# Enquiries and booking requests

> The two things guests send you from your own site — a question, and an ask for dates you have to approve.

Source: https://docs.santara.ai/setup/booking-site-requests/

Your [booking site](/setup/booking-site/) produces two inboxes, and they are not the same thing.

## Enquiries

**Settings → Booking Site → Leads.** Everyone who has used the contact form on your site: name,
message, and how to reach them.

If it is empty and you expected otherwise, the usual cause is that there is no form on the site —
add a **Contact** section on the Design tab, or a contact page. No form, no enquiries.

These are leads, not bookings. Nothing is held and no dates are reserved.

## Booking requests

**Settings → Booking Site → Requests.** These only exist for properties you have set to
**request mode** rather than instant booking — the guest asks for dates, and nothing is reserved
until you say yes.

The screen tells you how many people are waiting on you, because that is the number that matters:
a request sitting unanswered is a guest deciding to book somewhere else.

### Approving one

Approve, and the stay is created and the nights close on every connected channel like any other
booking. Decline, and the dates stay open.

Choose request mode per property on the booking site's **Properties** section. It is the right
choice for a villa where you want to vet the group, and the wrong one for anything competing on
convenience.

### Money

If the guest paid, the amount includes any **service fee** you have configured — your payout is
the rest of it, and the fee is shown as its own line before anyone reaches a card form.

:::caution[Refunding is not cancelling]
**Refunding returns the money only. The stay remains on your calendar until you cancel it** — and
while it is there, those nights are still closed on every channel. Two steps, deliberately
separate, because refunding a partial amount on a stay that is going ahead is a real thing people
do. If the guest is not coming, do both.
:::

## Where these differ from channel bookings

A direct booking is yours: no commission, and the guest's real email address rather than a
forwarding alias. What you give up is the channel's dispute process — which is why request mode
exists, and why the [contact details](/setup/booking-site/) on your site are worth filling in
properly.