Reservation States Explained
Once a booking becomes a reservation, it can sit in different states — held, confirmed, expired, or cancelled. This guide explains what each state means for you and what to do about it.
The states at a glance
| State | What it means for you | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Pending / optional hold | The room is held for the guest, but the booking is not final yet. The hold usually has a time limit set in your PMS. | Finalize it under your hotel's process — for example, once payment or a guarantee is in place. Do not leave holds sitting: an unfinalized hold can expire. |
| Confirmed | The reservation is final. The guest has a firm booking and it counts fully in your occupancy and reports. | Nothing required beyond your normal pre-arrival routine. Verify the details match the accepted quote if you have not already. |
| Expired | A hold reached its time limit without being finalized. The room is back on sale and the guest no longer has a booking. | Check whether the guest still wants to stay. If they do, create a fresh booking — availability and price may have changed since the original quote. |
| Cancelled | The reservation was actively cancelled — by the guest, by your team, or by your hotel's policy. The room is released. | Apply your cancellation policy (fees, refunds, deposit handling) and confirm the guest knows the booking is cancelled. |
Keep an eye on open holds
A hold is a promise with a deadline: if nobody finalizes it before your PMS's time limit runs out, it lapses and the room goes back on sale. A guest who believes they have a room may not, if a hold quietly expired. Make reviewing open holds part of your daily routine so nothing expires unnoticed.
Where to check the authoritative state
Once a reservation exists in your PMS, your PMS is the authoritative source for its current state. Changes made directly in the PMS — a manual confirmation, a cancellation at the front desk, a date change over the phone — live in the PMS. When in doubt, trust what the PMS shows.
Related reading
- From Accepted Quote to Reservation — how a reservation gets created in the first place
- Reservation Readiness — why some accepted quotes have not become reservations yet
- Reservation and Sync Issues — what to do when a reservation does not appear where you expect it