When a hotel, lodge, or booking manager pays for and coordinates a trip, the cleanest setup is to make them the booking client and let them manage the guest list from their portal. Here's the full workflow.
Add the 3rd Party as a Client
The 3rd party needs to exist as a client before you can set them as the booking client. If they aren't already in your list, you can add them either way:
In the left sidebar, under Platform, click Clients, then click Add Client in the top right.
Or create them on the spot while you're creating the booking.
Either way, use the business name and a consistent business email. Using the same record every time keeps all their bookings tied together.
Create the Booking
Create the booking as usual, making sure the booking client is set to the 3rd party.
Bookings can come from:
An online request where you send the invoice
A New Booking you create manually and invoice
Collect Payment
Once the invoice is paid, the payment will appear on the booking’s Audit trail, under the Payments filter.
If you collect payment manually, confirm it’s applied to the correct 3rd party client profile.
Share the Portal with the 3rd Party
From the booking, click the caret next to View Client Portal to copy the portal or invite link, and send it to the 3rd party.
This is what lets them handle the guest list themselves — which is usually what they want, since they're the ones coordinating.
Let the 3rd Party Manage the Guest List
From their portal, the 3rd party can:
Uncheck themselves as attending, since they're paying but not going
Invite guests, or share the portal link so guests enter their own details
Add a guest as a minor, if you allow minors on trips
Manage guests separately for each date, if the booking covers more than one trip day
See How Clients Manage Guests and Participants for what they'll see.
Throughout this, the 3rd party stays the booking client — they keep the invoice, booking communications, and portal access.
If You Need to Do It Yourself
If the 3rd party would rather you handle it, you can manage the roster from your side:
Replace the 3rd party on the trip roster with an attending guest — see How to Swap In the Attending Client When the Booking Client Isn't Going.
Use Add Client on the left side of the booking to invite any remaining guests. They'll receive an invite to join the trip as attendees.
Gifted Bookings
If an individual client is gifting a trip rather than a business booking it, see How to handle gifted bookings.
Important Setup Note
If you allow experiences to be booked by 3rd parties, set those experiences to Request-to-Book in your online availability settings.
This prevents automatic bookings, avoids duplicate client records, and ensures you can properly assign the booking client before invoicing.