Can my staff cancel a hotel booking through the hotel booking API without contacting the hotel?

Yes, in most cases your staff can cancel a hotel booking straight through the API, without calling or emailing the hotel. You send a cancellation request with the booking reference, the supplier handles it, and you get an answer back saying whether the cancellation went through and what the booking looks like now.

Whether a booking can be cancelled at all depends on the rate your customer chose and on the supplier behind it. Refundable rates usually allow a cancellation up to a deadline, and after that deadline a charge may apply or the booking may no longer be cancellable online. Non refundable rates often cannot be cancelled through the API even though the request is still accepted, and the reply will simply tell you that nothing is due back. A few suppliers do not support cancellation through their API at all, so those bookings still have to go through their support team.

Because of that, it helps to put the cancellation terms in front of your staff on the booking screen, so nobody promises a customer a free cancellation that the rate never allowed. It is also worth saving whatever reference the supplier sends back when a cancellation succeeds, since that is your proof if a charge is questioned weeks later.

Check which of your connected suppliers allow cancellation through the API and what each one sends back, then decide whether your team cancels from your own screens or whether a few suppliers still need a manual step.