About cancellation settings for Direct booking
When setting up cancellation policies, there are two levels of settings:
Property cancellation settings — apply to all room rates by default.
Room cancellation settings — set different policies for specific room rates.
For guests to be able to change or cancel their own cancellations, enable Allow guest cancellation and set cancellation penalties at both property and room rate level.
💡 To set up cancellation policies for Direct booking, go to Direct booking > Configuration > Cancellation settings.
Set up cancellation policies for Direct booking
Property cancellation settings
To configure property cancellation settings:
Go to Direct booking > Configuration > Cancellation settings.
Click on the pencil edit icon under Property cancellation settings.
Tick Allow guest cancellation to let guests modify or cancel their reservations. If not enabled at property level, unless you set it up for a specific room rate, guests will need to contact your property directly to request to modify or cancel their reservation.
Include a description for your property cancellation policy.
Set up your property cancellation penalties. Choose Default penalty to apply the same rules year-round, or Select dates for date-specific penalties.
Room cancellation settings
Set specific cancellation policies for individual room rates:
Go to Direct booking > Configuration > Cancellation settings.
Under Room cancellation settings, find the room rate.
Click the down arrow > click the ellipsis button (three dots button) > click Edit cancellation settings.
Set up the room cancellation policy and penalties.
Click Publish changes.
These settings will override the property-level cancellation policy for the selected dates.
How cancellation policies display on your booking engine
Your property and room rate cancellation policies appear in:
The guest's booking confirmation page and e-mail
Room rate details on your booking engine
Your property cancellation policies also appear in your booking engine's Policies tab.
Guests will see one of these messages for each rate:
"Non-Refundable" — full payment will apply if cancelled.
"Cancellation fee applies" — a partial amount will be charged if cancelled.
"Free cancellation!" — no cost to cancel.
"Free cancellation before [date]" — no cost to cancel before the specified date.
Guest modifications
Guests can modify their own reservations, meaning they will no longer have to call for simple requests like a change of dates, occupancy, or details.
Guests can now modify the following:
Stay dates (if the same room type is available)
Total number of guests (if the room can accommodate new total guests)
Updating guest details (including name, address, email address, arrival time, personal requests and customer fields)
The modification button doesn't appear when:
A reservation is made on the same date as arrival
A reservation has an extra
Cancellations are not allowed
Cancellation settings are not configured correctly
Helpful tips
Consider seasonal flexibility in your policies.
Add translations for your cancellation policies in Direct booking > Configuration > Translations.
Enable cancellation confirmation e-mails in Direct booking > Configuration > Guest communications > Reservation cancellation.
When copying settings between room rates, use the "Assign cancellation settings" feature to save time (Click the down arrow on the room rate > click the ellipsis button (three dots button) > click Assign cancellation settings).