If my customer wants to cancel a hotel booking, can I do that in the software or do I have to ring the hotel myself?

Yes, in most cases you can cancel a hotel booking from inside the software or by sending a cancel request through the API, without having to contact the hotel directly. The request goes to the supplier that gave you the rate, and when they accept it you get a cancellation reference back and the booking status updates so your records and your customer's record both show it as cancelled.

Before you confirm the cancellation you can normally see what it will cost. The booking carries its cancellation policy and deadline with it, so the software can tell you whether you are still inside the free cancellation window or whether a penalty will apply. It is worth checking that screen with the customer on the phone, because once the cancellation goes through it cannot be undone and the room may not be available again at the same rate.

There are real limits, and they come from the supplier rather than from us. Fully non refundable rates often cannot be cancelled at all, and the supplier will either refuse the request or return the full charge as the penalty. Some suppliers also handle very late cancellations, same day cancellations or no shows as a manual case, which means our support team or you may have to raise it with them rather than it happening instantly. How quickly any refund reaches your customer depends on the supplier and on how the booking was paid for.

The next thing to do is open one of your recent hotel bookings and look at the cancellation policy and deadline shown against it, so you know what your staff will see when a customer asks.