Manual Bookings

The manual booking dialog has three ways a booking is paid, under How this booking is paid:

Already paid outside Haven — you record a stay the guest has already paid you for. Most of this article covers this path.
Send payment link — Haven holds the dates and emails a checkout link. See Send a Payment Link.
Part paid elsewhere — the guest paid part of the stay in another system (a PMS you are leaving, a bank transfer) and Haven collects the rest. See Part paid elsewhere.

When to Use Manual Bookings

A guest contacts you directly (phone, email, text) and you want to record their stay in Haven
You take a booking through a third-party channel not connected to Haven and want it reflected in your calendar
A returning guest wants to rebook without going through the checkout flow
You need to block dates for a confirmed reservation that was arranged offline
A guest pays you by bank transfer or direct deposit for one booking — record it as Already paid outside Haven

Moving bookings over from a property management system you are leaving: if the booking is already synced into Haven from your PMS, use Move to Haven on the reservation, which brings its charges and what was paid across for you; see Move Existing Reservations to Haven. If it is not synced, create a manual booking that is Part paid elsewhere.

Creating a Manual Booking

Step 1: Select Dates on the Calendar

Navigate to your property's Calendar page
Click and drag to select the date range for the stay
In the right panel, click Create manual booking

Step 2: Review Dates and Fees

The manual booking dialog opens with:

Check-in and check-out dates pre-filled from your calendar selection
Adults (defaults to 1), Children, Infants and Pets. Enter each group on its own: 1 adult and 4 children is Adults 1, Children 4 (a party of 5)
Fee table pre-populated with your property's default rates:
- Accommodation (nightly rate × number of nights)
- Cleaning fee
- Linen fee
- Management fee
- Community fee
- Resort fee
- Pet fee
- Extra guest fee
- Length-of-stay and direct booking discounts
- Special offer (a discount for this guest, under a name they see)
- Taxes (calculated from your property's tax settings)

All fees are editable. Adjust any amount to match what was agreed with the guest. Taxes are the exception: they are worked out from your tax settings on the amounts you enter, after any discount, and update as you edit, so the total in the dialog matches the booking. That includes which fees are taxed: a fee you untick under Calendar → Price → Fees → Charge tax on stays untaxed here too. A fee your listing doesn't normally charge can still be added to this booking by typing an amount in its row, and a discount row can be typed over, added, or set to 0. The pet fee row unlocks once the booking has at least one pet, because the fee is charged per pet.

When your management fee or community fee is set to a percentage of the nightly rate rather than a flat amount, the pre-filled row shows the calculated dollar figure for these dates. Editing that figure changes this booking only — it does not change the percentage on the listing. Your service fee ("keep the margin") is applied the same way; see Your Service Fee (Keep the Margin).

Step 3: Enter Guest Information

Enter the guest's details:

Email (required) — Start typing to search existing Haven guests. If the guest already has a Haven account, select them from the dropdown to auto-fill their name and phone number.
First name and Last name (required)
Phone number (required if Truvi guest screening is enabled for your account)

When you select an existing Haven guest from the email autocomplete, a confirmation badge appears showing the guest's name. Their name fields are auto-filled and locked to prevent mismatches.

Testing the guest experience? If the email is your own or belongs to someone on your team, the dialog shows an amber note. Anyone signed in to your account sees the host view of the guide, so they'll never be asked to sign the rental agreement or verify their ID. To walk through what a guest sees, book under an email that isn't on your team, or open the guide link in a private window while signed out. You can still save the booking.

Step 4: Add Notes (Optional)

Add any internal notes about the booking — how the guest booked, special arrangements, or other details for your records.

Step 5: Confirm

Click Create booking to finalize. Haven will:

Create a confirmed reservation on your calendar
Send booking confirmation emails to the guest. Your copy and Haven's reservation inbox use the subject Manual reservation recorded, so they are distinct from a guest who just paid and from a payment link
Push the reservation to any connected integration partners (e.g., Hospitable)
Provision access codes if smart locks are configured
Run Truvi guest screening if enabled

Dates that arrive as synced blocked dates (an iCal import, or Blocked via Airbnb) do not need a manual booking just to record who is staying. Click the block and use Add booking info instead; see Calendar Sync. When those dates, or an Airbnb-synced reservation, are really a direct booking of yours, click Convert to Direct booking on them instead of creating a second booking: the same dates become a Haven Direct booking with the guest's details, and the sync leaves them alone. A blocked bar that holds back-to-back stays converts one stay at a time: pick each guest's check-in and check-out; see Convert synced dates to a Direct booking. A converted stay is not a manual booking you can modify. It has no pricing record, so Modify reservation stays hidden, and Convert to Direct does not show it. Cancel reservation cancels that Haven stay and emails the guest when Haven has their email. It does not cancel the original dates in the property system unless the stay still has a reservation link and the connection can receive a reservation cancel. To split it, cancel it, then create a direct booking for each date range.

How Manual Bookings Appear

Manual bookings are visually distinct on host-facing calendars. They appear in a sky blue color with the label "Manual booking", making it easy to distinguish them from standard Haven bookings.

On guest-facing pages, manual bookings appear as normal confirmed reservations — guests can view their booking details on the property page and in their trips dashboard.

Guest Screening (Truvi)

If you have Truvi guest screening enabled, the manual booking dialog will show a notice that screening will be applied. You must provide the guest's phone number (with country code) so Truvi can contact the guest for verification.

Payments

Already paid outside Haven bookings never open a Stripe session. The fee table is a record of what the guest paid you elsewhere; Haven does not collect, refund, or deposit that money. A bank transfer or direct deposit the guest pays you is this path: set the fee table to the amount the guest paid, never a $0 total.

If you need Haven to collect, choose Send payment link in the same dialog instead. That path is an approved, unpaid reservation — Stripe checkout, unpaid reminders, and price adjustment all apply. See Send a Payment Link.

Part paid elsewhere

Use this when the guest has already paid part of the stay somewhere else, such as a deposit taken by a PMS you are leaving or a bank transfer, and Haven should collect the rest.

Fill in the dates, the fee table and the guest as for any manual booking. The fee table's total is the whole stay.
Choose Part paid elsewhere under How this booking is paid.
Enter Already paid: what the guest has paid so far. It must be more than nothing and less than the total; a stay paid in full is Already paid outside Haven.
Pick Charge the balance on: any day from tomorrow to the day before check-in. The dialog shows Haven collects … on ….
Tick My old system won’t charge this guest again. Turn off any scheduled payment there first; Haven cannot see it.
Click Create and email the guest to email them a secure link to add a card now, or Create, I’ll send the link to send it later from the reservation's Ask the guest for a card button.

You need a paid Haven plan and a connected, verified Stripe account, because Haven collects the balance.

What happens next:

The booking is confirmed straight away, with the usual confirmation email, guidebook and integration push.
The guest adds a card on the secure page. Saving it charges nothing. Once they have been emailed the link, Haven reminds them if they do not add one, and tells you after 10 days.
On the date you picked, Haven charges the balance to that card. If it is declined, Haven emails the guest a link to pay and tells you.
The reservation's payment card shows what was paid elsewhere, what Haven has collected, and what is still to come, with the charge date. In the guest's guidebook the reservation card shows the same.
A refundable deposit hold on the listing is placed on the card the guest adds, before check-in.
Modify reservation is not offered: the paid and owed amounts are fixed. To change the dates, cancel and rebook.
If the stay is cancelled, the cancellation policy applies to everything the guest paid. Haven refunds what it collected; anything more shows as For you to refund from your old system.

Cancelling Manual Bookings

Hosts can cancel manual bookings from the booking details panel. When cancelling a manual booking:

No refund is processed through Haven — since payment was handled externally, refunds must also be handled externally
The guest receives a cancellation notification
The dates become available again on the calendar

If a guest requests cancellation of a manual booking, they are directed to contact the host directly to arrange the cancellation and any refund.

Linking to Existing Guests

When you enter an email address that matches an existing Haven user, the booking is linked to their account. This means:

The guest can see the reservation on their Haven property page under "Your Reservation"
The reservation appears in their trips dashboard at /trips, as its own row (not grouped with other stays at the same property)
All booking-related emails are sent to their Haven account email

If the email does not match an existing Haven user, the reservation is still created and confirmation emails are sent to the provided email address. The guest details are stored in the booking notes.