A GDS reservation cannot be cancelled or amended in SiteMinder. Only the travel agent who made the booking can cancel the booking, through the GDS terminal (such as Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo or Worldspan). All cancellation and amendment requests must be made directly to the travel agent.

Note: reservations containing a non-refundable rate cannot be cancelled by the travel agency once confirmed.

⚠️ If the travel agent does not cancel the reservation correctly before the cancellation policy deadline that applied at the time of booking, the reservation is still liable for the GDS transaction fee, whether or not the guest shows.

To help avoid transaction fees and missing information, we recommend these three steps as best practice for managing GDS reservations.
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Always verify the details of a GDS reservation before both the cancellation policy deadline and the guest's arrival date. Details to verify:

Credit card number

You can retrieve the credit card information in both SiteMinder and your property management system (PMS), if integrated.

In SiteMinder, the credit card details are masked for PCI compliance, so only authorised users can view them. Only Admin users, or General users with payment permissions, can view the full card number.

The credit card information is sent to your PMS by XML. It is masked from SiteMinder's visibility for PCI compliance, but authorised users should be able to retrieve it from your PMS. Check with your PMS provider whether there are any limitations to visibility, or any special user permissions needed, to view the unmasked details.

CVC/CVV details

You can retrieve the CVC/CVV details (if provided) on the SiteMinder GDS extranet under Manage > Reservations > Search Reservations > Reservation Details.

[Screenshot: CVC/CVV details on Reservation Details]

Important notes on CVC/CVV details:

Guest contact details

You can retrieve the guest contact details in:

💡 In most cases, travel agents provide only the guest name and no other contact details. This is because the guest has engaged the agent to act on their behalf, so the travel agent is the first point of contact for hotel communications.

If any required information is missing, contact the travel agent first.

You can find the travel agent's contact details on:

💡 You may see an IATA number instead of the agency name or contact details in the travel agency field. Check whether it is a valid IATA number using the IATA verification link: https://customer-portal-iata.force.com/iec/ieccacfree

If you cannot find valid contact details for the travel agent, or the travel agent has not responded, contact the SiteMinder GDS team.

Raise a support case by e-mailing your regional GDS team:

⚠️ To avoid delays, confirm in your e-mail that you have already contacted the travel agent, and raise the issue in time. The team cannot act if the reservation breaches its cancellation deadline within the next few days, or if the check-in date has passed.

The team will send a notification via the relevant GDS asking the travel agency to update the reservation with the missing information or cancel it. If the agency does not cancel it, the reservation is still liable for a transaction charge.

For a transaction fee not to apply, the reservation status on the SiteMinder GDS must show as cancelled.

⚠️ This does not apply if you have manually edited the status on the SiteMinder GDS extranet yourself. SiteMinder can see manual edits in the change logs.

The agency says it cancelled, but the status did not update

In almost all cases, this means the reservation was not validly cancelled on the GDS because it was outside the cancellation policy deadline.

You agree to waive a cancellation penalty fee

If you agree with a guest or agency to waive the cancellation penalty for a reservation that was not validly cancelled or amended on the GDS in time, SiteMinder still invoices the normal transaction fee to your property. This is because SiteMinder still incurs the transaction cost from the GDS. For this reason, we recommend your penalty fee covers the transaction fee at a minimum.