Manually create a new customer booking

You can manually create new bookings on behalf of customers. This is great for customers who want to book an experience at the door, in person, or over the phone. It’s also a great way to add special guests without requiring them to check out online.

Before taking a payment for a customer, we recommend reading out any applicable terms and conditions for them.

Note: You need to have the Manage bookings permission in order to take payments for customers. Learn more about roles and permissions.

How to create a new customer booking

1. Go to Bookings > All Bookings in your dashboard and select Create new booking in the top right corner.
2. Enter the customer’s email address to check if they have an existing account.
   • If the customer has booked with you before using this email address, you’ll see the phone number they booked with, which you can use to verify the customer’s identity for security before creating the booking. 
   • If the customer has an account but has never booked with you before, you’ll need to verify their phone number by entering the last 4 digits. If the digits entered match the phone number on the account, you’ll be able to confirm their preferred currency for making payment and then create a booking.
     • Note: Only the customer can change their own phone number. If the customer’s phone number on file is incorrect, they’ll need to log in via your site. To get to the log in page just add /log-in to the end of your site address. For example, the link for our culinary experience "Edible" demo site is: https://www.edible-experiences.com/log-in
   • If the customer doesn’t have an existing account, follow instructions to create one for them by entering their first name, last name, phone number, and preferred currency for making payment.
     • Note: The customer will receive an automated email to confirm their account.
3. Next, add items to the customer’s booking. You also have the option to apply discounts or a voucher code. 
4. Click Update booking to create the booking. 

How to take payment on behalf of a customer

1. Click Add payment to take payment on behalf of the customer.
2. You'll be prompted to confirm the customer contact details. Once confirmed, click Save contact details.
3. Under the Payment method, click the Edit button to select whether to pay in full or make a partial payment. Click Confirm.
4. If you're taking payment on behalf of the customer, select Card payment, or Mark as paid off-platform to record the booking as paid outside of Easol. 
   • If Card payment is selected, enter the card details and click Take payment.
   • If Mark as paid off-platform is selected, you can add an optional Reference label which is displayed in the booking timeline to add reconciliation. Then, click Record.

Sharing a payment link instead of taking the payment yourself

If you'd rather have the customer (or someone else) pay online, you have two options:

• Customer payment link — the lead booker logs into their account and pays. Until they do, they can't access the booking from their customer account.
• Third-party payment link (when third-party payments are enabled) — anyone with the link can pay without logging in. This is ideal for corporate bookings where a finance team pays on the customer's behalf. The third-party payer enters their own contact and billing details, picks a payment method, and gets a confirmation email directly. Learn more about third-party payments.

Both links appear in the booking's balance section. Copy whichever is appropriate and share it directly with the recipient.

To learn more, check out our help article on taking payment from customers.