Self Cancellation of Bookings in MyBookings

When a Guest accesses their booking, they can cancel it if it's within the 'Policy' period and for a fee (if required by the Policy). The benefit of allowing Self Cancellation is to free availability in order to re-sell the room.  The beauty of the 'Self Cancellation' system assures that the property gets whatever fee is due from the Guest enabling this important feature to occur automatically.  The policy settings are described in detail in the Marketing And Policies under the 'Cancellations' area.  Create as many as desired and ask BookingCenter Support to allocate these unique Policies to the types of bookings you wish, such as your Booking Engine or your Kiosk.  Only customers who are using the Mobile and/or Kiosk-based Self Check-in feature can utilize the Self Cancellation' system.

When a property wishes to 'Allow Cancellations' there are a few ways they can accomplish allowing Self Cancellation:

1. Manual in all times: The approach is the easiest because it doesn't force a policy, rather presents a policy statement and forces the Guest to 'agree to the terms' and allow the Guest to cancel.  Thus the room is freed up with a log entry in the booking that the booking was cancelled by the guest in the MyBookings area on a specific time and date. In order for the cancellation to occur, the Guest is shown the cancellation policy that saved when the booking was created, and the Guest is forced to check a box that says they agree to be bound by the terms displayed, and that is that.  Enforcement of a 'policy penalty' is a manual process by the property in this situation.
2. Manual only when allowed by the Policy: This approach is the next best way to automate enforcement based on the time frame to either allow or deny the cancellation due to the Policy booked.  This setting will only allow cancellations if the Policy period allows it.  If cancellation is an option, the Guest is forced to check a box that states they agree to be bound by the terms displayed.   Enforcement of a 'policy penalty' is a manual process by the property in this situation.
3. Actual Payment of a Cancellation Penalty : The best approach is to connect a Traditional MyCard payment gateway and allow the Guest to cancel and pay the cancellation penalty based on the Policy that was booked. This means the booking gets cancelled and the Folio is correctly charged a 'cancellation penalty' with the payment applied to the Folio automatically.  This is the most automated approach.  If a Guest's credit card doesn't have the funds to pay the 'cancellation penalty', the booking won't get cancelled.  If the Guest needs to add an additional credit card to pay the 'cancellation penalty', they can do so directly from the MyBookings area. 

Cancellation Policy

The most critical part of allowing Self Cancellation is making clear policies that support your business goals.  Set up a Cancellation Policy and make sure that Policy gets assigned to a Rate.  When the booking is saved, that Cancellation stays with the Booking, so even if the Policy itself changes, what it was when booked is what will be enforced by the Self Cancellation system.

Cancellation Charge and <optional> Payment Applied to a Folio

When a cancellation penalty is to be assessed to a booking about to be cancelled during 'Self Cancellation', the system automatically uses the Inventory Item 'CANC' to charge the Item to the Folio and can be 'optionally' setup to make a matching 'payment' from the card on file, as agreed to by the Guest.  This cancels the booking, posts to the Folio a Charge and an <optional> Payment to allow Night Audit to proceed without trouble.  

Because the Inventory Item 'CANC' can have any description a property wishes, the Guest's Folio can be customized to make the Self Cancellation display as desired.  

Here is an example on a Booking Log that shows how staff can observe the 'self cancellation' process':