A confirmed hotel booking, without paying for the room
A real reservation made with the hotel and held in your names. You receive the property’s own confirmation, carrying its address, its booking reference and every night of the stay, forwarded to you as a PDF.
- A real booking with the hotel
- Every night of the stay
- Nothing paid for the room
08008 Barcelona, Spain
- Guests
- JOHN A. SMITH
MARIA S. SMITH - Rooms
- 1 · Double room, city view
The property’s figures for the room. Not a charge from us. Nothing beyond the order price leaves your account.
What is a hotel reservation for a visa application?
A hotel reservation for a visa application is a confirmed accommodation booking submitted as proof of where you will stay. It carries the property name and address, the check-in and check-out dates, and the guest names. It records the accommodation you have arranged for the trip rather than a room you have paid for.
- Property name
- Full street address
- Check-in and check-out
- Confirmation number
Read the full explainer
Almost every application form has a box for where you will be staying, and it wants two things from you: an address, and the nights you will be at it. Supplying both is the whole job of this document. Payment is a separate matter, settled at the property or in advance if you pick a prepaid rate, and the confirmation reads the same either way: property, full address, arrival, departure, nights, guests.
What the requirement is usually written around is the whole stay, not the first night of it. Checklists tend to ask for accommodation details for the duration of the visit, which for a two-city trip means both cities and the night in between, and for a month-long stay means the whole month rather than the opening weekend. A gap in the middle of the stay is the ordinary way this document falls short, and it is worth counting the nights against your travel dates before anything is submitted.
The requirement goes by several names depending on who published the list: proof of accommodation, accommodation booking, proof of stay, hotel booking, or evidence of where you will be staying. Some lists also allow an invitation letter from a host in place of a booking, which is the right route if you are staying with friends or family. Where a host covers only part of the trip, a reservation for the remaining nights is the ordinary way to close the gap.
Your application form has a box for where you’re staying
Proof of accommodation is a standard line on visa checklists, and the box wants two things from you: an address, and the nights you’ll be at it. Supplying both is the whole job of this document.
Dates and a destination, but no address. The file describes a trip nobody has arranged yet.
Somewhere to be, for the nights you say you’ll be there, at an address that can be written on a form.
The wording varies by who published your list: proof of accommodation, accommodation booking, proof of stay, hotel details, address for the duration of stay. They are all asking for the same two things. Does a reservation count? →
How to get a hotel reservation for a visa application
Three steps. Order once your dates are settled, so the nights on the confirmation are the nights you actually submit.
- 1
Tell us the city and the dates
The destination city, your check-in and check-out dates, and how many rooms and guests the stay is for.
- 2
Add the guest names from the passport
Copy each name from the passport page exactly. If you have a preference, add it in the notes: city centre, near the airport, a particular area.
- 3
Receive the confirmation by email
One confirmation per property, each carrying the address you copy onto the form and the nights it covers.
What is on the confirmation
The property’s own booking confirmation, forwarded to you as a PDF. Here is the document, and what each part of it is for.
08008 Barcelona, Spain
- Guests
- JOHN A. SMITH
MARIA S. SMITH - Rooms
- 1 · Double room, city view
The property’s figures for the room. Not a charge from us. Nothing beyond the order price leaves your account.
- The hotel’s own confirmation numberIssued by the property when the booking is made, and printed at the top. It is what identifies the reservation.
- The property that holds the bookingA named hotel with a real reservation against your names. Not a category, and not a document made to look like one.
- The full street addressThis is the line your application form is asking for when it wants an address for your stay.
- The nights, spelled outCheck-in, check-out and the number between them, so the stay can be counted rather than inferred.
- Guest names from the passportThe booking is held in the names you supply, spelled exactly as they appear on the passport page.
- One confirmation per propertyA stay split across two or three cities arrives as a set, rather than as one document with a hole in it.
The full list of what is printed on it
- A real reservation made with the property for your dates, held in the guest names exactly as they appear in the passport.
- The hotel’s own booking confirmation number, printed at the top, which identifies the reservation.
- The property name and its full street address, which is the line a form asks for when it wants an address for your stay.
- Check-in and check-out dates, with the number of nights spelled out, so the stay can be counted rather than inferred.
- The room type, the number of rooms and the number of guests the reservation is held for.
- The nightly rate and the stay total the confirmation is issued at. These are the property’s figures for the room; they are not a charge from us, and nothing beyond the order price leaves your account.
- Separate confirmations for each property on a multi-city trip, so a stay split across two or three cities arrives as a set rather than as one document with a hole in it.
- The issue date, and the property’s check-in time, check-out time and cancellation terms.
- The property’s own booking confirmation, as the hotel issues it. A clean A4 PDF, printable for a paper file and light enough to attach to a portal.
This is a real booking, not a document made to look like one
“Dummy hotel reservation” and “fake hotel reservation” usually mean a PDF built in a template, with a reference number that was typed rather than issued. That is not what this is, and we do not sell one.
A real reservation
- What exists behind itA reservation held at the property, against your names
- Where the reference comes fromIssued by the hotel when the booking is made
- Who wrote the documentThe property. You receive its own confirmation
- What you pay forThe booking. Nothing for the room itself
A fabricated PDF
- What exists behind itNothing. The file is the whole of it
- Where the reference comes fromTyped into a template
- Who wrote the documentWhoever sold it to you
- What you pay forA PDF
The two can look identical on screen, which is the whole difficulty. The difference is not in the layout of the document; it is in whether a room is actually held under your names at the address printed on it.
A stay with a hole in it is the usual way this goes wrong
Checklists are generally written around the duration of the visit. Count the nights between your arrival and departure, and make the accommodation add up to that number.
- BarcelonaMar 10 → Mar 177 nightscheck-out meets check-in
- ParisMar 17 → Mar 225 nightscheck-out meets check-in
- BerlinMar 22 → Mar 264 nights
Accommodation named for every night between arrival and departure, with each city’s check-out sitting against the next city’s check-in.
The opening weekend booked and the rest of the month blank. Or a night unaccounted for in the middle, where one city ends and the next has not started.
Staying with family for part of the trip is a normal answer, not a gap. Many lists accept a host’s invitation letter for those nights, and a reservation for the remaining nights is the ordinary way to close what is left.
Three things that matter on an accommodation line
Every night, not the first weekend
Built around your two dates however far apart they are. No night limit to buy past, and no package to outgrow.
Three cities is still one order
Each property is its own confirmation, priced as its own reservation and sequenced so the seams between cities line up.
No deadline to remember
No card held against a room, and no cancellation window you have to act inside to avoid being billed.
£5 each. Nothing for the room.
£5 covers the first property, guest and room. Every additional one is another £5. All of them are asked on the order form and totalled before you pay.
One property, one room, one guest. Each extra property, guest or room adds £5.
- A real booking made with the hotel, under its own reference
- In your name, for your dates
- The property, its full address and the nights printed on it
- Booking confirmation PDF by email
- No payment for the room itself
Delivered by email. You pick the speed at checkout
What changes the total
- Each propertyEvery city is its own reservation, with its own confirmation.£5
- Each guestEvery guest named on the booking.£5
- Each roomEvery room the reservation is held for.£5
- Delivery speedYou choose the speed at checkout. Standard is included, and two faster lanes are available.your choice
A reservation vs. booking a room yourself
Booking a room you can cancel for nothing is a real option, and it costs nothing if you get the timing right. What it adds is a card on file and a deadline per property.
| The trade-off | A hotel reservationWhat this page is aboutfrom £5one-time | A free-cancellation roomBooked yourself, cancelled laterUsually nothingupfront, if you cancel in time | A prepaid roomPaid before the trip is certainCost of the stayper room, not recoverable |
|---|---|---|---|
| What leaves your account today | Good: The order price, once | Neutral: Often nothing, but a card is held | Costs you: The full cost of the stay |
| What you have to remember | Good: Nothing | Costs you: A deadline per property | Neutral: Nothing |
| Once you cancel | Good: Nothing to cancel | Costs you: The confirmation stops being true | Costs you: You lose the money |
| A stay of several weeks | Good: One order, no night ceiling | Neutral: One booking per property | Costs you: Paid in full, upfront |
| A trip through more than one city | Good: Sequenced on one order | Neutral: You line up the seams | Costs you: The same, paid at every stop |
| Worth it when | Good: The file needs it in writing | Good: You'd genuinely stay there | Good: The trip is already certain |
The comparison is with a class of booking, not any particular site. Our own price is the only figure here we control.
The same comparison, in full sentences
- What leaves your account today
- A hotel reservationThe order price, once. Nothing for the room.
- A free-cancellation roomOften nothing, but a card is held. Many rates are held against a card and some are charged at booking.
- A prepaid roomThe full cost of the stay. Paid before the trip is certain.
- What you have to remember
- A hotel reservationNothing. There is no deadline attached to it.
- A free-cancellation roomA deadline per property. Separately for every property you book. Miss one and you are charged for it.
- A prepaid roomNothing. Because there is nothing left to decide.
- Once you cancel
- A hotel reservationNothing to cancel. No booking is left open in your name.
- A free-cancellation roomThe confirmation stops being true. The booking ends at that moment. From then on the confirmation you were relying on describes a reservation that no longer exists.
- A prepaid roomYou lose the money. You do not cancel, or you cancel and lose it.
- A stay of several weeks
- A hotel reservationOne order, no night ceiling. Counted in nights, with no ceiling to buy past.
- A free-cancellation roomOne booking per property. Each with its own terms and its own deadline.
- A prepaid roomPaid in full, upfront. For the whole run of nights, before you know whether you are travelling.
- A trip through more than one city
- A hotel reservationSequenced on one order. Each property priced as its own reservation, with the seams lined up.
- A free-cancellation roomYou line up the seams. Booked and tracked city by city, and the seams between them are yours to line up.
- A prepaid roomThe same, paid at every stop. In advance, for each city.
- Worth it when
- A hotel reservationThe file needs it in writing. You need the accommodation for your file set out in writing and are not ready to commit money to a stay yet.
- A free-cancellation roomYou'd genuinely stay there. You have chosen a property you would genuinely be happy to stay in and want to hold it while you decide.
- A prepaid roomThe trip is already certain. The prepaid rate is materially cheaper and the trip is already certain.
Terms on free-cancellation rooms vary widely by property, rate and season. Card guarantees, deadlines measured in days rather than hours, and city taxes charged separately are all common. Check the terms on any room you book. Our own price is the only figure here we control.
Does a reservation count as proof of accommodation?
Proof of accommodation, hotel details, address for the duration of stay: every variant on every list asks for the same two things. A place, and the nights you will be at it. A reservation names both, without a room being paid for.
What we are accountable for
- A real reservation held with the hotel for the dates you give us
- The property, its address and the nights of the stay printed on it
- Guest names exactly as you supplied them
- A booking made with the property, not a document made to resemble one
The requirement asks you to have somewhere arranged for the nights you will be in the country. That part is a document, and it is the part we can be held to. The decision never is. Not ours, and not any provider’s.
Why the requirement exists, and where our accountability stops
Read the wording on your own list, and notice what all the variants have in common. Proof of accommodation, accommodation booking, hotel details, address for the duration of stay. Each of them asks you to name a place and the nights you will be at it. A reservation names both, under a confirmation number, without a room being paid for. Where a list asks in terms for a stay paid in full, that is a different document and the list is what to follow.
The reason the requirement exists at all is worth knowing, because it explains the shape of it. A file that names dates and a destination but no address describes a trip nobody has arranged yet. Proof of accommodation supplies the missing part: somewhere to be, for the nights you say you will be there, at an address that can be written on a form. That is why the requirement is usually phrased around the duration of the stay. It is the nights that are being evidenced, not the payment.
And the money at risk is larger here than anywhere else in the file. A flight is one purchase; accommodation is a purchase per property and a cancellation deadline per booking, spread across every night of the trip. Prepay a three-city month and you are carrying the cost of the whole month plus three deadlines to remember, on a trip that is not settled yet. Published guidance from a good number of consulates and visa centres tells applicants not to commit to non-refundable arrangements before a decision is issued, and rooms are where that advice bites hardest.
So here is the line, plainly. We are answerable for the confirmation: the property, its full address, the guest names, and every night between the two dates you gave us. We are not answerable for the assessment. That belongs to the post handling your file, judged against its own list, and no company selling a document is in that room. It is why our terms carry no refund on a refused application: a decision is not ours to move, and we will not take money for a promise about one.
Questions people ask before ordering
Is the booking confirmation genuine?
Yes. It is a real reservation made with the property, held in the guest names you supply and for the dates you give us, not a document we have typeset to look like a hotel’s. What arrives is the property’s own booking confirmation, carrying its confirmation number, the property name, its full street address and the nights of the stay. What we will not tell you is what any particular consulate or visa centre will do with it. That is not ours to promise, and anyone who does promise it is describing a decision they have no part in.
Do I pay for the room?
No. You pay the order price and nothing else. The booking is a real reservation held at the property, but nothing is committed to the stay itself: no money for the room, no card held against it, and no cancellation window you have to act inside to avoid being billed. The nightly rate and total printed on the confirmation are the property’s figures for the room, not a charge from us.
Does it have to cover every night of my trip?
Read your own checklist, but most are written around the duration of the visit rather than the first night of it, and a stay that is only partly covered is the commonest way this document falls short. Count the nights between your arrival and departure dates and make sure the accommodation adds up to that number. If part of the trip is spent with family or in another country, say so in your cover letter rather than leaving an unexplained gap in the middle.
Can I reserve in more than one city?
Yes. Set the number of properties on the order form and each is reserved and priced as its own booking on the same order, which is the usual shape of a Schengen trip or any journey with a second stop. Each property arrives as its own confirmation, and the dates are sequenced so one city’s check-out sits against the next city’s check-in rather than a night either side of it.
Do I need a hotel booking for a Schengen visa?
Proof of accommodation is a standard line on Schengen supporting-document lists, and it is written around the full duration of the intended stay rather than the first night of it. Two things are worth settling early. Which mission you apply to normally turns on where you are spending the most nights, so count them before you book anything. This one document is upstream of the application itself. And a stay split across countries needs a confirmation in each, sequenced so one check-out meets the next check-in. The list itself is the mission’s, so read the one it publishes.
What if I’m staying with friends or family?
Then a hotel reservation may not be the document you need. Many checklists list an invitation or accommodation letter from your host, sometimes with proof of their address or status, as an alternative to a booking. Where that route is open to you it is the more straightforward one. Some applicants order a reservation for the nights that are not covered by a host, which is a reasonable use of it. Check what your own checklist says before you order anything.
How quickly does it arrive?
That is your choice, made at checkout. The order form has a delivery-speed step with a standard option included in the price and two faster lanes you can pay for if your appointment is close. The turnaround for each is shown against it as you pick, and the total updates before you pay. Everything arrives by email as a PDF either way, and you can follow progress on the order tracking page. Because a visa file usually takes weeks to put together, the practical advice is to order once your dates are settled rather than at the very start, so the dates on the confirmation are the dates you actually end up submitting.
Your dates, covered end to end
One order, one confirmation per property, and nothing committed to a room you may not need.
Order now, from £5From £5 · a real booking with the hotel · no payment for the room