Cancelling a booking

Cancel a booking with the right refund under your policy, tell the guest, and handle guests asking to cancel.

Updated

Cancel a booking when a guest can’t come or you can’t have them. PootlrHost shows what your cancellation policy says to refund, and you choose.

Cancelling a booking

  1. Open the booking and choose More › Cancel booking.
  2. If the guest has paid anything, choose how much they get back:
    • As your policy says: the refund for how far off their arrival is, under the cancellation policy the booking was made with. The service fee goes back in the same share as the stay. If they’ve paid more than the booking now costs (say, after a stay was shortened), the extra goes back to them on top.
    • Full refund: everything they’ve paid (or, by card, everything still on their card).
    • Another amount: type it in. It can’t be more than they’ve paid.
  3. Add a Reason (for your records) if you like.
  4. Leave the box to email the guest ticked to confirm the cancellation to them.
  5. Tap Cancel booking, or Cancel and refund £… when there’s a refund.

The pitch is free again for those dates.

How refunds work

  • Paid by card through PootlrHost: the refund goes back to their card through Stripe, usually within 5 to 10 days. If Stripe can’t send it, the booking isn’t cancelled and you’ll see why.
  • Paid another way, like cash or bank transfer: the refund is noted on the booking, and you pay it back yourself.

On Pay As You Go, PootlrHost’s £1 for a pay-on-arrival booking comes off your monthly bill, or is credited on the next one if it was already charged. On a card booking it’s given back in the same share as the refund. Stripe keeps its card fee on a refund: see Refunds.

Only the owner can give refunds. A manager or staff member can still cancel, but nothing is refunded: the guest’s email says you’ll be in touch about their refund if the policy gives one, and you can refund them afterwards from the booking’s page (see Refunds).

The booking page shows its Cancellation policy, with the part that applies now highlighted. With no policy attached, any refund is up to you. Set up policies in Booking rules, and see Refunds for refunding without cancelling.

What the guest is told

With the box ticked, the guest gets a cancellation email, which mentions their refund if there is one. A guest with no email address isn’t told, so let them know yourself. You can switch the cancellation email off: see Automatic emails and texts.

When a guest asks to cancel

Guests can ask to cancel from their stay page. You get an email, it shows under Needs you on your Today page, and the booking shows their reason. Then choose:

  • Process cancellation to cancel it, as above.
  • Keep booking if it stands, such as a non-refundable stay. Send them a message to say so.
  • Offer new dates to write to them with other dates.

Bookings from other booking sites

  • Pitchup: Pitchup has the guest’s money and doesn’t let other systems cancel its bookings. Choose More › Cancel on Pitchup for the steps. Once it’s cancelled on Pitchup, PootlrHost marks it cancelled too, usually within 15 minutes.
  • Sites linked by a calendar link: cancelling here only cancels it in PootlrHost. Cancel it on that site too, which handles the guest’s money and any refund. Until you do, the pitch could be booked twice.

Good to know

  • Cancelled, no-show and checked-out bookings can’t be cancelled.
  • A guest who doesn’t turn up isn’t a cancellation: choose More › Mark as no-show. Nothing is refunded. If the guest paid nothing, you aren’t charged PootlrHost’s £1 for the booking.
  • Cancelling a booking request declines it. See Booking requests.
  • For a pitch that’s part of a group, see Group bookings.