Lots of hospitality businesses charge before the stay, like travel agencies. A company may need to reserve flights, book rooms and possibly set up tours and events, and all that stuff costs money upfront. If you don't have a lot of buffer (say, because Stripe is reserving half your funds) then you'll need to cover the costs in some other way.

If you only book a hotel then you'll probably get the option to pay upfront or settle afterwards, but if you buy an entire package deal from a third party comaonty then you usually get asked for some or all money upfront. These packages are often more expensive than going through the effort of finding a good deal yourself, or they're cheaper and rely on a lot of deals not falling through.

I wouldn't trust my customers to show up without at least a reservation on their account, especially now with new covid waves and potential anti covid measures threatening holiday fun.