Glossary

LakeBooking uses words that mean specific things in our product. Some are angling tradition; some are payments-platform tradition; a few we coined because nothing existing fit. This page is the single source of truth — if a support page uses a word in a way that contradicts this glossary, this glossary wins.

Platform & marketplace

Angler. The person doing the fishing. We use "angler" rather than "fisherman" because it's gender-neutral and covers fly, coarse, predator, and carp anglers alike. The platform's UI in English uses "angler" everywhere.

Host. The lake owner (or licensed manager / lessee / federation) who lists and operates the lake. "Host" is the on-platform role; in legal documents and the Terms you'll see "Owner". Same person.

Lake. A listing on the platform. One legal entity can have multiple lakes. A lake has one or more swims.

Listing. The public-facing page for a single lake. Includes the lake profile, swim definitions, photos, rules, stock, and reviews.

Geography & physical

Swim. One bookable fishing spot. A swim is the unit of inventory on LakeBooking — one swim is rented to one party at a time. (British angling tradition uses "swim"; some markets say "peg" or "stand". We use "swim" platform-wide for consistency.) Swims have a position, a capacity (typically 1–4 rods), a suggested method, a photo, and optional swim-specific rules.

Peg. Synonym for swim, used in some regions. The platform uses "swim". If your local market uses "peg", we'll show "peg" in localised translations where appropriate.

Stand. Romanian synonym for swim. Used in the RO interface.

Capacity. The maximum number of rods (sometimes anglers) a swim accommodates. A 1-rod swim is normally a single angler; a 3-rod swim is a small group. Capacity is a hard limit — you can't book a 3-rod party into a 1-rod swim.

Pricing model

Package. The thing anglers actually book. A package bundles one or more swims with everything that comes with them: accommodation (if any), extras, additional-guest / -angler / -rod rules, billing units, seasonal pricing, and discounts. A simple lake might have one package per swim ("Day Ticket — Swim 1"); a more elaborate setup might have packages like "Weekend Carp Retreat", "Family Stay with Cabin", or "Catfish Week (3 swims)". Packages are how hosts model exactly how their lake is sold.

Extras. The optional equipment rentals and additional services a host sells alongside a package — rod hire, boat hire, catering, a fishing guide. Anglers add them while booking; each extra has its own price, which rolls into the total booking value.

Billing unit. A predefined block of time that the host charges by. Common billing units:

A swim can have several billing units configured at once. The angler picks the one that fits their session at checkout.

Charging period. The cadence at which the platform calculates the price across a span of time. If the billing unit is 24h and the charging period is 1 day, a 4-night booking is 4 × 24h × the price.

Total booking value. The full price for the session. Always shown before checkout. It splits into two parts: the booking fee and the remaining balance.

Booking fee. The portion of the total — always a flat 10% — the angler pays online to secure the booking. Counts toward the total booking value; the angler isn't paying anything extra. This is the only money LakeBooking ever holds.

Remaining balance. The other 90% of the total. Paid by the angler directly to the host at the lake on arrival, in cash or via the host's POS. We never hold this portion and cannot refund it.

Commission / retained booking fee. Internal / host-side term for the booking fee. The platform retains the booking fee paid online by the angler as compensation for marketplace services (booking facilitation, payment processing, customer acquisition, platform operations). The Host Agreement (part of the Terms of Service the host accepts at signup) spells this out. Anglers see only "booking fee" — they don't see this term.

Peak / off-peak pricing. A host can override the base price for date ranges (e.g. Easter weekend, August, off-season winter weeks). The angler sees the effective price for their dates, not the base.

Bookings

Instant book. The default booking mode. The angler picks a swim and a billing unit, pays the booking fee, and the booking is immediately confirmed.

Request to book. Optional alternative — the angler submits a request and the host has 24 hours to accept. We discourage this mode for high-traffic lakes because it depresses conversion.

Group booking. 2–6 adjacent swims under one booking, with split payment between participants. In development — not available yet.

Invite-only listing. Planned, not shipped yet: a lake that wouldn't appear in search, bookable only with the host's invite code. Today every published lake appears in public search — syndicate and members-only waters should talk to us first.

Fishing session. The booked time on the water, from the start of the booking to its end. A session's length is measured in billing units, and reviews open when the session ends.

Money flow

Stripe. The payments processor that handles the angler's booking-fee card payment. We never store card details — Stripe does. In our first season we use plain Stripe (one charge, retained by us as commission per the Host Agreement); when we roll out Stripe Connect in 2027, hosts will be able to opt into receiving the full booking total online with payouts to their IBAN.

3DS / 3D Secure. The bank-side authentication step on card payments. Required for first-time international cards and any payment above €300. Adds ~30 seconds to checkout but cuts chargebacks dramatically.

Chargeback. When an angler disputes a card payment directly with their bank rather than via the platform's dispute path. Slower and rougher than the platform path — see Refund Policy for why we prefer the platform path.

Payout. A bank transfer from Stripe to a host's IBAN. Not in use during our first season — hosts collect the remaining balance directly at the lake, and no platform-to-host money transfer is needed because the booking fee is retained as commission per the Host Agreement. When Stripe Connect rolls out in 2027, hosts who switch on all-online payment will receive payouts on a rolling 7-day schedule by default.

RO e-Factura. Romania's mandatory fiscal-invoice reporting system. LakeBooking issues an e-Factura for the retained commission (the booking fee) on every Romanian transaction; we file it to ANAF automatically. The host is separately responsible for invoicing the remaining balance to the angler.

ANAF. Romania's national fiscal authority. Receives the commission e-Facturas. Hosts have their own ANAF obligations on the remaining balance — we don't intermediate that.

ANPA. Romania's national fisheries authority (Agenția Națională pentru Pescuit și Acvacultură). The licence regime for waters of public good; many hosts hold an ANPA authorisation as their proof-of-control document.

Stock & welfare

Declared stock. The species and approximate sizes the host says are present. Not a guarantee, but a host-attested snapshot. Anglers and hosts are both expected to update it seasonally.

Catch report. A catch an angler logs during a session — photo, species, weight, and optionally the swim and bait. Catch reports appear on the lake page (where the host has enabled them) and help other anglers see what's biting.

Stocking. The act of adding fish to a water. Hosts can publish stocking records (date, species, weight, supplier) on the listing. Sponsor-funded stocking is a feature offered to brand partners — see Sponsors.

Catch and release (C&R). The angler returns the fish unharmed. A "C&R-only" lake doesn't permit the angler to take the fish home.

Barbless / barbed. Refers to the hook type. Barbless hooks have no rear barb and are easier to remove; many welfare-conscious waters require them. Always check the lake's house rules before you arrive — switching hooks at the gate isn't always an option.

Sling, mat, weighing harness. The minimum unhooking-and-care equipment a welfare-baseline lake requires. The lake's rules page declares whether they're provided on-site or you bring your own.

No-kill. No fish may be taken from the lake. Pure catch-and-release.

Take (with permit / under size limit). The angler may keep fish, with constraints. The host's rules page spells out exactly which species, what size, how many.

Account & trust

Verified Host. A host who's passed all three checks: legal entity, identity (Stripe KYC), and lake ownership / management evidence. Carries a badge on the listing. This is the floor — there's no "premium" tier above it.

Verified Angler. An angler who's verified email and phone. Required for booking. For sessions priced above €500 or longer than 72 hours, the host can opt into requiring Stripe Identity verification too.

Median response time. The host's median first-reply time to angler messages, displayed publicly on the listing. Heavily correlates with conversion — anglers reading two similar listings overwhelmingly pick the faster responder.

Reliability score. Internal-only score for hosts, tracking cancellation rate, dispute outcomes, and welfare reports. Not publicly visible but affects search ranking.

See also

• Trust & Safety — the policy side of verification, welfare, and incidents.
• Refund Policy — when money moves back, and to whom.
• Quick start for anglers and Quick start for hosts — see the terms in action.