Cancel a booking and handle refunds

Cancelling frees the booked nights immediately; the money is deliberately a separate question with its own controls. A refund only moves money on an explicit decision by a person.

Screen /reservations/<booking> · Roles: Guest Manager (cancel) · Guest Manager or Account Manager (request a refund) · Account Manager (pay a refund)

Cancel the booking

1. Open the booking from Reservations -> Bookings and, in the Stay panel on its Overview tab, press Cancel booking. It is offered any time before check-in - a future booking is exactly what gets called off.

2. Give the reason. The dialog “Cancel this booking?” requires one; it is recorded on the booking. The nights are freed for other guests immediately.

3. Settle the advance, where it applies. On a booking whose money you hold yourself (a manual or website booking with something paid), the dialog asks how to settle it: Keep all, Cancellation fee (keep a fee, refund the rest), or Refund all. On an Airbnb or Booking.com stay the money sits with the channel, so no settlement is offered here - cancel through the channel as well.

4. Read the toast. It says exactly what happened to the money - settled, nothing to settle, or (for managed or investor money) that a refund must go through the Refunds panel instead.

Money paid back in the settlement is not shown as owed afterwards: the booking’s payment history records it as Money returned to the guest beside an Unstayed nights released line, so the balance reads zero rather than the returned amount.

A group cancels whole

Cancelling one booking of a group cancels the whole reservation and frees every apartment in it.

Refunds: request, then pay

Any other money going back runs through the Refunds panel at the top of the booking’s Payments tab. It is not limited to cancelled bookings: it appears on any booking with verified cash and something refundable, including a live stay that was over-paid, a stay paid in full that deserves a goodwill allowance, and a stay that has already checked out. It states its own rule: “A refund is requested first and approved second. Money only moves on the approval.”

1. Request. Pick the kind if asked, enter the amount (in the currency’s own decimals) and a reason, and press Request refund. It sits as Awaiting decision. You cannot request more than the Refundable figure.

2. Pay or reject. An Account Manager presses Pay refund, optionally attaches the transfer proof, and confirms - “{amount} goes back to the guest and posts to the ledger. This cannot be undone from here.” - or presses Reject. Who requested and who decided are both stamped on the row; the same person may do both.

The full walk-through, including the two kinds of refund and where the transfer proof shows, is Refund a guest.

Be deliberate here

Paying a refund posts real money to the ledger and cannot be undone from this screen. An early departure settles its unused nights in the check-out dialog instead, so you are not refunding the same nights twice.

What’s next

• Refund a guest
• Check a guest in - including marking a no-show
• Read the booking History tab