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 :
- cancelling a reservation that has insurance
- 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 insurance in Maxxton Software
Creating the 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.
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.
- A relative percentage (i.e. 50% refund to guests)
- 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).
You have now completed the configuration of your cancellation terms. In order to manage your cancellations, please see here.
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
- 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