As of January 2020, Booking.com allows myfrontdesk users to report No Show back to the channel, without leaving myfrontdesk system. This release allows you:
- Update Booking.com (and in the future, other channels) with new availability in hopes of generating a last-minute booking
- Choose to Collect or Waive the cancellation fee - all without leaving myfrontdesk
Booking.com is currently the only channel that supports this feature.
How to Enable Booking.com No Show Feature
Currently this feature is available for new properties. If you would like to be enabled for this feature, please contact our support team at support@cloudbeds.com
Please double-check the user permissions - The radio buttons under the General System Settings (more details on the next step) should only be visible for users who have:
-
Distribution ON:
- Access Roles Page > Click to edit the corresponding Role > Under 'Hotel Setup' section, switch the Distribution toggle to ON
2. Modify Reservations toggle enabled
- The Modify Reservation option is under the 'Reservation' section. It allows users to have access to the “Manual flow features” around No Show Reporting (more information about the Manual flow you can find below)
Check further information about User's Role here.
3. Booking.com should be a connected and active channel on myfrontdesk
- Access Channel's tab to double-check if Booking.com status is "Enabled"
Please check the following article to learn How to Connect Booking.com to myfrontdesk
Auto No-Show means that if a guest does not arrive by 2:05 AM the day after check-in date (local property time zone), the system will automatically change the status of the reservation to No Show
As an extension of the Auto No Show feature, now you have the option to automate reporting No Shows to Booking.com:
- Access General System Settings
- Under Automation, Preferences switch the No Show feature toggle to ON
- Three radio buttons will be displayed with options below the toggle (if the toggle is disabled or if the user doesn't have the permission, no sub-options are shown). The options are:
- Do Not Send automatically - Auto-change status to No Show on the system, but DO NOT report No Show to Booking.com
- Send; WAIVE cancellation fee - it automates No Show Reporting to Booking.com and ALWAYS waives cancellation fee
- Send; Do not waive cancellation fee - it automates No Show Reporting to Booking.com and NEVER waives cancellation fee
Waive means that the cancellation fee will not be applied
Process and Details
Once you enable the feature under the General System Settings and choose one of the options, you can accommodate either automated or manual No Show Reporting to Booking.com, dependent on your choice when you enabled the feature
Please check all the Automation Preferences options:
| Automation Preferences |
Reservations will be marked as No Show on myfrontdesk | No Show information will be sent to Booking.com | Cancellation Fee will be waived | Email sent about no show reservations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Do not send automatically |
YES | NO |
YES | NO |
| Send; Waive cancellation fee |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
| Send; Do not waive cancellation fee |
YES |
YES |
NO |
YES |
Note that you can move a Booking.com reservation to No Show before 2:05 AM and select to report to Booking.com manually.
Example: If a reservation was in a status other than NOT CHECKED IN at 2 AM and the reservation was not part of the auto-report due to different status (e.g. Confirmation Pending) you can manually move to no show later in the day. Please check how to use the manual reporting flow below.
This process only works if the reservation has not been reported as a no show to Booking.com from myfrontdesk before.
In order to report No Show to Booking.com via myfrontdesk manually, please follow the steps below:
- Access the reservation on myfrontdesk
- Change the reservation status to No Show (no matter what the current status is)
- Myfrontdesk will check if the booking falls between 00:00 (midnight) on the check-in date, up to 48 hours later
- A warning message should appear, as shown below, and you need to select one of the options from the drop-down
- The system will send this info to Booking.com
- CANCEL - the status of the Reservation remains in the current state and is not moved to No Show. No information is sent to Booking.com
- CONTINUE > Do Not Send to Booking.com- the status of the Reservation will be changed to No Show, and no information is sent to Booking.com
- CONTINUE > Send No Show Info to Booking.com; Waive Fee -the status of the reservation changes to No Show. The No Show information is sent to Booking.com to waive the cancellation fee
- CONTINUE > Send No Show Info to Booking.com; Do Not Waive Fee - the status of the reservation changes to No Show. The information is sent to Booking.com with the cancellation fee
6. After choosing one of the options above, you will immediately see a loading indicator
7. Once a successful message is received back from Booking.com, you will see the following message
If the reservation is toggled to another status later on and then back to No Show and you are in the 48h window (and all the rules are valid), the user will still have the option to report the No Show to Booking.com.
When using the Manual Reporting Flow, the user can also face the following warnings:
If the reservation falls prior the range (too early), the following dialog box will be displayed
If the reservation falls after the 48-hour range (too late), the following dialog box will be displayed
What to expect after the reservation was successfully sent to Booking.com as a No Show:
- Booking.com will "cancel" the booking on their extranet
- In myfrontdesk, the reservation will be marked as No Show and will contain Cancellation number as pending, until myfrontdesk receives an update from Booking.com
- When the cancellation update is received from Booking.com, the reservation will be updated to show Cancellation number and Cancellation Fee as shown on the screenshot below
4. Depending on your cancellation policy, you should post the cancellation fee on the guest's folio manually.
Please check how to post a manual transaction here: Room Revenue. How to Add and Use Room Revenue
It might take 1-5 minutes for Booking.com to process the information. Because of this, the reservation will show the cancellation number as pending, and only after Booking.com updates, you will see the cancellation number and the cancellation fee.
When an error message is received back from Booking.com you will see the following message
| Possible errors |
Meaning |
|---|---|
| No Show Already Reported |
|
| Too early to report |
|
| Too late to report |
|
| Overbooked It happens when the reservation was marked as 'overbooked' on Booking.com extranet |
|
| Unmodifiable |
|
|
Already Cancelled |
|
| Other |
|
- If you have never reported the reservation as a No Show to Booking.com, go ahead and follow the steps described above
- If you have already reported the reservation as a No Show to Booking.com, and they try to move it to statuses of Confirmed, Confirmation Pending and Checked out, the following message will be displayed
- If you have already successfully reported a reservation as a No Show to Booking.com, and then try to move it back to No Show again from any status, you will see the following message
The reservation activity logs will show the following:
- Timestamps of when a No Show was first reported to a channel
- The user who took this action
- Response from the channel
You can also check these changes under the general activity log.
Use the filter "Change Made" and select 'Reservation - Activity and Status'
Frequently Asked Questions
At the moment, myfrontdesk does not have a dedicated report, but property owners will receive a daily status report with No Show reservations sent to / received from Booking.com into an email showing success / fail statuses.
Example:
Currently, only the property owner can receive these emails. There's no option to change the recipient.