When a traveler requests a private tour for a date on which a resource the trip needs — a van, a boat, a room — is already taken by another departure or by downtime, Samba tells you before you accept and lets you decide: free the resource first, decline, or accept anyway and run over capacity. Only you can make that call; a request that doesn't fit is refused before the traveler reaches the payment step.
Before you start
This applies to requests for a custom date, with Resources on. A request for one of your scheduled departures holds its resources with its seats, so accepting it never asks this question.
You need permission to accept booking requests and to see resources. Every default role except Viewer and Field staff has both.
Accept the request anyway
Go to Booking Requests and open the request. A callout at the top, Resources aren't available on that date, names the resource: "This request needs the Minibus, which isn't available on that date. Accepting anyway will put the resource over capacity."
Decide whether to make room instead. Move or cancel the other departure, or shorten the downtime, and the callout disappears when you reload. You can then accept as usual.
To go over capacity, select Actions, then Accept.
In the dialog, tick Accept anyway, resources will be over capacity, then select Confirm. Without the tick, the dialog refuses with "Tick to accept over capacity, or decline the request."
Accepting charges the traveler's card immediately, exactly as for any other request. Going over capacity changes nothing about the payment.
What happens next
Samba creates the private departure and the confirmed booking, and the traveler receives their "request accepted" email. You land on the booking.
The new departure's Resources section reads Over capacity, and it carries the red resource flag on the departures list and calendar until you resolve it by hand. See How resources limit what a departure sells.
If the resource was taken while the dialog was open, nothing is charged and the request stays Pending. Select Actions → Accept again: the checkbox is now in the dialog.
A request that failed on the card
A request you accepted without the checkbox, whose card was then declined, sits at Accepted – capture failed. If the resource is taken before the traveler fixes their card, their retry is not charged: you never agreed to go over capacity, and Samba does not decide that for you.
Team members who receive new-request alerts and can accept requests get a bell notification, "Resources no longer available for request BR-2026-000123", linking to the request.
The traveler is told the operator can no longer confirm the request as booked, has been notified, and will contact them.
To go ahead over capacity:
Open the request and select Actions, then Allow over capacity. The option only appears while the resource is still unavailable.
Read the dialog — "This request needs the Minibus, which is no longer available on that date. The traveler's next card retry will complete the booking even though the resource is over capacity." — and select Confirm.
Let the traveler know they can try their card again. Their next payment attempt creates the booking.
Or make room for it (move the other departure, shorten the downtime) and the traveler's next card attempt goes through on its own. Or Decline the request: the traveler is told and nothing is charged.
What if I accepted with "Accept anyway" and the card then failed?
What if I accepted with "Accept anyway" and the card then failed?
Your consent carries over. When the traveler fixes their card, the booking is created over capacity without any further step from you.