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Mandatory card input when confirming an optional reservation: an obvious feature missing from Mews

  • June 8, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 63 views
D

Hi everyone,

On our previous PMS, managing optional reservations was simple and efficient. A guest who contacted us by phone and was interested in a reservation would receive a quote with a confirmation deadline (72 hours for example). To confirm, they were required to enter their card details. If they didn't do so within the deadline, the option expired automatically. If they did, the reservation was automatically confirmed. We didn't have to check anything — the card input was what triggered the confirmation.

With Mews, a guest can confirm an option in a single click without providing any payment method. We are therefore left having to manually check every confirmed reservation to see if a card has been provided, chase the guest if not, and worse, manually cancel a reservation that is already confirmed if they never pay.

Nobody would consider letting a guest book through the Booking Engine without entering a payment method. So why is this the case for a manually created option? It simply doesn't make sense.

We believe this feature is essential and would significantly simplify reservation management for many properties. Our proposal is that Mews makes it mandatory for guests to enter their card details or complete payment when confirming an option from the guest portal, with each property's payment policies then applying automatically.

If you're in the same situation, please vote for this proposal.

Best answer by josue.orellana

Hello ​@Direction Alpin D'Hôme,

I'm Josue, one of the Community Ambassadors, and I'm happy to help clarify your question regarding mandatory payment when confirming an optional reservation.

This is indeed a gap. At the moment Mews does have logic that ties payment to confirmation, but it only applies to reservations made through the Booking Engine, not to manually created optional reservations confirmed via the guest portal.

When a guest receives the quotation email and clicks through to Online Guest Services, they can confirm with a single click and no card is required. The reservation moves straight to Confirmed regardless of whether payment is on file.

What you can do in the meantime

The closest workaround right now is a two-step approach:

  1. Configure your rate group to automatically attempt payment upon confirmation and create a settlement task if it fails. This won't block the confirmation, but it does flag unpaid reservations on your dashboard immediately.
  2. Set up a Mews Automation to send a payment request as soon as an optional reservation is confirmed. Again, it won't hold the reservation back, but it prompts the guest automatically without manual follow-up.

Johannes's point about Automations is valid. An expiry-triggered flow would get closer to what you're describing, though the "no payment = reservation never confirms" logic for manually created options isn't natively available yet.

The idea you're proposing, where card input is what triggers confirmation and no action causes the option to expire on its own, would need to be a product change. Voting on the idea in the feedback portal is the right move, and the more properties that do, the better.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know!

~ Best regards, 

    3 Replies

    Johannes Rott
    Community Luminary
    Forum|alt.badge.img+2
    • Johannes Rott
    • Community Luminary
    • June 11, 2026

    Same here, i hope the new automation feature will be able to sent an automated paymend link /verifaction link and if it is not used or filled by the costumer it sets a task to cancel the reservation

     

    Johannes Rott // IMLAUER Hotels
      D

      Exactly, and even better than a cancellation task: on our previous PMS the option never moved to "confirmed" until the card or payment had gone through. If nothing was done within the set deadline, the option expired on its own and freed up the calendar. No manual action for reception at all — paid = confirmed, unpaid = option cancelled.

      So ideally the automation would expire the reservation automatically at the end of the deadline, rather than just creating a task to cancel it by hand.

      josue.orellana
      Community Ambassador
      Forum|alt.badge.img+1
      • josue.orellanaCommunity Ambassador
      • Community Ambassador
      • Answer
      • June 15, 2026

      Hello ​@Direction Alpin D'Hôme,

      I'm Josue, one of the Community Ambassadors, and I'm happy to help clarify your question regarding mandatory payment when confirming an optional reservation.

      This is indeed a gap. At the moment Mews does have logic that ties payment to confirmation, but it only applies to reservations made through the Booking Engine, not to manually created optional reservations confirmed via the guest portal.

      When a guest receives the quotation email and clicks through to Online Guest Services, they can confirm with a single click and no card is required. The reservation moves straight to Confirmed regardless of whether payment is on file.

      What you can do in the meantime

      The closest workaround right now is a two-step approach:

      1. Configure your rate group to automatically attempt payment upon confirmation and create a settlement task if it fails. This won't block the confirmation, but it does flag unpaid reservations on your dashboard immediately.
      2. Set up a Mews Automation to send a payment request as soon as an optional reservation is confirmed. Again, it won't hold the reservation back, but it prompts the guest automatically without manual follow-up.

      Johannes's point about Automations is valid. An expiry-triggered flow would get closer to what you're describing, though the "no payment = reservation never confirms" logic for manually created options isn't natively available yet.

      The idea you're proposing, where card input is what triggers confirmation and no action causes the option to expire on its own, would need to be a product change. Voting on the idea in the feedback portal is the right move, and the more properties that do, the better.

      If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know!

      ~ Best regards, 

      josue.orellana
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