Your Own Bookings and World Camps

Many camps keep their own registration system and take payment directly — World Camps is built to work alongside it, not replace it. This article covers the two things that keep both systems honest: your availability, and the payment cycle on booking requests.

WHO THIS ARTICLE IS FOR

Structured payment details — sent to families automatically after you accept — are part of the Pro and Premium licences. On Marketplace, families pay through World Camps once you have turned on online payments under Get paid (Stripe, deposit, cancellation policy): their card is authorised with the request and captured after you accept, as described in "How World Camps Works"; before that, requests reach you and you arrange payment with the family in the conversation, with no fee. The availability rule below applies to every camp; the payment sections apply to camps on a Pro or Premium licence.

KEEP YOUR AVAILABILITY TRUE

World Camps only ever offers the places you say are free. When you sell a place outside the platform:

• Open your camp in the editor and lower "spots left" on that session by the places you sold.
• That is the whole job — it takes seconds, and it prevents the same seat being offered twice.
• Our system never lets World Camps bookings exceed the spots you set: active bookings always hold their place, and the number cannot drop below them.

Good to know: a request that is still pending does not hold a spot forever — it expires automatically if you do not respond within the response window.

HOW FAMILIES PAY YOU ON BOOKING REQUESTS (PRO AND PREMIUM LICENCES)

When your camp is on a Pro or Premium licence, no payment runs through World Camps on a booking request and no commission applies. You accept, then settle payment in your own system. To make that smooth, you can save your payment details once under Account > Get paid ("I collect payments myself"):

• Your message to families, your payment details (bank transfer, a payment link, or on arrival), and when you usually expect payment.
• When you accept a request, families receive them automatically — in their booking, in your conversation thread, and by email — together with their booking reference (for example BK-8F2K4Q).
• Ask families to include that reference with their transfer: it is how you match each payment on your bank statement.

THE PAYMENT HANDSHAKE

• The family can tap "I've sent the payment" on their booking — you are notified the moment they do.
• When the money arrives on your account, tap "Payment received — family enrolled" on the booking. That confirms the child's place for the family and completes the booking on both sides.
• If the family never enrolled or never replied, record that outcome instead — it keeps your numbers honest and releases nothing you did not intend.

Good to know: confirming receipt is also how World Camps knows your requests turn into real enrolments — it is the only signal we ever get, because the money never touches us.