@Repository
public interface BookingRepository extends CrudRepository<Booking, Integer> {

}

public void process(Booking booking) throws IOException {
    bookingCreatedRepository.save(booking);
    log.info("After the save"); // this line is never reached
}

spring.datasource.driver-class-name=com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
spring.datasource.username=sa
spring.datasource.password=Password12#
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:1434;databaseName=Reporting
spring.jpa.database=sql_server
spring.jpa.show-sql=true
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServer2012Dialect
spring.jpa.database-platform=SQL_SERVER