Playbook, hotel
Which rate did they book, and why the answer changes
A hotel does not have a cancellation policy. It has one per rate, plus a fourth position for anything booked through a third party site, and the guest asking almost never knows which one they are on. That makes this a question about identifying the booking before it is a question about the terms, which is the opposite of how most sites answer it.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for cancellations holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- The answer turns entirely on which rate was booked, and the cheaper rate is cheaper precisely because it cannot be cancelled, which is the trade the guest made and often does not remember making.
- A booking made through an agent or a travel site is usually not the hotel's to cancel at all, so the correct answer sends the guest somewhere else entirely rather than quoting any hotel term.
- Accommodation booked for specific dates is commonly carved out of the general right to change your mind about a distance purchase in many markets, which means the rate terms really do govern rather than being overridden.
- There is no sliding scale here in most cases: a rate is either flexible until a stated hour or it is not refundable at all, which is a cleaner and harsher shape than the week by week scales other trades use.
How it arrives
- can i cancel my booking for free
- what is the deadline to cancel
- i booked the cheaper rate can i get a refund
- i booked through a travel site can you cancel it
- can i change my dates instead of cancelling
- will i still be charged if i cancel after 6pm
What has to be indexed for this to work
| One document per rate, named as the guest sees it | Flexible, advance purchase, semi flexible, member rate, whatever you call them on the booking page. Each with the cancellation deadline including the hour and the time zone, and what is charged if the deadline passes. Named the same way, so the assistant can say which rate it is describing and the guest can recognise it. |
|---|---|
| Your position on third party bookings | One clear paragraph saying that a booking made through an agent is governed by that agent's terms, that the hotel cannot amend or refund it directly, and where the guest should go instead. This is the answer to a large share of the traffic and it is almost never published. |
| Date changes as distinct from cancellations | Whether a non refundable rate can be moved at all, whether a change carries a fee or a rate difference, and how close to arrival a change is possible. Many guests asking to cancel would accept a move, and a policy that only answers the harsher question loses that. |
| When the card is actually charged | At booking, at a set number of days out, or at the property, and whether a pre authorisation is taken on arrival and how long it takes to fall off. A guest who has seen a hold on their statement often thinks they have been charged for a cancellation they have not been charged for. |
The reply
It depends which rate you booked. The flexible rate can be cancelled without charge up to the published deadline before arrival, while the advance purchase rate is charged in full at the time of booking and is not refundable, which is why it is the cheaper of the two. If the booking was made through a travel site or an agent, it sits under their terms rather than ours and they are the ones who can change or cancel it, so please go back to them first.
It leads with the question the guest has to answer before anything else applies, then gives both rates in the same reply so they can identify their own without a second exchange. The non refundable rate is explained rather than just stated, which takes the sting out of it. The third party paragraph is included every time because that guest would otherwise wait for a refund that was never going to come from here.
Where it stops
The trigger. Any request to actually cancel, amend or refund a booking, or a guest describing a charge they have already seen, none of which can be verified or acted on here.
I cannot look up a booking or cancel one, because I have no access to the reservation system. If you booked with us directly, please use the link in your confirmation email or leave your name, email and booking reference here and reservations will pick it up. If you booked through a travel site, they will need to make the change at their end.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- A single cancellation policy, without saying which rate it belongs to.
- That a non refundable booking can be refunded as a goodwill gesture.
- That a third party booking has been cancelled, or that the hotel will cancel it.
- That a pre authorisation is a charge, or that a refund has been processed.
Questions
- How do we stop it applying the flexible terms to everybody?
- Write the rate documents separately and name them exactly as they appear on your booking page, then set the caution level so a question that does not identify a rate gets an answer covering both rather than a confident pick. The failure mode is a near match reaching for the friendlier document.
- Guests booked through agents are most of our messages. Can it help?
- This is where it does the most good, because the answer is the same every time and the hotel gains nothing from delivering it by hand. Publishing the third party position and letting the assistant repeat it with a citation gets the guest moving hours earlier than an inbox would.
- Can it process the cancellation once it has explained the policy?
- No. It does not write into the reservation system and cannot cancel, move or refund anything. It explains the terms, points at your self service link, and collects a name, an email and a message for reservations when a person is needed.
Keep reading
- Everything for a hotelRate inclusions, check in times, parking and room accessibility answer well. Live availability and a named reservation do not.
- Handling cancellations in generalCancellation content is hard to find on purpose. What it costs to answer plainly, how notice periods work, and what happens to data on the way out.
- Precise access questions deserve precise room factsGuests ask precise questions about doorways, wet rooms and lifts. Quote the honest room description, then offer someone who can measure.
- Room blocks, function space and the enquiry that goes coldTen rooms and a function room is a contract, not a booking. Capture the dates, the numbers and the space, then get it to sales fast.
- The booking nobody in the chat window can look upA named reservation is invisible here. Say so, take the details, and let the front desk look up what only they can see.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.