Sometimes, you may need to cancel a reservation. The cancellation process can vary depending on the source of the booking. In this article, we’ll guide you through the different procedures. Whether the reservation was made directly or through an OTA (Online Travel Agency).

Cancellations should always be done via the channel on which the booking was received. Bookings received from Booking.com or Expedia should be cancelled on these platforms first by the guest.

Cancelling a Direct Booking

To cancel a reservation that came in directly, either through the booking engine or a manual one, you can do this in the reservation screen itself. Change the status to cancelled in the drop down menu. 

If you would like to apply cancellation policies to your direct bookings, make sure you have filled out the policies in the booking engine setup screen. 

Invoicing Cancellation Fees

To apply a cancellation fee to a reservation, we advise you to create an add-on for this purpose. You can create a zero add-on called cancellation fee. In this case, you can then use this when you need to charge a cancellation fee. 

To apply the cancellation fee 

1. Open the reservation 

2. Override the accommodation pricing to €0,00

3. Override the city tax to €0,00

4. Add the cancellation fee add-on for the amount you need (this should align with your cancellation policy). 

To create the invoice 

1. Go to create invoice in the reservation

2. Select the cancellation fee add-on 

3. Press to create the invoice 

The Virtual Wallet 

If you choose not to apply a cancellation fee, you can use the Virtual Wallet as an alternative.

This allows you to transfer the outstanding payment to the guest’s booker profile, where the balance will be stored and can be applied to a future booking.

How to use the virtual wallet for cancellations 

1. Go to the payment section of the reservation

2. Select Virtual Wallet and add your initials or reference

3. Add the amount as a negative (e.g. -100)

4. Add the payment

5. This will transfer the balance to the virtual wallet

To add it to the new reservation: Follow the same steps but then add a positive amount. 

Cancelling a Channel Booking

Cancelling a reservation from a booking channel has a different flow. These reservations have to be cancelled on the channel’s portal. This is because cancellation policies might apply via the channel, and this cannot be managed through RoomRaccoon. The system will then extract this information from the channels. If a guest applies changes or cancels the reservation directly on the channel, this will also communicate back to the system. 

Reopening Availability After a Cancellation

After a cancellation, availability is typically updated automatically.  However, there’s an important exception: If a guest who booked through an OTA contacts you directly to cancel, without going through the official cancellation process via the channel, you may need to handle it manually.

Since cancellations for OTA reservations must be processed through the channel and cannot be cancelled directly in your RoomRaccoon calendar, we recommend moving the reservation to a grey room instead. This prevents it from blocking availability while ensuring the reservation is not mistakenly treated as ‘booked’. 

To avoid the risk of overbooking, it’s crucial to ask the guest to cancel their reservation through the original booking channel whenever possible. This ensures the cancellation is officially processed and helps maintain accurate availability across all channels.

Tips to Remember

• When guests call your property to cancel, ensure that they have first cancelled on the external channel which they initially booked through. This should be done in a time-conscious manner otherwise the hotelier may have to pay the commission fee for the booking.