---
title: Guesty bookings confirmed after a card decline
description: "A reservation made on your Guesty-connected direct-booking site can show as confirmed in Guesty even though the guest's card declined. **Why this…"
url: "https://homerunner.io/docs/why-does-a-direct-website-booking-show-as-confirmed-in-guesty-when-the-guest-s-c/"
updated: "2026-10-26"
category: Booking engine and checkout
---

# Guesty bookings confirmed after a card decline

A reservation made on your Guesty-connected direct-booking site can show as confirmed in Guesty even though the guest's card declined.

**Why this happens.** The website checkout validates the guest's card and saves it as a payment method; it does not run the charge itself. Guesty attempts the charge after the reservation is already confirmed. If that charge fails, the reservation stays confirmed and unpaid, and the guest still sees a success screen. Guesty Payment Automations (for example "100% at pre-confirmation") do not gate bookings created through the booking engine API, so they do not prevent this.

**What you can do.** You can enable Stripe pre-authorization with 3D Secure at checkout. This validates the card and places a hold for the full booking amount before any reservation is created. You can also enable automatic cancellation of unpaid reservations. Contact support to set up either option.

Still stuck? [Contact the HomeRunner team](https://homerunner.io/contact/) with your site address and what you tried, and we take it from there.