How to configure advanced cancellation policies: FULL MANUAL

In this manual we detail the steps to configure advanced cancellation policies from the Witbooking control panel. 

1) Create new cancellation policies from Settings > Cancellation Policies > Create New and configure the following fields:

Active: It will determine whether the cancellation policy is enabled. 

Identifier: This is an internal identifier that will not appear in any public area of the frontend. 

Start / end date (optional): Allows you to define a start / end date for the policy. To configure specific policies in certain periods you can consult the following manual. 

Translations (optional): Allow to define additional text to the text appearing in the cancellation conditions and defined in Inventory > Define Inventory > Conditions. 

Penalties: It will allow you to define penalties according to the cancellation release. 

To define the penalties, as many entries must be created as there are penalties according to release. The fields to be configured in the edition of penalties are the following:

Online cancellation: Determines whether the cancellation policy is cancellable by the user from the booking frontend.

Applies from: Determines the number of days before check-in from which the penalty will start to apply.

Applies until: Determines the number of days before check-in after which the penalty will no longer apply. 

Type: Allows you to define the type of penalty and you can choose between charging a percentage, a fixed amount or the first night. 

Amount: Determines the value of the penalty either as a percentage or as an amount defined in the previous field. 

2) Once the cancellation policies have been created, go to Inventory > Define Inventory > Conditions and link each tariff to at least one cancellation policy defined in the previous point. 

3) Go to Settings > Behavior and enable the field Show items > Online cancellation deadline. 

IMPORTANT: As policies are applied based on the order of the list, policies with specific dates should be placed above policies without defined dates.

CASE STUDY (example)

In this example we detail how to set up advanced cancellation policies for a property that offers the following conditions:

• Non-Refundable Rate --> 100% penalty in case of early cancellation. 

• Free Cancellation Rate --> 50% penalty for cancellations between 10 and 5 days before check-in and 100% penalty for cancellations less than 5 days before check-in. 

Non refundable rate

1) Create a new cancellation policy or use the Non-Refundable rate that has already been pre-created. 

2) The specific penalty fields will be as follows:

3) Go to Inventory > Define Inventory > Conditions and link the non-refundable rate to the corresponding cancellation policy. 

Free cancellation rate

1) Create a new cancellation policy or use the FreeCancellation rate that has already been pre-created. 

2) The specific penalty fields will be as follows: 

• Penalty 1: To be configured up to 11 days before check in with a 0% penalty: 

Penalty up to: 11

Type: Percentage

Amount: 0% penalty

• Penalty 2: Must be configured from 10 to 5 days prior to check in with a 50% penalty: 

Penalty from: 10

Penalty up to: 6

Type: Percentage

Amount: 50% Penalty from: 10

• Penalty 3: To be configured from 5 days prior to check in with a 100% penalty: 

Penalty from: 5 

Penalty until: 

Type: Percentage: 

Amount: 100%

3) Go to Inventory > Define Inventory > Conditions and link the free cancellation fee to the corresponding cancellation policy. 

NOTE: To enable the functionality in the front end, access Settings > Behavior and verify that the Show Items > Online cancellation deadline field is set to "Show Items > Online cancellation deadline.