Finalizing a hotel booking has three stages that can stall: the pre-booked rate can lapse, the supplier can take a long time to confirm, or the rate details can no longer match what was pre-booked. Each has its own on-screen wording and its own way out. On these bookings the client's card carries an authorization hold that is only captured once the supplier confirms, so a stalled finalization does not mean the client has been charged.
The Rate Validity Countdown
When a rate is pre-booked, TravelFlow stamps it with a validity window of up to 40 minutes (shorter if the supplier returns an earlier expiry). The booking queue and the finalization page show this as a badge reading Rate valid mm:ss, which turns amber as the window closes and then becomes Rate EXPIRED — re-selection required. The clock starts at pre-booking, not when you open the request, so a request that has sat in the queue may already be expired when you claim it.
When the Rate Has Expired
Expiry is a hard block, not a warning. The server refuses both the booking form and the final booking call with “The prebooked rate has expired. The consultant must re-select a current rate before this booking can be placed.” There is no automatic re-pre-booking: an expired rate is never silently refreshed behind your back.
The finalization page replaces the form with a Rate re-selection required panel confirming that no booking was placed with the supplier and the client's payment hold was left untouched. Click Select a current room & rate to fetch live availability and pre-book again, or Back to queue to leave it.
If the re-selected supplier price differs from the amount the client authorized, the panel shows the authorized amount, the new price and the difference, and asks you to choose: Re-authorize client at new price, Proceed on current authorization, or Cancel. A booking is never placed at a new price against the old authorization.
Booking Sitting on “Processing”
Once the booking is submitted, TravelFlow polls the supplier for its status every four seconds for up to three minutes. That is normal — supplier confirmation is not instant. Leave the page open while it runs.
If three minutes pass with no final answer, the screen reads “Booking confirmation is taking longer than expected. Please check your bookings page.” This is a timeout on waiting, not a failure: the booking may still confirm at the supplier. Do not submit it again. Open Bookings > My Bookings a few minutes later to see the outcome, and raise a support ticket with the booking reference if it is still unresolved.
Rate Mismatch Errors
If the rate identifier sent from your browser does not match the one stored against the request, the booking is rejected before anything is sent to the supplier. This usually means the page was left open across a re-selection, or the request was worked on in two tabs. Reload the finalization page so it picks up the current pre-booking, and start again from there.