Cancellation terms

What are cancellation terms

Cancellation terms are a set of rules that allow to define within Maxxton Software what should happen when a reservation is cancelled.

Usually, we can distinguish 2 main scenarios when cancelling a reservation :

1. cancelling a reservation that has insurance
2. cancelling a reservation that does not have insurance

Depending on the scenario, different rules can apply when cancelling a reservation (i.e. full refund or 50% refund).

However, before setting up specific rules per scenario, it is important to properly setup your insurance(s) within the system.

How to setup your insurance(s) in Maxxton Software

Creating the insurance add-on type

Insurance in Maxxton Software is setup using add-ons. We highly suggest creating a new type of add-on for your insurance add-ons. This will allow you to group all your insurances together into 1 place and will be easier to manage them later on. 

To setup a new add-on type, go into the Content Manager, within the Add-ons tab, and then click on "Manage add-on types" at the top right. If you do not see the "Manage add-on types" button, then this means that you do not have the necessary rights configured. To solve this, go to the Back-Office Manager, and give your role the following right : "Content Manager - Add-on types" (see screenshot below). 

Once this right is enabled you should be able to view the button when navigating to the add-on tab within the Content Manager as shown below.

You should then be redirected to the following screen :

Click on the "New add-on type" button (highlighted in the screenshot above). You should have the following pop-up appear :

Here you can enter the name of the type (i.e. Insurance add-ons) & the add-on type (i.e. insurance). For the third field, you should select "Fees" as insurance implies a fee that will be charged to the customer on top of what he will pay for the reservation.Once all of the fields filled in go ahead and click on "create". You should then be redirected back to the following page and see your add-on type on the left side of the screen.

Last but not least, you need to activate the "Cancellation premium" toggle in the advanced settings. This is required for the system to be able to pick up the add-ons (that you will link here afterwards) when cancelling a reservation.

You have now successfully setup the insurance add-on type. You can now go ahead and create 1 or multiple add-ons for your insurance. When creating the add-ons, make sure that you select the add-on type that you just created for the insurance(s).

For more information on setting up add-ons, please see here.

If you haven't done so already, we suggest also creating another add-on type for your cancellations (more on cancellations below). The setup is the same as for the insurance, the only difference is that in the advanced settings the "cancellation fee" toggle should be on instead of the "cancellation premium".    

 Now that you have your insurance add-on(s) fully setup, we can proceed by creating cancellation(s) which will then have specific rules (or terms) inside of them.

How to create cancellation(s)

To setup cancellation, navigate to the Channel Manager, into the configuration tab and then click on "Cancellations". Please note that you need certain rights that you can configure within the Back Office Manager in order to be able to access this menu. It is also important to mention that within Maxxton Software cancellations are also considered as add-ons.

Once you are at the screen as shown above, go ahead and click on "Create new cancellation add-on". You should see the following pop-up

Here you need to select the location on which you would like to create the cancellation add-on as well as the name and code. The parent field should remain empty and the "Non-refundable" toggle should be off. Once all of the fields have been filled in, go ahead and click on  "Create". You should see the following page. You now need to configure the rentability rules and the rates for your cancellation add-on. 

Setting up rules for your cancellations

Once the cancellation add-on has been created, we can now setup the rentability rules & the Rates ( the rules) of our cancellations. 

A the bottom right of the Rates card, go ahead an click on "create rate". You should see the following pop-up 

Here, you have two options for the type of rate you would like to configure.

1. A relative percentage (i.e. 50% refund to guests)
2. a fixed cancellation rate (flat fee) that will be added to the price of the reservation

When configuring a relative percentage, fill in the field for how much the guest is charged for cancelling the reservation. The refund field will be filled out automatically. When configuring a flat fee, the setup is almost identical. The only difference is that the refund field is not available for this configuration and that you should enter a flat value (i.e. 50€) instead of a percentage.

Please note that when selecting a relative percentage rate configuration, you will have one extra step during the configuration to decide for which accommodation types, add-ons & offers is this relative percentage rate applicable (see photo above). When selecting the flat rate, this extra step disappears (see photo below)  from the flow as the flat rate will be applied regardless of any add-ons, offers, or accommodation types. 

Next, you are able to specify the time frame for which you want this rate (or rule) to apply. This can be done by filling in the "Apply this rate when the cancellation is within" fields. Please note that the lower value should be on the left and the higher value should be on the right. 

Finally, the last fields allow you to choose the period for which this rate (or rule) is valid. You can either chose "valid from today" or give a specific period in the future. 

Once you have filled in all of the necessary fields, click on "Next Step".

Here you can choose the rate types for which you wish to apply this cancellation rule. You can either choose all rate types or some specific ones. Click on "Next Step" when you have filled in the relevant information.

If and only if you have chose the relative percentage rate for your rule, you will see the following pop-up.

On this step you can select the accommodation types, the add-ons and the rates for which the relative percentage rate will apply. Each time you have the option to select specific accommodation types, add-ons & offers or all. We suggest to apply the rate to all accommodation types, all offers, and all add-ons except the insurance add-ons. However the setup varies depending on the needs of each client. Click on "Next Step" when you have selected all the relevant items.

Finally, you have this last pop-up where you can configure translations if needed. The bill settings should not be changed. Once you are done click on "Add Rates". Congratulations, your rate has been created. You can enter multiple rates, as long as they are not using the same time frame. This allows you to create granularity around your cancellation rules. (i.e. between 14 & 29 days = 50% refund, but between 0 & 13 days = 0% refund).

There is one last thing that needs to be done before the cancellation terms can be used.

Linking cancellations to the DC

Now that the cancellation rules have been setup, it is necessary to link these rules to the Distribution Channel in order for the system to pick up the cancellation add-ons. In order to do this, go to the Distribution Channels tab in the Channel Manager. 

Once you have navigated to the relevant Distribution channel, click on it, and  go to the "Cancellation" card.

Click on "Add Cancellation add-on". The following pop-up should appear

If you have configured everything correctly, you should see your cancellation add-on(s) in the list. Select the ones you want to use and click on "Next Step". 

The last step is to pick whether your cancellation add-on is applicable for bookings with insurance (i.e. the insurance add-on(s) that you configured) or without. It is therefore advised to have 2 different cancellation add-ons, one that defines the rules for reservations with insurance(s), and another to define the rules without insurance(s).

Please note, it is possible to have multiple cancellation add-ons linked to a DC. You can have 2 different cancellation add-ons, both for bookings with insurance, linked to the same DC. Both add-ons will apply to your reservations, as long their rules don't overlap (there need to be either different time frames or different types of rates or both). This can be useful in case you wish to create a setup where the booking is fully reimbursed but a flat fee is applied for the cancellation for example. (Please see the third example at the bottom of the page). 

You have now completed the configuration of your cancellation terms. In order to manage your cancellations, please see here. 

Modifying or updating cancellations for a cancelled booking

To modify or update a cancellation add-on when it is already applied on a cancelled booking, (i.e. cancel a client fee that the client refuses to pay), it is required to setup another cancellation add-on with a customizable name / rate, removing the other cancellation add-on from the booking, and adding this new cancellation add-on instead. Here is a quick guide below :

Step 1 (Prerequisite) : Create a new cancellation add-on with a customizable name / rate

First, you need to go to the Channel Manager, into the cancellation menu and create a new cancellation add-on. Once this is done, in the settings menu, make sure to activate the option to “Customize name or rate” as shown below :

You can enter any rate for this new cancellation, I would suggest to add 0€.

Step 2 : Removing the applied cancellation add-on from the booking

Once your new cancellation add-on has been setup, you can now go into any cancelled bookings that need to have the due amount changed. In the reservation, remove the cancellation add-on that corresponds to the 90€ flat fee. If the cancellation add-on is at the reservation level, go to “More options” tab and into “Reservation add-ons”.

Once inside, select the cancellation add-on to be removed.

Step 3 : Adding the new custom cancellation add-on

Finally, in this step, you can add the new, customizable cancellation add-on to the reservation from the same place where you deleted the previous one (Reservation add-on tab).

When adding the new cancellation, you are able to change the price (negative numbers are accepted as well) as well as the name.

Once added it will appear on the reservation like so :

You have now successfully updated your cancellation add-on on a cancelled reservation. 

Passing reservations from "Cancelled" status to "DEFINITIVE CANCELLED" status

Introduction

Now that you have correctly configured your cancellations & they are properly added to your cancelled reservation, it is important to pass the Cancelled reservations to the status Definitive Cancelled. This is needed for 2 reasons : 

1. The definitive cancelled status is the status that indicates that a reservation has been financially settled.
2. The definitive cancelled status is the status that is compliant for cancelled reservations that follow the NF525 certification. 

To manage your cancelled reservations and pass them to the "DEFINITIVE CANCELLED" status, follow this path : Maxxton Software Home > Reservation Manager > Cancellations.

Once inside, you should see the list of all of your cancelled reservations. You can also see the definitive cancelled reservations by selecting the relevant tab at the top left f your screen. 

You can use the different filters on the left hand side to search for specific reservations, similar to the "Search Reservation" tab.  

Updating reservations individually

You can enter into each reservation individually and see the details of that reservation. When inside a specific reservation, the user can see various information such as :

• Customer information
• Reservation summary
• Reservation memos
• Cancellation details
• Reservation add-ons & reserved add-ons
• Customer / Paying customer / Agent bill

At the bottom right there is a button that allows the user to update the reservation.

When clicked, the following pop-up appears

Here you have the option to :

• Change the repayment status for the customer in case a repayment is due

This feature can be used when you need to repay clients (for instance if they paid too much). To Select the status from the drop down list. Please note that these statuses need to be pre-configured to appear in the list.

• Change the validation status

This feature can be used in case your business rules allow & follow a multi-validation process. Select a report from the drop down list. Please note that these statuses need to be pre-configured to appear in the list.

• Change the reservation status

The status can be changed either to status Definitive Cancelled or status Declined via the drop down list  Both of these statuses imply that the reservation has been financially settled, the only difference is that the declined status is intended for when the camping refused the reservation whereas the definitive cancelled status is used for when the guest has cancelled his stay and the created reservation has been financially settled.

• Send a report to notify the customer about the cancellation of their booking. 

This feature allows you to send out an e-mail to your customer with a PDF file that notifies them about the cancellation of their booking. Select a report from the drop down list. Please note that these statuses need to be pre-configured to appear in the list. 

Please make sure to activate the respective toggle for each update you wish to make in order to proceed. Once your selection made you may proceed to change the reservation accordingly by clicking on "Submit".

Updating reservations by bulk

You can also multi-select the reservations in the cancellations tab based on your filters. Once the multi-selection has been made, you have 3 options :

• Export selection,
• Print selection
• Update   

When clicking on "Update, a pop-up will appear that will allow you to change either the validation status or the reservation status. 

 Once you have made the required changes to the reservations that you have selected, you can click on "Submit". If you have changed the reservation status of your reservations to "definitive cancelled", you should see them appear in the "definitive cancelled" tab (highlighted in the screenshot below).

Congratulations, you have successfully financially settled your cancelled reservations. 

Conclusion

Using cancellation term configuration, different cancellation terms can be set up for different scenarios. These rules determine whether a payment is due when canceling a reservation, which is triggered by adding a cancellation addon in the reservation. These cancellation add-ons are configured as add-ons.

• the terms can be different based on the situation if there is a cancellation premium in the booking
• the terms (for definitive canceled bookings) can be different based on the fact if it is a valid reason or not
• modifying a cancellation add-on a cancelled booking requires the creation of another cancellation add-on with a modifiable name & rate which can then bu used in different scenarios. 
• for non-refundable please see Non-Refundable settings

Cancellation add-ons are linked to the Distribution Channel, so the terms can also be different per DC. 

Some examples to illustrate the logic of the set up of a canceled bill

When a booking is canceled, the original bill doesn't get changed.  The system adds the cancellation add-on with a negative amount.

Example 1 where penalty is 50% for rent. Cleaning is full refundable.

Rent                                               1000
Cleaning                                            75

Total                                               1075

Paid                                                      0

Cancellation Add on Rent               -500
Cancellation Cleaning                      - 75

Total remaining                               500

Example 2 where penalty is 50% for rent. Cleaning is full refundable and the booking was already paid.

Rent                                                1000
Cleaning                                             75

Total                                               1075

Paid                                                1075

Cancellation Add on Rent                -500
Cancellation Cleaning                       - 75

Total remaining                               - 500

Example 3 where penalty is 100€ flat fee. The booking was already paid.

Rent                                                1000
Cleaning                                             75

Total                                               1075

Paid                                                1075

Cancellation Rent + Cleaning        -1075
Cancellation Flat Fee                       100

Total remaining                                100

In order to achieve the result illustrated above it is necessary to use 2 different cancellation add-ons that will be combined together in the booking.