If a trip doesn't have a fixed date a traveler wants, you can let them request one. You review the request and decide whether to run it.
How it works
A traveler proposes a date, picks their package and travelers (or, for a day tour, their passenger types and a pickup point, if you offer one), and enters their card details — the card is authorized but not charged yet. If their bank asks for extra verification, that happens right there on the page without sending them anywhere else.
You get the request and can accept or decline it. If you decline, the card authorization is released and the traveler is never charged.
When you accept, the card is charged and Samba sets up a private departure and a confirmed booking for that date.
Accepting a request needs an activated workspace (a card on file) — declining or letting a request expire doesn't.
The price is quoted and locked in the moment the traveler submits their request. If you change your experience's pricing while a request is waiting on your decision — or even edit or delete a passenger type, pickup point, or add-on it used — it won't affect the price or details already quoted to that traveler. Accepting always books exactly what they saw when they submitted.
Turning it on
Enable on-request booking on an experience's Departures settings, and set how far ahead a request must come in.
What happens if you don't respond
Each request has a deadline. If it passes, the request expires and the traveler's card authorization is released — they're never charged.
If the traveler cancels first
A traveler can cancel their own request any time before you decide on it. Their card authorization is released and they're not charged.
If a payment fails when you accept
Occasionally a card is declined at the moment you accept. The request is held aside and no booking is created; you can retry with a new card, and once payment succeeds the booking is set up as normal.