When you pay for studio time, and when the studio does
The price you see includes the fees. When your card is actually charged depends on whether the room is Instant Book or Request to book, and the studio is not paid until after your session.
By Soundbooked on September 3, 2026
Every price on Soundbooked already includes the fees, so the number on the listing is the number you pay. When your card is charged depends on how the room takes bookings.
Instant Book rooms charge at checkout
If a room shows Instant Book, you pick your hours, pay at checkout and the booking is confirmed the moment the payment goes through. The studio sees a confirmed booking, not a request, and the address and directions are unlocked for you straight away.
Requests hold your card, then charge on approval
If a room says Request to book, you still enter your card when you send the request, but it is not charged. Soundbooked places a hold for the amount, the same kind of hold a hotel places at check-in, and the studio is asked to approve or decline.
When the studio approves, the hold becomes the charge and the booking is confirmed. If the studio declines, or does not answer in time, the hold is released and nothing is taken. Your bank may show the released hold as pending for a few days. That is the bank catching up, not a charge.
One exception: a request for a session starting within the next few hours is too close for a hold to be useful. In that case you are not asked for a card up front. If the studio approves, you get a payment link that stays open for thirty minutes, and the booking is confirmed when you pay.
What the total is made of
- The room rate, by the hour or at the studio's day rate, for the hours you chose.
- A house engineer, if you added one and the studio offers it. That is a separate service and priced as one.
- Soundbooked's guest service fee of three percent. It is built into the displayed price, never added at the end, and the total is rounded up to a whole dollar.
- Sales tax, where it applies to what you booked, shown as its own line at checkout. Studio hire is not taxed in most of the places we operate today, so this line is often zero.
The studio is paid after your session, not before
Soundbooked holds your payment until the session has happened, then pays the studio. That is the point of paying through the platform rather than in cash at the door: if the studio cancels, you are refunded in full, and if something goes wrong on the day, the money has not left the platform yet.
If you cancel
Every listing shows one of three cancellation policies, and the one showing when you book is locked to your booking. It decides how much of the room rate comes back to you. The guest service fee is not refunded when you cancel. The exact refund for each policy, and how long the money takes to reach your card, is in What happens to your money when you cancel.
Before you can book
You need a verified email address or phone number and a profile photo on your account. Studios see who is coming, the same way you see who runs the room.
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