At the lake

The 24 hours before, arrival, ID check, paying the remaining balance at the lake, the session itself, and leaving.

This page is about everything that happens between "booking confirmed" and "session over". The booking flow is on Making a booking; the post-session bits (reviews, disputes) are below.

The 24-hour window before arrival

Twenty-four hours before your session starts, three things happen on the booking page:

The host's phone number unlocks. Save it to your phone if you want; you'll need it if anything changes en route.
Your phone number unlocks for the host. They'll usually ping you the day-before with arrival instructions.
The what-to-bring checklist and arrival instructions become visible. Hosts populate these per-lake; the platform fills in obvious defaults (licence, ID, sleeping bag for 24h+ bookings).

This is also the window where, in our experience, ~80% of "anything happen?" messages between angler and host take place. Keep platform notifications on. If a host calls instead of messaging, that's fine — but ask them to drop a single-line confirmation on the platform thread afterwards, because the thread is what the platform uses if anything escalates.

Arrival

Most lakes have a reception — a hut, a caravan, the host's house, a barn. Arrival is in three steps:

1. Identification

The host checks your name against the booking. We don't require government ID at the gate by default — your name on the booking is enough for most lakes. Hosts may opt into ID checks for high-value sessions (€500+ or 72h+) under Stripe Identity; if so, you'll know at checkout.

Mismatch handling. If the lead angler name on the booking is "Andrew Smith" but Andrew couldn't come and his friend Bob shows up, the host can refuse entry under Trust & Safety — bookings are non-transferable by default. If you knew in advance, you should've cancelled and rebooked, or messaged the host through the platform to ask (and got their agreement in writing on the thread).

2. Paying the remaining balance

This is the moment the remaining balance gets settled. The host should tell you the amount before you hand anything over — it should match the "remaining balance at the lake" line on your booking confirmation (the total minus the booking fee you paid).

Acceptable payment methods are the host's choice:

Cash. Universal — every host accepts it. Bring exact amount in EUR or RON if the lake states a preference.
POS / card. Most lakes with a fixed reception have a POS. Some carp waters with caravan receptions don't.
Bank transfer on the spot. Some hosts accept this via Revolut / Wise / instant SEPA. Not all banks support it in real time.

Get a receipt. The host is legally obliged to issue a receipt or invoice for the remaining balance. Cash businesses use a fiscal cash register receipt (bon fiscal); larger operations issue an invoice. Ask if you don't see one offered — it's the host's compliance, not yours, but you want the paper trail.

3. The walk to the swim

The host walks you to your swim. This is the moment to ask anything you weren't sure of:

Where the lifebuoys are.
Where the toilets / nearest tap / waste bins are.
What the night procedure is — is there an on-site host, or is reception closed after dark?
Where you can park if the swim has separate parking.
The emergency contact number if the host isn't on-site overnight.

It also helps to walk the swim before unloading — make sure it matches what was advertised, and that you're happy with it. If anything's substantively wrong (swim is flooded, no clear casting line, listed amenities missing), this is the moment to flag — see "When something's wrong" below.

During the session

The platform mostly disappears during your session. We don't push promotional notifications, ever. The host's number is on your booking page; ours is on the Trust & Safety page. Use them as needed.

Things that come up that you might not have planned for:

Welfare equipment. Some lakes provide unhooking mats, slings and weighing harnesses at each swim; some require you to bring your own. The lake's rules page declared this before you booked — but if you're standing at the swim without a sling and the rules say "sling required", walk back to reception, the host has spares more often than not.

Live well / retention. If the lake permits carp sacks or retention slings (rare and shrinking — most modern carp waters disallow), the rules page declared a maximum retention time. Honor it.

Catch reporting. If catch reporting is enabled on this lake (host's choice), there's a button on the booking page to log a catch. It's optional. Aggregated catch data feeds back into search ("recently active for common carp") — it's how the platform stays honest about which lakes are actually producing.

Trash / leave-no-trace. Every lake on the platform requires you to take your trash with you. Most have bins at reception; some don't. If you have any doubt, ask. Anglers leaving trash is the single most common complaint hosts make about anglers, and it's the kind of thing that surfaces in your reviews from the host side.

Leaving

At the end of your booked time, the host or a team member usually wants to walk the swim with you for a 30-second check (swim left tidy, no trash, no damage). It's not personal — it's just operations.

There's no "check-out" workflow on the platform. The session ends when the booking end-time passes; reviews open automatically after that point.

After the session

Reviews open immediately after session end. You have 14 days to write one. If you don't, the booking simply has no review. We don't badger you.

Per-aspect ratings: swim quality, host responsiveness, fish stock, value. Plus a free-text section. The host can publicly respond, but neither side can edit a posted review — we'd rather have a robust permanent record than a "negotiable" one.

The host can also leave a review of you. It's anglers-rate-hosts and hosts-rate-anglers, both visible only to the platform until both sides have submitted or 14 days have passed. The host's review of you affects your future host-side reception (slow-pay, hard-to-host, leaves-trash anglers get visible flags to future hosts). It does not affect search results or pricing.

When something's wrong

If the session is materially not what was promised — swim unusable, listed amenities missing, host cancels at the gate, declared stock impossible (e.g. lake is frozen and host didn't say so) — there's a single right move:

Open the booking on your phone.
Message the host from the booking thread.
Send a photo and a one-line description.
Then try to resolve things in person.

The order matters: the photo + timestamp is what the platform uses if mediation kicks in. "I told the host on Sunday and they said they'd sort it" leaves no record we can act on.

If the host can move you to a different swim, refund the remaining balance, or rebook at no charge — fantastic, accept it and note the outcome in the thread. If not, the dispute escalates to LakeBooking under the Refund Policy mediation path.

When you're the problem (it happens)

You can also be the angler who messes up. Common cases:

You arrived barbed at a barbless-only lake. The host can refuse entry; the remaining balance is not paid; the booking fee is non-refundable. Read the rules.
You showed up two anglers extra. The host can refuse entry for the extras or charge a surcharge per the lake's rules.
You overran your booking end time. Most hosts give a 30-minute grace; beyond that, a "next billing unit" charge applies, settled either at the gate or post-hoc through the platform.

None of these are catastrophic. Acknowledge it, settle on-site, move on. Hosts who deal with humble anglers leave correspondingly fair reviews.