Quick start for hosts

This is the shortest sensible path from "registering as a host" to "first paying angler at your lake". Plan 30–60 minutes for the active work, plus a verification window that usually closes inside 24 hours.

For the detailed contractual side, the Become a Host page is the long-form version. This page is the operational walk-through.

1. Register as a host

Sign up as a host. The host sign-up is slightly different from the angler one — we ask a few details about you and your business so we can issue invoices correctly and verify the lake later.

What you'll need to hand:

• A way to invoice for the remaining balance. In Romania most hosts use a PFA, II, SRL or ONG; if you're elsewhere in the EU, the equivalent works. We prefer a registered entity because of how Romanian fiscal rules work for receipts, but if you're a small private operator, write to us before signing up and we'll find the right path.
• Your basic business details — name, CUI / VAT number, registered address. We use these to pre-fill your invoices.
• An ID for the legal representative — just so we know who we're working with.
• An IBAN for the future — when we roll out full online payments in 2027, your payouts will land there. Nothing is transferred to it in the current model.

After confirming your email you land in the host dashboard. The lake itself isn't created yet — that's step 3.

2. Verify your business

The Verification tab asks for one proof-of-control document:

• Title deed if you own the lake outright.
• Lease or management contract if you operate the lake under contract from the owner.
• ANPA authorisation if the lake is under the national fisheries authority's licence regime (most public-good waters fall here).
• Federation authorisation if you're running on behalf of a club or association.

Upload as a PDF or photo, both sides if applicable. We don't ask for translations of Romanian documents — the verifier reads Romanian.

Verification SLA is 48 working hours end-to-end. While it's pending you can build the rest of the listing in step 3 — it just won't appear in search until verification clears.

If anything is rejected (wrong document, expired, illegible), you get an email with the exact reason and a re-upload link. We don't make you start over.

3. Build the listing

The listing builder is laid out in the order an angler reads it, top to bottom. Fill it in that order; the more you trust the flow, the better the result.

The fields that matter:

• Lake profile. Name, județ / region, water type, surface in hectares, max depth, access notes (this last one matters — anglers consistently flag access notes as the most useful section).
• Swims. Each swim is a separate row. Position on the map (drag pin), capacity (rod count), suggested method, photo, and any swim-specific rules. Don't merge swims that anglers expect to book separately.
• Stock. Declared species and approximate sizes. Update it seasonally — the platform will remind you in April and October.
• House rules. Barbless / barbed, no-kill / take with permit / take below a size limit, group caps, quiet hours, dogs, children, drone use. Be specific. "No kill" is clear; "preferably no kill" is not.
• Amenities. Toilets, electricity, water, on-site shop, accommodation, on-site host presence at night, parking next to swim, charging points for boilies / sonar, dogs on lead, etc.
• Photos. Up to 30. Reorder by drag-and-drop. The first photo is your search-card thumbnail — it's the single biggest lever you have on click-through.

You don't have to do all of this in one sitting. The builder saves on every field change.

4. Configure pricing (this is the important step)

LakeBooking's pricing model is built around two pieces — read Swims and pricing for the full version, but the headline is:

• A billing unit is a time block with a price. You can have multiple billing units per swim. Most hosts run 12h day-tickets, 24h overnighters, 60h weekends and 168h carp weeks side-by-side. Anglers pick the one that fits their session.
• A charging period is the cadence at which the calendar slots the unit. If the billing unit is 24h and the charging period is 1 day, a four-night booking is 4 × 24h.

Set seasonal prices (peak summer vs winter) if you want them — the calendar respects price overrides per date range.

In our first season there's no payout setup to do — the remaining balance is paid to you directly at the lake. The 10% booking fee the angler pays online is retained by us as commission per your Host Agreement, so no platform-to-host transfer is needed. We'll add full Stripe-based payouts in 2027 if you want to switch on all-online payment then.

5. Go live

Once your setup checklist is complete — at least one swim, one package with a priced billing unit — turn on Accept bookings in Lake settings. You can also hit Request verification on the dashboard for the public Verified badge (our team reviews every request).

You'll see the lake appear in search within a few minutes, sorted by relevance and proximity to the angler's location. Search ranking is editorial-driven, not paid — you can't pay to be higher.

What week one looks like

Day 1–3. Anglers start finding the lake in search; questions land in your Messages. The dashboard tracks revenue, occupancy, bookings and reviews as they come in.

Day 4–7. First bookings, especially if your pricing is at or below the regional median. Reply to angler messages within 24 hours — an unanswered question usually means a booking somewhere else.

Week 2. We'll send you one check-in email asking what's working and what isn't. It's a real human, not a survey, and the reply rate determines what we ship next.

Ongoing. You collect the remaining balance directly from each angler at the lake, and issue your usual receipt or invoice for it. We invoice the angler for the booking fee (retained as our commission) separately. There's nothing for you to reconcile, no payouts to wait on.

Where to next

• Swims and pricing — billing units, charging periods, seasonal pricing.
• Calendar and bookings — blocking dates, accepting requests, managing conflicts.
• Payments, payouts, and taxes — the v1 flow, RO e-Factura, what changes when we add full online payments.
• Become a Host (long-form) — the contractual version of this page.

For situations that don't fit the standard flow (federation-managed waters, hotel-attached lakes, river beats), email contact@lakebooking.com before signing up — we'll set up a 20-minute call.