💡 Channel reservations are bookings made through your connected channels such as Expedia, Agoda, and other Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). Channel bookings cannot be cancelled through your platform — they must be cancelled directly through the original booking channel.
How to cancel channel reservations
For channel reservations, the guest needs to cancel the booking through the channel directly. The guest must cancel directly through the channel where they made the booking (Booking.com, Expedia, etc.). Guests should contact the channel's customer support directly with their booking confirmation number for any assistance.
If for any reason you need to cancel the booking instead of the guest, you must contact the channel's support team for assistance. Provide the booking confirmation number and any relevant details.
If the guest has advised they have cancelled but the cancellation is not reflected in your platform, contact the booking channel directly to confirm and investigate.
Note:
The penalty that will apply for cancelled reservations will depend on your cancellation policy. For most channels, the cancellation policy is set up and managed directly via the channels extranet
OTA cancellation confirmation emails are sent by the channel directly
Cancelled channel reservations cannot be reactivated from your platform
Contact the channel directly for support with cancelling or modifying channel reservations
After cancellation
Auto-replenishment
You will receive a notification once the channel processes the cancellation.
Auto-replenishment is an optional setting for properties that manage their inventory directly in SiteMinder (with no integration that manages availability). When enabled, your room availability in SiteMinder is automatically restored when a channel processes a cancellation or a modification that removes room nights.
⚠️ If you are connected to a PMS, RMS, or CRS, do not enable auto-replenishment in SiteMinder. Manage your availability in your connected system when you receive the cancellation instead.
To set up auto-replenishment, go to property name in the top navigation bar > Property settings > General information . You can choose from two options:
Always: always restore availability
Only if the availability is 1 or more: availability is automatically increased when a reservation is cancelled, as long as availability for the room rate is not 0
Outstanding balances and refunds on cancelled reservations
When a reservation is cancelled:
The total room cost amounts can no longer be modified
The cancellation cannot be reversed
Any outstanding balance for the cancelled reservation will show
💡 There is currently no option to remove any outstanding amounts from cancelled reservations. These outstanding amounts are not included in any reports and will not affect your financial reporting.
If the reservation has been cancelled but payment has been collected:
Cancellation policy is refundable and you use SiteMinder Pay: open the reservation and click Process Refund.
Cancellation policy is refundable but you do not use SiteMinder Pay: process the refund in your third-party payment system
Non-refundable: no action is required
Reservation shows as confirmed but the channel has cancelled it
If your reservation shows as confirmed in your platform but the channel has cancelled it, request the reservation cancellation XML logs from the channel. These logs can verify the cancellation timestamp and other details for further investigation.
The cancellation wasn't delivered to my PMS
SiteMinder will still receive and show the booking as cancelled, even if the rate is unmapped. However, when a rate is unmapped, that cancellation will not be sent to your connected PMS automatically. In those cases, you will need to cancel or update the booking manually in your PMS.