Cancellation Policies

A reusable set of terms: until when a guest can cancel for free, what they pay if they cancel after that, and what they pay if they never turn up. You write it once and attach it to as many rate groups as you like.

Guests see it on your booking site, before they book, and the Front Desk uses it on bookings you create yourself.

It does not go to your OTAs. Booking.com, Expedia and the other channels never receive these terms from Amiqa. Set your cancellation terms in each channel's own extranet as well, and keep them the same as here, so a guest gets the same deal wherever they book.

You find your policies in Front Desk Settings → Rooms & Rate Plans, with the Cancellation policies button at the top of the page.

Two come with every hotel. Amiqa adds them for you, marked Built-in · added automatically to new rates:

You can Edit a built-in policy to change its terms, but you cannot delete it.

There are no other ready-made templates. For anything else, press Add your own cancellation policy and answer a few questions. Some common ones you can build in a minute:

Press Add your own cancellation policy. There are three short steps, and a Policy summary box shows the terms in plain words as you go.

Step 1 — Cancellation

1. Is there a free cancellation period? — Yes or No. No means the guest pays the full price whenever they cancel.
2. Cancel free of charge — until when it is free: at any time, until 18:00 on arrival day, until 14:00 on arrival day, or a number of days before arrival (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28, 30, 42 or 60). It counts back from the arrival date, not from the day they booked.
3. Charge if cancelled after the free period — 100% of the total price, 50% of the total price, or the cost of the first night. Not asked when free cancellation is at any time, or when there is no free period.

Step 2 — No-show & prepayment

1. No-show charge — what the guest pays if they never arrive. Only asked when there is a free cancellation period; without one, a no-show pays the full price.
2. Require prepayment? — and if Yes, When to collect prepayment and How to collect prepayment.

Step 3 — Name & review

1. Policy name — required, and each name can be used only once in your hotel. Then Save policy.

The free period is chosen from these fixed options. A policy has no field for a number of hours.

Three options for No-show charge: The full price, The cost of the first night, or No charge.

• The cost of the first night is what most guests expect. It covers the room you could not resell that night without feeling punitive.
• The full price suits non-refundable terms, where the guest already accepted that risk for a lower price. A policy with no free cancellation always uses the full price.
• No charge is a goodwill position. Reasonable for repeat guests, expensive on a busy weekend.

No-show charges are never applied automatically. When you mark a booking as a no-show, a window opens and you confirm the charge. For a booking made in the Front Desk, it starts from the no-show charge in the terms it was booked under: the full price, or a full refund if the terms say No charge. If the terms say The cost of the first night, you type the amount yourself. A booking with no saved terms, such as one from an OTA, starts on the full price.

It adds one line to your terms. Guests on your booking site read "A prepayment is required to guarantee your reservation."

If you answer Yes, two more questions appear:

• When to collect prepayment — At the time of booking or When the free cancellation period ends. Only asked when the policy has a free period.
• How to collect prepayment — Credit card, Bank transfer or Other.

It does not take the money for you. These answers only describe your terms to the guest. They do not decide whether a card is charged, and they do not send a payment request.

There is no setting for a deposit amount or percentage.

On your booking site, at every step:

• When choosing a rate, a short line beside each rate, such as "Free cancellation until 2 days before arrival" or "Non refundable".
• At checkout, the real date for this guest's stay: "Free cancellation until" followed by the date, or "Non-refundable".
• The full terms, one sentence each: until when it is free, what they pay after that, what a no-show costs, and whether a prepayment is required.

A guest comparing two of your rates sees straight away that one can be cancelled until a certain day and the other is final.

Guests who book on Booking.com, Expedia or another channel see that channel's terms, not these. Amiqa does not send them.

No. Bookings you create in the Front Desk keep a copy of the terms from the moment they were made, so changing a policy later does not rewrite them. Editing a policy changes it, from that moment on, for every rate group that uses it.

When you cancel one of those bookings or mark it as a no-show, the charge window starts from that copy, so a guest who booked under your old terms starts from the old terms. Where the terms charge the cost of the first night, you type the amount yourself.

You can always change the charge before you confirm it.

On the rate group, not on each rate. Open the room type's rate group and find the Cancellation policy box. It has two lists:

• Refundable rates will have — the policy for this group's refundable rates
• Non-refundable rates will have — the policy for this group's non-refundable rates

A new rate group starts with the built-in Refundable and Non-refundable policies. Pick another one from the list, or choose + New / Manage… to create one.

A group has both refundable and non-refundable rates, which is why there are two lists. In the group's form, Base rate in this group is refundable? sets whether the group's base rate is refundable.

One policy can serve as many rate groups as you like. Change your mind about the free period and you edit one policy, not every rate.

Two policies, offered side by side, so the guest chooses between flexibility and price.

Your standard rate — for example "Flexible 48h"

• Is there a free cancellation period? Yes
• Cancel free of charge: until 2 days before arrival
• Charge if cancelled after the free period: the cost of the first night
• No-show charge: The cost of the first night

Your discounted rate — the built-in Non-refundable, priced maybe 10–15% lower

• No free cancellation
• The guest pays the full price if they cancel or do not turn up

Guests who value flexibility pay for it; guests chasing the lowest price accept that it is final. Remember to set the same terms on each of your OTAs too.