Can I hold a hotel room for a customer for a few days while they decide whether to book it?

It depends on the hotel supplier and what they allow through the API. Some hotels do offer hold options that let you reserve a room temporarily without taking payment, but the length of time you can hold it and whether a hold is available at all varies widely. The API will show you what options are possible for each specific hotel, so you can see at search time or during the booking process whether a hold is available and for how long.

When you search for hotels or look at a specific property, the API returns information about what the supplier will allow. If a hold is offered, it usually comes with a deadline, after which the room goes back on sale and your customer loses the reservation. Some suppliers may ask for a credit card to secure the hold even though no money is taken straight away. You should always check the cancellation and hold terms that come back from the API before you commit to telling your customer they can hold the room.

The key thing to remember is that you cannot hold a room longer than the supplier permits, and different hotels have different policies. If holding is important for your business, check what the API tells you about each property before you offer it to your customer. You may also want to ask your customers to book and pay within a certain timeframe rather than relying on holds, since that gives you certainty the booking is secure.