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At my last company we made software to help people hosting tourism-related activities take reservations. We always told them:

1. Taking payment up front is generally good. You get fewer cancellations, and earn more money.

2. Keeping those payments when people cancel is bad, you get unhappy customers and you lose CC disputes.

The last point is important. Not only do you get charged by the payments processor even when you win the dispute, you actually lose disputes frequently even when you do everything right. It’s just not worth it, and anyway the simple act of prepaying will do the most to limit no shows and cancellations.