Self canceling bookings

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• To cancel a booking from the Supplier Administration
• Ordinary cancellation reasons
• Force Majeure
• Severe Force Majeure events
• Isolated Force Majeure events
• Customer cancellation request
• To cancel a booking from the contact form

If you have no option but to cancel a booking, providing customers with early cancellation notification is of the utmost importance since booking cancellations harm customer satisfaction and trust. You can cancel your bookings directly on the list of bookings in the Supplier Administration, or by using the contact form. 

If you’re able to offer an alternative date and if the activity hasn't started yet, first contact customers outside the tool and offer the alternatives. Once you have contacted the customers, inform us during the self cancellation process that [a] there is an alternative date and [b] customer's decision regarding that alternative, or if you haven't heard back from them. At the same time, you’ll be able to stop accepting bookings for the selected time slot.

If you indicate that customers accepted the alternative, your request will be processed by our Customer Service team, the booking will be rescheduled to the new date and a new confirmation email will be sent to customers.

If you indicate that customers didn't accept the alternative date or didn't reply to your contact, the booking will be cancelled automatically and customers will be informed accordingly.

To cancel a booking from the Supplier Portal

1. Log in to the Supplier Administration > go to the Bookings tab. 

2. Filter the booking that you need to cancel by reference code > Show details > Request cancellation.     

3. From the drop-down menu, select the reason why you’re canceling the booking. The reasons for cancelation are split into three main categories:

1. Ordinary operational reasons: To be used when you are not able to conduct the activity or cannot accept a booking.

2. Force Majeure reasons: To be used when the activity cannot take place due to force majeure events which are outside your control.

3. Customer cancellation requests: To be used only when customers contact you directly, asking to cancel their booking. This cancellation reason should not be used for those cases in which you offer an alternative date and the customer declines it, or when you receive a complaint from a customer.

Note: Selecting the right reason is very important as this will be communicated to customers. The full list of all cancellation reasons available in the tool can be found in the table at the end of this article.

After selecting the cancellation reason, you’ll be asked a series of questions depending on the cancellation reason you chose.

Ordinary cancellation reasons

Have you already informed the customer about this cancellation?

• NO - you have not informed the customer about this cancellation
• YES - you’ve already informed the customer about this cancellation

Are you able to offer an alternative date for this booking?

If the activity hasn't started yet, you’ll be able to indicate that there’s an alternative date and time. If the date and time of the activity have passed, this option will not be available as the activity can no longer be rescheduled. 

• NO - there’s no alternative date and time for the activity
• YES - there is an alternative date and time. Enter the date and time.

IMPORTANT: You’ll need to contact customers directly in order to offer any alternative dates. The tool cannot be used to offer alternative dates to customers.

Have you received a reply from the customer?

• Customer hasn’t replied: You contacted the customer directly but you didn’t receive an answer from them.
• Customer accepted the alternative: The alternative date and time suits the customer's plan and they accepted it.
• Customer declined the alternative: The alternative date and time does not suit the customer's plan and they declined it.

IMPORTANT: By choosing "Customer accepted alternative", the booking won't be cancelled. Instead, we'll reschedule the booking to the alternative date you offered to the customer and send them an updated voucher.

 If you choose "Customer declined alternative" or "Customer hasn't replied" the booking will be cancelled automatically. 

Customers will be refunded and informed via email.

Stop accepting bookings for this timeslot?

• NO - the timeslot of the booking to be cancelled will remain open and you’ll be able to accept new bookings on that same timeslot
• YES -  the timeslot of the booking to be cancelled will be automatically closed and you’ll stop accepting new bookings.  

I have read and accept the Supplier Terms and Conditions

• Tick the box to be able to proceed

To complete the process, click on Request Cancellation.

Once completed the process, you’ll receive an automatic “Cancellation request sent” message. 

IMPORTANT: If you indicated that the customer accepted  the alternative date and time, we’ll reschedule the booking for the date offered and, once the booking is rescheduled, the status of the booking will go back to “Booking accepted”. While this is processed, the cancellation status will remain as “Cancellation Requested”

If you indicate that the customer didn’t accept the alternative date or that customer didn’t reply to your offer, the booking will be automatically cancelled, customer will be refunded and informed via email.

Force Majeure

These cancellation reasons relate to force majeure events which are outside your control. A Force Majeure event can be of 2 main types, depending on the severity of it:

• Severe impact, affecting your entire destination and multiple tour categories. 
• Isolated impact, affecting specific tour categories or activities.

The self cancellation flow differs according to the force majeure cancellation reason you select.

Severe Force Majeure events

• Strike
• War
• Natural disaster
• Act of terrorism
• Pandemic (as a result of lockdowns)

IMPORTANT: Cancellations for severe force majeure events will be performed in bulk. Individual cancellations for these reasons are not possible. Customers will be automatically informed via email and refunded in full.

Until when do you expect the situation to last?

• Select time frame the activity is affected by the Force Majeure event

Which tour options are affected by this event?

• All options - all tour options of the same activity are affected by the force majeure event.
• Only [name of tour option] - only the tour option of the booking used to initiate the self-cancellation is affected by the force majeure event.

I have read and accept the Supplier Terms and Conditions

• Tick the box to be able to proceed

To complete the process, click on Request Cancellation.

IMPORTANT: Once you complete the process for bulk cancellation, the following will happen:

• All active bookings of the same activity in the timeframe you selected will be automatically cancelled.
• All customers will be fully refunded and informed via email.
• The availability will be automatically blocked for the selected timeframe.

Isolated Force Majeure events

• Bad weather conditions (e.g. unsafe sea conditions, low sky visibility, heavy rains, low or high tide)
• Institutional or political events (e.g. closure of government buildings, parliaments or demilitarized zones; politician visits)
• Political reasons (e.g. riots, demonstrations)
• Electric or internet outage

Booking cancellations for isolated force majeure reasons are done individually, and not in bulk as it happens with cancellations for severe force majeure events.

For these types of cancellations you’ll need to be prepared to provide an explanation of the event itself and link to external information related to the isolated force majeure event. 

Please note that Isolated Force Majeure cancellations will be verified. The responsible team may contact you if it’s determined that the booking was not affected by a legitimate Force Majeure event.

After entering the short description of the event and link to an external source or reference related to the isolated force majeure event, please follow the regular steps of the cancellation.

Customer cancellation request

This option should be used only when customers contact you directly, asking to cancel their booking. 

This cancellation reason should not be used for those cases: 

1. When you need to cancel the booking and the customer declined any alternative dates you offered. → In this case you need to cancel selecting one of the operational reasons or force majeure.
2. When you receive a complaint from a customer and you agree to a refund. → In this case you need to get in touch with Customer Care using the contact form.

If customers contact you directly asking to cancel their booking, please proceed as follows:

1. Log in to the Supplier Administration > go to the Bookings tab. 
2. Filter the booking the customer asked you to cancel by reference code > Show details > Request cancellation.      
3. Select the cancellation reason “Customer requested cancellation”
4. Next, you’ll need to select whether you agree or not to fully refund the customer

IMPORTANT: Our Customer Service team will reach out to the customer to confirm their intention to cancel the booking. 

Please note that the cancellation will only be processed if the customer confirms it. If not, our Customer Service team will contact you again to discuss your request.

To cancel a booking from the contact form

1. From the contact form select > I need assistance with a booking > I need to cancel a booking.
2. Specify the booking number > from the drop-down menu select the reason why you’re canceling the booking.
3. Select “Yes” or “No” from the pop-up questions.
4. Check the box to accept Supplier Terms and Conditions > Submit. 

(Note: The process steps are the same if you cancel from the contact form or the self-cancelling tool as above)

 

Related links

Contacting GetYourGuide customers