The Reserve Now, Pay Later option gives eligible travelers more flexibility when booking your property. Travelers can confirm a reservation without being charged at the time of booking and pay automatically later, before the free-cancellation deadline.

How Reserve Now, Pay Later works:

  • A traveler selects Reserve Now, Pay Later when it’s available for your property and stay dates.
  • The traveler provides a valid payment method, which Vrbo validates when the reservation is made.
  • The traveler’s payment is scheduled for a later date set within the eligible payment window.
  • The full booking amount is charged automatically before the free cancellation deadline.
  • The traveler still owes the full booking amount. The Reserve Now, Pay Later option only changes when the traveler pays.

Impact on partners

Reserve Now, Pay Later is designed to help you attract more travelers who plan ahead or need time to coordinate payment, without changing your day-to-day operations.

  • Your payout timing doesn’t change. You’re still typically paid one business day after the traveler checks in, according to your normal payout terms.
  • Your calendar works the same way. A Reserve Now, Pay Later reservation blocks your calendar like any other confirmed reservation.
  • Your performance metrics aren’t affected. If the traveler doesn’t complete payment, the resulting cancellation doesn’t count against your partner performance metrics.
  • Your cancellation policy still applies. The reservation follows the cancellation policy that was active when the traveler booked.
  • Your payment schedule may look different for that reservation. For a Reserve Now, Pay Later booking, the traveler’s payment is shown as scheduled and is handled by Vrbo. Your usual payment-term settings continue to apply to other bookings.

Reserve Now, Pay Later reservations appear as standard confirmed reservations in your Reservation Manager. You can see the scheduled payment status and charge date in the payment schedule.

Eligibility

Reserve Now, Pay Later is available for cancellation policies that offer a full refund 60 days or less before check-in. Day Before, Lenient, Relaxed, Moderate, Strict, and Firm policies are eligible, while No Refund is not.  

Other eligibility factors may include:

  • Your payout setup
  • The booking type
  • How far in advance the traveler is booking
  • The point of sale the traveler used to book
  • The length of the stay (28 nights or fewer)

Not every listing or reservation will be eligible.

What happens if the traveler doesn’t pay?

If the scheduled payment fails, Vrbo automatically retries the payment, then gives the traveler a grace period to update their payment method or pay manually.

If payment isn’t completed before the free cancellation deadline, Vrbo automatically cancels the reservation. The reservation is canceled before the cancellation window closes, and your calendar is re-opened for new bookings on those dates.

Can I turn off Reserve Now, Pay Later?

No, you can’t opt out of Reserve Now, Pay Later. If you don’t want new reservations on a listing to be eligible, you can change the listing’s cancellation policy to No refund. This change applies to all new bookings on the listing, not just Reserve Now, Pay Later reservations. Existing reservations aren’t affected.