This article contains the guidance we provided while Booking Engine payments and OTA card details were disrupted. It is retained for reference and may no longer reflect the current service status.
For the latest information and any actions you still need to take, see our current service update.
An outage at one of our Channel Manager partners disrupted Booking Engine payments and OTA virtual card (VCC) details.
From 31 October 2026 (NZDT), an outage at one of our Channel Manager partners disrupted Booking Engine payments and OTA virtual card (VCC) details.
Throughout this disruption, rates and availability continued syncing to OTAs as normal.
Booking engine
Guests can still check live availability, select rooms and proceed through the booking process, but they can't complete their reservation.
Depending on your booking engine settings, guests may be asked to enter card details before clicking Confirm Booking. However, their card details won't be captured and no payment will be taken.
Instead of a booking confirmation, guests see a message explaining that the service is temporarily unavailable, along with your property's contact details so they can get in touch.
You may receive a pending booking email for each attempted booking, so expect more of these than usual. Attempts also show in your Channel booking list.
A pending booking is not a confirmed booking. The guest's card details haven't been captured, and the booking won't appear on your grid until you confirm it.
Guidance provided during the outage
1. Review and confirm pending bookings
Open your channel booking list: Settings → Channel Manager → Channel booking list → View bookings.
You'll need access to Settings. If you can't see it, ask whoever manages your Preno account.
Contact each guest to check they still want to book, then confirm their booking from the list.
You can confirm pending bookings up until the guest’s check-out date. If you’ve already created the booking manually, don’t confirm it from the list too.
2. Arrange payment separately
Bookings created without card details can't process automatic payments. You'll need to arrange payment separately, based on your property's payment policy.
If you'd usually take a deposit or payment upfront, you can send the guest a payment link from Preno if you use Stripe or Windcave.
If you normally charge guests later, you can collect payment on arrival or send a payment link when payment is due, depending on your property's payment policy. Payment links take payment straight away. They can’t be used to save a guest’s card to charge later.
Confirming a booking sends your usual Preno booking emails to the guest. If your confirmation email mentions a payment or deposit already taken, you may want to update it while the outage continues.
3. Add a pop-up alert to your booking engine
To help guests continue booking directly without confusion, you can add a pop-up alert explaining the temporary disruption and what to expect. This helps set expectations before guests reach the final booking step.
Suggested pop-up message:
We're currently experiencing a technical issue with online bookings.
You can still click Confirm Booking, but your booking won't be confirmed automatically and no payment will be taken. Please contact us directly to confirm your stay and arrange payment.
You don't need to remove the booking engine from your website. Guests can still see your live availability and prices. Where you receive a pending booking request, you follow up with the guest directly.
Suggested message to guests
Hi [guest name],
Thanks for booking with us. A temporary technical issue with our online booking system stopped your booking from going through, so your stay isn't confirmed yet.
Reply to this email and we'll book it in for you directly.
OTA bookings missing card details
What this means for your property
Card details are coming through again for new OTA bookings.
Missing card details from bookings received during the outage may take longer to appear. We expect these to be added to affected bookings automatically and will update you when this process is complete.
Your rates and availability are still syncing to OTAs as normal. You don't need to make any changes to your channels.
Guidance provided during the outage
If you need to charge a card before its details appear in Preno, you can find them in the OTA's own extranet, such as the Booking.com extranet or Expedia Partner Central.
We’re sorry for the disruption, and thank you for your patience.