Traveller-initiated cancellations and change requests

18 November 2020

After reviewing feedback from our partners and travellers, we’re enabling travellers to request cancellations or reservation changes by emailing property managers. 

This does not affect your existing cancellation policies or communications procedures. Traveller-initiated requests simply allow you and the traveller to connect more quickly for a faster resolution.

• Travellers can now request reservation stay date changes and cancellations from directly within their MyTrips page.
• You’ll receive an email with the requested changes. (This will go to your account email.)
• You can then review and process the requests in your software the same way that you do now.

You’ll own the communication from here as per your normal processes to find a resolution with the traveller. Remember: you don’t have to accept every request, especially if the traveller is already outside your cancellation window. 

If a traveller requests to modify the booking, the subject line will be ‘Changes requested’. The body of the email will contain the reservation ID and the listing ID. Do not change the reservation ID when you confirm the booking with the traveller.

If a traveller asks to cancel, the subject line will include ‘Cancellation request for: [reservation ID]’. The body of the email will contain the reservation ID and listing ID.  

If you want to adjust the payment or provide a discount, work with the traveller directly to agree on price changes. Our content directs the traveller to work with the property manager regarding price changes, and expects partners to pass price change data to flow through the BUS, which would then go to MyTrips.  

If your traveller has trip insurance, tell them to contact their trip insurance provider directly and let them know about the booking change.  

If you use software and it doesn’t allow you to make booking modifications, you should follow your usual process when a traveller requests a modification. If you can’t modify the booking and need to cancel, make sure that you select ‘Initiated by traveller’ as the cancellation reason code in your software.  

In many cases, travellers don’t realise that they can ask to modify their booking if they need to change their dates or the number of guests. This can lead to travellers cancelling the booking completely. To help travellers to more easily make updates and to reduce cancellations, we’ve simplified and improved the experience of modifying a booking.  

• Request changes to dates based on your calendar availability
• Request changes to number of guests
• Request to cancel the booking
• Send a message using the free-text field

The process for traveller-initiated reservation change requests will mirror the cancellation request process outlined above, and is a custom message that the traveller sends you from the dashboard. You can update the reservation dates in your software once you confirm the new reservation details with the traveller.

Travellers can also select ‘Request change’ through their MyTrips account. If you want to offer a credit instead, work directly with the traveller, following your current process. Confirm with the traveller if they intended to cancel or change dates.