Cancellation Policy

Hotels' cancellation policy feature allows users to configure how to handle price and rate changes that are needed because of cancellations, no shows, or early checkouts. The system supports many cancellation policies, so you can create as many as you need.

To create a new Room Type

Policy FastTab

Penalty Lines for the Canceling FastTab

No Show Penalty FastTab

Early Checkout Penalty FastTab

The cancellation policies are then applied through the rate code in Rate Configuration. You then see the cancellation in an non-editable field on the Hotel Reservation Card, and you can drill down to the Cancellation Policy card to see the setup that this reservation will follow.

To create a new Room Type

  1. From the Hotel Back Office Role Center's Navigation menu, click Rate Management.
  2. From the Navigation bar, select Cancellation Policy.
  3. Click the New action, and fill in the fields.

Policy FastTab

Field Description
Cancellation Code Unique ID reference for the cancellation policy.
Description Description of the cancellation policy.
Cancel Policy Type Select the functionality behind the cancellation policy. Available selections are:
  • Charge Within Days/Time before Arrival - Fees for cancellation will be applied depending on how many days prior to arrival and the time when the cancellation was made (see the Cancel Time and Cancel within No. of Days fields).
  • Charge Within Days/Time after Confirmation - Fees for cancellation will be applied depending on the number of days after confirmation and the time when the cancellation was made (see the Cancel Time and Cancel within No. of Days fields).
  • Always Charge - Fees for cancellation will always be applied.
  • Never Charge - Fees for cancellation will never be applied.
  • Cancel Not Allowed.
Cancellation Posting The item number behind the fee posting. This item is used for all financial postings for the cancellation fee.
Prompt When Applying If set to On, when a cancellation is made, the user will get a question asking if the cancellation policy should be applied or not. If set to Off, the cancellation policy will always be applied.

Penalty Lines for the Canceling FastTab

Here you set up how the calculations for the cancellation fees are done when a reservation is set to Status Cancel. The Cancel Charge Value field is either editable or non-editable, depending on the selection in Cancel Charge Type.

The Cancel within No. of Days and Cancel Time fields are only available when Cancel Policy Type is set as Charge Within Days/Time before Arrival or Charge Within Days/Time after Confirmation. With these Policy Types, you can define multiple time scenarios for cancellation, for example, apply a percentage for cancellation within 90 days after confirmation and a different one for over 90 days.

Field Description
Cancel within No. of Days Used to determine how many days prior to arrival or after confirmation, depending policy type, the fees are applied when canceling. Use 0 or blank to specify the period later than the largest number in No. of Days in setup.
Cancel Time Used to determine the time when the fees are applied when canceling. The Cancel within No. of Days field is used together with Cancel Time. Therefore, if the time is set to 12:00, cancellations before 12:00 o'clock 'X' number of days prior to the arrival date will get the cancellation fee. If based on Confirmation, cancellations after 12:00 o'clock 'X' days after the confirmation date will get the cancellation fee.
Cancel Charge Type Specifies how the calculation should be made, select from the drop-down list:
  • First Night - The cancellation fee is the same amount as the first night of the rate price.
  • Number of Nights - The cancellation fee is the same amount as an 'X' number of nights.
  • Percentage - The cancellation fee is a percentage that you set in the Cancel % field, of the entire stay's room rate, plus any fixed charges or packages associated with the rate code.
  • Fixed Amount - The cancellation fee is a fixed amount that you set in Cancel Amount.
  • None - No fee is charged.
Cancel Charge Value Specifies the percentile, amount, or number-of-nights you want to charge for cancellation.

No Show Penalty FastTab

Here you set up how the calculations for the cancellation fees are done, when a reservation is set to Status No Show. The fields are either editable or non-editable, depending on the selection in Cancel Charge Type.

Field Description
No Show Charge Type Specifies how the calculation should be made. Select from the drop-down list:
  • Number of Nights - The cancellation fee is the same amount as an 'X' number of nights.
  • Percentage - The cancellation fee is a percentage that you set in the No Show % field, of the entire stay's room rate, plus any fixed charges and packages associated with the rate code.
  • Fixed Amount - The cancellation fee is a fixed amount that you set in No Show Amount.
  • None - No fee is charged.
Number of Nights Used for the Number of Nights No Show charge type. Specifies how many nights you want to charge for no show.
No Show % Used for the Percentage No Show charge type. Specifies the percentile you want to charge for no show.
No Show Amount Used for the Fixed Amount No Show charge type. Specifies the amount you want to charge for no show.

Early Checkout Penalty FastTab

Here you set up how the calculations for the cancellation fees are done when the Early Checkout function is used. Early checkout can be made from the POS, through the POS command EARLYCHECKOUT, or on the Hotel Reservation Card using Actions - Functions - Early Check-out. The fields are either editable or non-editable, depending on the selection in Cancel Charge Type.

Field Description
Early Checkout Charge Type Specifies how the calculation should be made, select from the drop-down list:
  • First Night - The cancellation fee is the same amount as the first night of the rate price.
  • Number of Nights - The cancellation fee is the same amount as an 'X' number of nights.
  • Percentage - The cancellation fee is a percentage that you set in the Early Checkout % field of the entire stay's room rate, plus any fixed charges and packages associated with the rate code.
  • Fixed Amount - The cancellation fee is a fixed amount that you set in Early Checkout Amount.
  • None - No fee is charged.
Number of Nights Used for the Number of Nights No Show charge type. Specifies how many nights you want to charge for early checkout. Calculated from the day the guest checks out.
Early Checkout % Used for the Percentage No Show charge type. Specifies the percentile you want to charge for early checkout.
Early Checkout Amount Used for the Fixed Amount No Show charge type. Specifies the amount you want to charge for early checkout.