All you need to know about Smart Flex Reservations

Updated 2 months ago
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We developed the Smart Flex reservations (formerly known as Risk-Free Reservations) to take away the hassle of offering free cancellation options. The programme will make sure you have the best chances of attracting new guests.

What’s in this article?

  1. Understanding Smart Flex reservations
  2. How does the Smart Flex Reservations programme work?
  3. What should I do when I receive a Smart Flex reservation?

Understanding Smart Flex reservations

Now more than ever, travellers need flexibility. A recent study revealed that in April 2020, 73% of customers cited free cancellation as their main reason for booking a property. The Smart Flex Reservations programme is designed to help attract more guests who prefer this flexibility to your property.

But Smart Flex reservations don’t just benefit your potential guests. Our data shows that simply offering Smart Flex reservations helps our accommodation partners achieve up to 3% more conversions. The truth is, most travellers find flexibility attractive, and Smart Flex reservations are a great way to appeal to them.

We understand that an increase in flexibility could lead to an increase in cancellations. However, the Smart Flex Reservations programme has been designed to prevent this from happening. Using Booking.com’s unique insights on traveller behaviour, we only offer these flexible options to guests who are booking trips that are less likely to be cancelled. If a guest does cancel, we will immediately look for replacement guests to refill the room. If we couldn’t find a replacement, we will compensate you.

Please note that replacement guests can only be placed if the cancelled rooms remain open and bookable. In the case of a Force Majeure event, same as any other impacted reservations, we are also not responsible for these cancellations. 

Please keep the cancelled rooms open and bookable. If you have set restrictions for these rooms, such as minimum length of stay, you must remove the restrictions to increase the possibility of finding a replacement booking.

How does the Smart Flex Reservations programme work?

To make your property more appealing, we’ll upgrade your strictest policy to include free cancellation. If you already offer a free cancellation policy, we’ll extend it.

What we do if you join the Smart Flex Reservation programme:

  • If you have a non-refundable policy for some or all of your rooms, a part of them will be updated on Booking.com to include free cancellations to the guests
  • If your rooms already include free cancellation options, we will upgrade some of your policies to more flexible ones (e.g. if your original policy is offering free cancellation within 7 days before check-in, we may upgrade this to free cancellation within 3 days before check-in)
  • Our algorithms will offer these flexible options to guests with a lower likelihood to cancel
  • If the guests cancel, we will look for a replacement
  • If we couldn’t find a replacement, we will compensate you for these nights, based on your original cancellation policy
  • We’ll add additional flexibility where it adds value, unless you already allow guests to cancel for free until their check-in date

Our algorithm will define which rules will be applied to which hotels globally on a daily basis. This means you might not receive Smart Flex reservations every day. Rooms with Smart Flex reservations will show up on the reservations page in your extranet as ‘Smart Flex’ reservations.

For partners using a channel manager or property management system to manage reservations, we will update the comments/remarks section when a new Smart Flex reservation is created.

For more information about how to handle a Smart Flex reservation, you can check the FAQ Smart Flex reservations.

What should I do when I receive a Smart Flex reservation?

  • If a Smart Flex reservation gets cancelled, you must remove any minimum length of stay restrictions to increase the possibility of finding a replacement guest for all room nights for the reservation.   

    Different scenarios may happen depending on when it’s cancelled. You can find more information in Section 2  of the Smart Flex reservations FAQ.

  • When you receive the guest’s credit card, you need to validate/charge the credit card within 48 hours upon receipt. If the credit card is invalid, then you need to do the following:

    1. Mark the payment as invalid 
    2. Cancel the reservation

    Both actions need to be performed within 48 hours in order for us to look for a guest replacement.

  • We use all our insights on traveller behaviour to predict the type of trips that are less likely to get cancelled. The free cancellation options of the Smart Flex Reservations programme are only offered to customers that are booking these trips.

  • Our replacement process will start when a Smart Flex reservation is cancelled. While we’re looking for a replacement guest, we may boost your ranking or use price incentives to make your property more attractive and encourage travellers to book with you. If we do this, we’ll cover any costs involved, and you won’t have to offer any discounts yourself.

    While we are looking for a replacement guest, please keep the cancelled rooms open and bookable. If you have set restrictions  for these rooms, such as minimum length of stay, you must remove the restrictions to increase the possibility of finding a replacement booking.

  • If we foresee any Force Majeure events in the future, we will stop offering free cancellation to the guests from the Smart Flex Reservations programme. This way, we prevent new bookings with a higher chance of cancellation. For example, if a new lockdown is announced due to the pandemic, we will stop offering free cancellation from the Smart Flex Reservations programme to guests. However, we are not responsible for finding a replacement for existing Smart Flex bookings according to the general terms and conditions for Force Majeure cancellations.

  • You can check the Smart Flex reservations FAQ. If you’re eligible for the programme, you can also log in to the extranet and click on the ‘Opportunities’ tab to reach the ‘Smart Flex Reservations programme’ page, where you’ll find further information about Smart Flex reservations.

    On a per reservation basis, you may also check the upgraded cancellation policy in the reservation details page or in your channel manager. We have customised information there to help you better understand how it works.

  • We understand that this programme may not be the right fit for some of our partners. If you don’t want to be part of the Smart Flex Reservations programme, follow the below steps:

    1. Log in to the extranet
    2. Click Opportunities
    3. Click Smart Flex Reservations programme
    4. Click Leave this programme and fill in the short survey

    If you’d like to rejoin the programme in the future, you can follow the same process to opt back in.

    Please note that the Smart Flex Reservations programme is designed to benefit both partners and guests. If we detect any improper use of the programme, or if properties aren’t complying with our terms of service, we reserve the right to disable Smart Flex reservations.

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