Booking Requests vs. Instant Booking: What to Expect When You Book a Surf Stay

Book a stay on Offshore Stays and you'll sometimes see it confirmed instantly, and other times see it marked as a request pending the host's approval. That's not a bug or an inconsistency — it's a deliberate distinction, and it's worth understanding before you book, especially if your dates are tight.

The two booking types

Instant booking means the stay is confirmed the moment you complete checkout. The host has opted into confirming bookings automatically, and our pricing system was able to fully price every night of your stay from live calendar data.

Booking request means your reservation needs the host to actually say yes before it's confirmed. This happens for one of two reasons: either the host has deliberately chosen to review bookings before confirming them (some hosts prefer this, especially for longer or larger group stays), or — more often — our system couldn't find a confirmed price for every night of your requested stay from the host's calendar, and won't guess.

Both are legitimate outcomes, not something gone wrong. If a request is required, we'd rather tell you honestly than confirm something we can't actually guarantee.

What happens to your card

This is the part people worry about, understandably. For a booking request, your card is held, not charged — a pre-authorization for the amount, similar to what a hotel does at check-in. Nothing is actually captured unless and until the host approves. If the host declines, or doesn't respond in time, the hold is released and you're not charged.

For an instant booking, the normal deposit is captured immediately, exactly as you'd expect from any confirmed reservation.

How long a host has to respond

A host has 48 hours to respond to a booking request. If they don't respond within that window, the hold on your card is automatically released and the request lapses — you're never left in limbo indefinitely waiting on an answer.

Getting a request approved faster

A few things genuinely help: make sure your guest count is accurate (a mismatch is one of the most common reasons a host hesitates), keep your dates as-is rather than requesting last-minute changes mid-request, and if the listing has an option to add a note to the host, use it — a short, specific note about your trip goes a long way with hosts who are reviewing requests personally rather than auto-confirming.

Bottom line

Instant or request, the underlying goal is the same: don't confirm a price or a date we can't actually stand behind. If you see "request" instead of an instant confirmation, it isn't a red flag — it just means a human is double-checking before your card is charged.

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