What to do when a guest calls you to cancel their reservation?

Travel plans can change. At Booking, we understand that and aim to make sure you can help guests if their travel plans need to be adjusted.

We have enhanced partner tooling in the extranet to help you stay in control of your reservations.

There are multiple situations where a guest wants to cancel. The question is, will they be charged a cancellation fee or not. Please review each applicable situation below.

1. Guest wants to cancel. Charges apply but you want to waive. 
   1. Go to the reservation under the reservation tab. You can then click “Request to Cancel Reservation”. A box pops up and you can select “Guest has requested cancellation”. Select this option.  Hit “Send Cancellation Request”. Doing so automatically agrees to waive any cancellation fee as shared in the pop up box.
2. Guest wants to cancel. Charges do not apply. 
   1. Go to the reservation under the reservation tab. You can then click “Request to Cancel Reservation”. A box pops up and you can select “Guest has requested cancellation”. Select this option.  Hit “Send Cancellation Request”. Doing so automatically agrees to waive any cancellation fee as shared in the pop up box.
3. Guest wants to cancel. Charges will apply. 
   1. This is not possible for you to do in the extranet, the action must be taken by the guest.. In this case, it is best to let the guest know charges will apply and they need to cancel directly via their “Modify Booking” button in their Booking.com app or via their confirmation email. Or they can call our customer service at 1 (888) 850-3958. Customer service will reach out to you to confirm charges cannot be waived. 
4. Guest wants to cancel and the guest is arriving within 48 hours. 
   1. This is not possible for you to do in the extranet, you must call customer service directly at 1-888-850-4649. You will need to share whether cancellation charges will apply or not. Customer service will then reach out to the guest to confirm they do want to cancel.

Once we confirm with the guest that they do indeed want to cancel, whether charges apply or not, the guest and you will receive a confirmation email that the reservation has been cancelled successfully.

Instead of cancelling reservations: suggest a date change!

Best case scenario, a guest cannot travel for their booked date, but you can recommend they change dates to a time that works better for them. This is a win-win, as you still maintain the revenue and the guest still gets to experience your property.

If the guest wants to change their dates, please go to the reservation under the reservation tab, and select “Request Date Change”. Submit the new date the guest wants to stay, and this will review your availability from your calendar and/or property management system. The system will then provide you with this new price if applicable. Then you can click “send to guest”. The guest will review and accept this date and/or price change via an automated email they receive. The reservation will then update in the system and you can welcome the guest on the newly chosen date.