Reservation Deposits and Cancellations

Use the Deposit and Cancellation feature to manage a guest's reservation advance deposits and reservation cancellation penalties. Reservation Deposit and Cancellation covers two separate but related features:
  • Reservation Deposit deals with managing the advance deposit pre-payments that guests make prior to their stays.

  • Reservation Cancellation covers the handling of cancellation charges or penalties, which might involve forfeiture of deposits already applied to the reservation.

Deposit and Cancellation Rules

You can add deposit and cancellation rules to a reservation type, a rate code, or directly to the reservation. Rules attached to the reservation type or rate code automatically attach to the reservation at the time the reservation is made. In addition, you can attach deposit and cancellation rules to the reservation by selecting the Action menus on the Deposit / Cancellation presentation screen.

Be aware of these guidelines when setting up deposit and cancellation rules:
  • You can make only one deposit rule and one cancellation rule in effect at a time (even if the reservation type, rate code, and reservation each has its own rule attached).

  • The rate code rule takes precedence over any other type of rule, followed by the reservation type rule, and finally by the rule attached to the reservation.

Define deposit rules by:
  • The amount of the deposit (either a flat amount, a percentage of the rate, a percentage of the first night's rate, or the number of nights).

  • The length of time before arrival or after booking.

Define cancellation rules by:
  • The amount of the penalty charge if the reservation is canceled (a flat amount, a percentage of the rate, a percentage of the first night's rate, or based on the number of nights).

  • The number of days prior to the arrival date that the reservation can be canceled without penalty. You can also specify a time deadline with the date deadline. For example, the rule might specify the guest must cancel the reservation before 5 p.m. one day prior to the arrival date to avoid penalty.