you were expecting one." Both reminder emails also carry an "Action required" line while the waiver is unsigned, and a signed waiver is attached to the reminder emails as a PDF. See Liability Waivers.
- Required documents — the guest can upload a photo ID, a boating licence or anything else you have asked for (JPG, PNG, HEIC or PDF, up to 10 MB each), and remove them again.
Documents guests upload on their trip page appear on the booking's reservation page in the admin, in a Guest documents card. Click a file's name to open it. See Reservations.
More detail: guests cancelling online
Guests Cancelling Online
The Need to cancel? link — in the confirmation email and on the confirmation page — opens Cancel Reservation, "Are you sure you want to cancel your reservation?", with the booking's details and either "You are within the free cancellation window. Full refund eligible." or, once the site type's cancellation deadline has passed, "The free cancellation window has passed. Deposit may not be refunded." A site type with no deadline always shows the first message.
Cancel My Reservation cancels the booking and frees the site. Never mind, keep my reservation backs out.
A guest can cancel this way while the booking is Pending or Confirmed and the check-in date is today or later. Otherwise they are told to contact you — for example "This reservation has already been checked in and cannot be cancelled online. Please contact us directly."
Cancelling online never sends money back. When a guest cancels a paid booking, check your Reservations list for the Cancelled booking and refund them through your card processor under your cancellation policy.
More detail: the website booking widget
Putting the Booking Form on Your Website
To put booking on your own website, open the Lodging Dashboard, unfold Booking Widget at the bottom (Get the code for your website), and copy one of the two snippets into your website where you want it. The code already points at your storefront address, for example yourstore.trafficstores.ca.
Inline Widget — the full booking page inside your web page:
<script src="https://yourstore.trafficstores.ca/stay/embed.js" async></script>
<div data-bpos-booking></div>
Popup Button — a Book Your Stay button that opens booking in a window over your page:
<script src="https://yourstore.trafficstores.ca/stay/embed.js" data-mode="popup" async></script>
Optional settings you can add to the popup's script tag:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
data-button-text="Reserve Now" | Changes the button's wording. |
data-button-color="#2d5016" | Changes the button's colour. |
Bookings made through the widget are exactly the same as bookings made on /stay, and show Booked Via: Online.
The widget only loads from your storefront address. Older copies of the code could carry the address you use to sign in to Brother POS instead. If your widget shows nothing, copy the code again from the dashboard.
More detail: troubleshooting and best practices
Troubleshooting
A site type is missing from the booking page. It needs to be Active, have Bookable on the storefront ticked, and have at least one active site.
Guests say it shows no sites available. Every site of that type is booked for those dates, or in maintenance — or the dates include a blackout period, break a minimum stay, or fall on a night the type does not take bookings for.
An online booking shows as Owing. The guest did not finish paying, or the type has no deposit. The booking still holds the site. Contact the guest, take payment at the desk, or cancel it.
A guest cancelled but wants their deposit back. Refund it through your card processor. Brother POS does not refund cancellations automatically.
The widget shows nothing on my website. Check the script's address is your storefront address, not your admin address. Copying the code again from the dashboard gives you the right one.
Best Practices
- Write a clear cancellation policy on every site type. Guests must agree to it before booking, and it is printed on their confirmation.
- Set a deposit on types you want paid for up front — types with no deposit take no money online.
- Check the Reservations list for Owing online bookings each day, and follow up quickly.
- Send waivers early. The one-week reminder points guests at their waiver, so a waiver sent at booking is usually signed before they arrive.
What's Next?
- Reservations — where online bookings land.
- Rates & Seasonal Pricing — deposits and prices guests see online.
- Liability Waivers — waivers for lodging guests.
- Custom Domains — run your booking page on your own web address.