All you need to know about Smart Flex Reservations

Updated 10 months ago
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We developed Smart Flex reservations (formerly known as Risk-Free Reservations) to remove the hassle of offering free cancellation options. The program will make sure you have the best chance of attracting new guests.

In this article

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

Understanding Smart Flex reservations

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

But Smart Flex reservations don’t just benefit 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 travelers find flexibility attractive, and Smart Flex reservations are a great way to appeal to those travelers.

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

Note: Replacement guests can only be placed if the canceled rooms remain open and bookable. In the case of a Force Majeure event, same as any other impacted reservations, we’re not responsible for these cancellations. 

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

How does the Smart Flex Reservations program 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 Reservations program:

  • If you have a non-refundable policy for some or all of your rooms, some of them will be updated on Booking.com to include free cancellations
  • If your rooms already include free cancellation options, we’ll upgrade some of your policies to more flexible ones (e.g. if your original policy offers free cancellation within 7 days of check-in, we might upgrade it to free cancellation within 3 days of check-in)
  • Our algorithms will offer these flexible options to guests who are less likely to cancel
  • If the guests cancel, we’ll look for a replacement
  • If we can’t find a replacement, we’ll 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 determines which rules will apply 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 Extranet’s reservations page as “Smart Flex” reservations.

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

For more info on how to handle a Smart Flex reservation, check out our Smart Flex reservations FAQ.

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

  • If a Smart Flex reservation is canceled, you’ll have to 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 canceled. Find more info in Section 2 of the Smart Flex reservations FAQ.

  • When you receive a guest’s credit card, you need to validate/charge it within 48 hours of receipt. If the credit card is invalid, 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 traveler behavior to predict the type of trips that are less likely to get canceled. The Smart Flex Reservations program’s free cancellation options are only offered to customers who book these trips.

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

    Please keep the canceled rooms open and bookable while we look for a replacement guest. If you’ve set restrictions for these rooms, such as a minimum length of stay, you must remove them to increase the possibility of finding a replacement booking.

  • If we foresee any force majeure events, we’ll stop offering free cancellation to guests from the Smart Flex Reservations program. 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’ll stop offering free cancellation from the Smart Flex Reservations program to guests. However, we aren’t responsible for finding replacements 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 program, log in to the Extranet and click the “Opportunities” tab to reach the Smart Flex Reservations program page, where you’ll find more info about Smart Flex reservations.

    You can also check the upgraded cancellation policy in the reservation details page or your channel manager on a per reservation basis. We’ve customized info there to help you better understand how it works.

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

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

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

    Note: The Smart Flex Reservations program is designed to benefit both partners and guests. If we detect improper use of the program, or if properties don’t comply with our terms of service, we reserve the right to disable Smart Flex reservations.

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