What are Cancellation Policies?
A Cancellation Policy outlines the terms and conditions under which guests can cancel their reservations. To access this section, click on the "x circle" icon in the side menu of the Marketplace.
⚠️IMPORTANT: Unlike other sections, our system does not synchronize Cancellation Policies with your Property Management System (PMS). Cancellation Policies must be manually created from the GRS marketplace.
How can I Create Cancellation Policies?
Cancellation Policies are created manually. To create one, click on the "New Cancellation Policy" button.
In GRS Cancellation Policy rules are defined based on three parameters:
- Date Range: The number of days remaining until the group's arrival.
- Free Cancellation Percentage: The percentage of canceled individuals exempt from penalties.
- Penalty Percentage: The percentage of penalties applied to individuals canceling beyond the free cancellation threshold.
Taking these three parameters into account, when creating Cancellation Policies, you will need to provide information in the following fields:
- Description: Name of the Cancellation Policy. This is for internal use only; buyers will not see this name.
- Days: The number of days backward from the arrival date when the policies will apply.
- Pax: The percentage of individuals in the group who, in the case of cancellation, will not incur penalties.
- Penalties: The percentage of penalties that individuals exceeding the previous parameter will have to pay.
Cancellation Policies Sample Scenario
Let's consider a scenario where the hotelier wants to create their cancellation policies. The rules they wish to define are as follows:
- If the cancellation is made 30 days before the check-in date, the hotelier wants the guest to receive a full refund without applying any penalties.
- If the cancellation occurs between 30 and 11 days before the check-in date, the hotelier wants half of the group members to be able to cancel the reservation for free. However, in the event that the cancellation exceeds this quota, those additional individuals will be required to pay half of the proportional reservation amount as a penalty.
- If the cancellation takes place between 10 and 0 days before the check-in date, the hotelier wants 20% of the group members to be able to cancel the reservation for free. But in the case of exceeding this limit and wanting to cancel more than 80% of the individuals, those extra persons will be obligated to pay 80% of the proportional reservation amount as a penalty.
In this scenario, the hotelier would need to reflect it in the GRS marketplace as follows. They will need to specify the names of the Cancellation Policies and add the rules for each date range. To create new date ranges, they must click on the "+" button. If they wish to delete a date range, they should click on the "trash" button.
After defining the rules for the cancellation policies, the hotelier should click the "save" button to save them. If desired, they can also preview how the policies would appear in the final table by clicking the "update preview" button.
📝NOTE: Each Rate Plan must be associated with a Cancellation Policy. Therefore, before creating a Rate Plan, make sure you have already created a Cancellation Policy.
How can I Manage my Cancellation Policies?
Once you have created your Cancellation Policy (you can create as many as needed), you can view it in the "Cancellation Policies List" section. Here, you can see a summary of your Cancellation Policies:
- Name: Cancellation Policy name.
Moreover, from this same section, you can perform different actions:
-
Set as default: You must designate one Cancellation Policy as the default one. If you have a single policy, it automatically becomes the default. If you have multiple policies, you can choose which one you prefer as the default. Check the "default" column for the policy marked with a check to identify the current default. This selected policy will automatically serve as the default for all your Rate Plans unless manually altered. If you wish to change the default policy, select the one you prefer by clicking the "set as default" button.
-
View: Clicking on the "eye" icon allows you to view the complete information about the Cancellation Policy. This includes the Cancellation Policy's name, its default status, and the cancellation rules, encompassing days, penalty-free pax, and penalties. If you wish to delete the Cancellation Policy, you can do so by clicking the "delete" button.
-
Edit: Clicking on the "document" icon allows you to edit the Cancellation Policy information. You will be able to edit the Cancellation Policy name and the cancellation rules, encompassing days, penalty-free pax, and penalties. If you make any changes, you will need to save them by clicking the "save" button, you can also preview how the policies would appear in the final table by clicking the "update preview" button. If you wish to delete the Cancellation Policy, you can do so by clicking the "delete" button.