When a new booking comes in, TripWorks sets the trip status to Reserved. This is intentional — Reserved means the spot is held, but the booking is not yet confirmed. It will not advance on its own.
A trip moves from Reserved to Booked in one of two ways:
- You manually confirm it in the trip record.
- A successful payment is applied to the trip.
Reserved does not mean something went wrong. It means the booking is waiting for one of those two things to happen.
What Reserved means
Reserved is a deliberate intermediate state between "inquiry" and "confirmed booking." The guest or channel has claimed a spot in your timeslot — capacity is held — but you have not yet taken payment or manually approved the booking.
Automated confirmations and reminder emails do not go out until the trip reaches Booked status. If you want those communications to fire, the trip needs to be confirmed.
How to move a trip to Booked
Option 1: Confirm manually
- Open the trip record.
- Click Reserve at the top of the trip.
- The trip status changes to Booked.
Use this path when you want to confirm a trip before payment is collected — for example, a reseller booking you will invoice later, or a booking where the customer will pay at check-in.
Option 2: Apply a payment
- Open the trip record.
- Collect payment through TripWorks — by sending a payment link, processing a card at check-in, or applying a gift card or voucher.
- When the payment succeeds, TripWorks automatically advances the trip to Booked.
For ecommerce bookings (customer pays online), the trip only advances when the customer completes the checkout flow. If they clicked through from your booking widget but did not finish paying, the trip stays Reserved.
Common scenarios
Reseller or OTA booking
When a booking comes in through a reseller or OTA channel (Viator, GetYourGuide, a wholesale reseller), TripWorks creates the trip in Reserved status. The OTA or reseller handles payment directly with the customer — TripWorks does not collect it. To confirm the booking, click Reserve at the top of the trip. The trip will move to Booked, and TripWorks will send the operator and guest confirmations.
If you prefer to confirm reseller bookings automatically without reviewing each one, contact TripWorks support to discuss your options.
Ecommerce booking — customer has not paid yet
A customer started checkout on your booking widget, TripWorks created the trip and held the spot, but the customer did not complete payment. The trip sits in Reserved status indefinitely until one of the following happens:
- The customer returns and completes payment (trip advances to Booked automatically).
- You send a payment link from the trip record and the customer pays.
- You confirm the booking manually by clicking Reserve at the top of the trip (for example, you spoke with the customer and will collect payment later).
- You cancel the trip to release the held capacity.
Capacity is held on the timeslot as soon as a trip enters Reserved status. If you have a high volume of abandoned checkouts leaving trips in Reserved, consider cancelling them after a set window to free up availability.
Next steps
Once the trip is Booked, TripWorks will send automated confirmation messages to the guest (if messaging is configured). Review your automated messaging settings under Settings > Messaging if you want to verify what goes out and when.