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Follow one booking
Page summary: Understand EMS through one complete customer journey.
Use this when: Best first deep read for a new team member. It connects setup, availability, booking, money, statuses, and cancellation without starting from technical definitions.
- The experience must be sellable before the guest can book.
- Booking, item, payment, invoice, and cancellation statuses are separate.
- Payment and cancellation do not automatically mean the booking status changed.
One booking, start to finish. If you read one page to understand EMS, read this one.
Ten minutes. No prior knowledge needed.
The story
A ski school in Niseko runs a beginners' lesson. A guest in Tokyo books it for next Saturday.
1. The school sets it up
They create the experience — name, photos, how long it lasts. They add the options a guest chooses: number of people, ski length. One option is marked as the thing that decides the price.
They set a rate, and set when it runs and how many can come. They choose whether a booking confirms straight away or waits for their approval.
Then they publish it.
It only becomes bookable if it has a main photo, a rate that has not expired, and at least one availability rule. Miss any one and it silently will not appear. See Get an experience live.
2. The guest finds it
On the school's own booking page. Or through their hotel, if the school has a partnership. Or on a marketplace.
They pick Saturday, say two people, choose ski lengths, and pay.
3. The booking arrives
It appears in the school's dashboard, marked with where it came from.
Here is the part that catches everyone out: the booking now has five separate statuses.
| Says | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | Confirmed | The lesson is happening |
| Item | Confirmed | Both people are in |
| Payment | Waiting payment | The money has not landed yet |
| Invoice | Draft | The bill has not been issued |
| Cancellation | — | Nobody has asked to cancel |
"Confirmed" says nothing about the money. That single fact explains more support tickets than anything else. See Booking statuses.
4. The money
The guest paid ¥20,000. Tax is already inside that number, not added to it — EMS works backwards to find it. Delta takes a platform fee. If a hotel sold it, the hotel takes a commission. What is left is the school's.
Payment status moves to paid. The booking status does not change; it was already confirmed. See Prices and fees.
5. Saturday
The school marks the booking in progress when the lesson starts, and done when it finishes.
6. If something changes
The guest asks to cancel. That creates a cancellation record with its own status — requested, then confirmed once the school agrees. It can cover one person or both.
If only one person cancels, the booking stays confirmed. That is correct, and it looks wrong to everyone the first time.
What you now know
- EMS is a dashboard, a booking page, and partner selling
- An experience needs a photo, a live rate and availability before anyone can buy it
- A booking carries five statuses that move on their own
- Confirmed does not mean paid
- Tax is inside the price
- Cancelling part of a booking leaves the rest confirmed
Next, depending on your job
| You are | Read next |
|---|---|
| Support | Troubleshoot a customer problem |
| Sales or client-facing | What can be configured |
| Product | Booking statuses, then Prices and fees |
| Engineering or QA | Booking statuses and Availability and capacity, evidence expanded |
| Anyone | Words we use, then Get access |
Evidence and test details
- Checked The steps come from the dev environment and the code, 5 Aug 2026. The Niseko ski school is an illustration, not a real customer.