Table of content

• Supported Channels
• Payment Gateway Requirements
• Rental Eligibility Criteria
• Mid-term Not Compatible
• Coverage Window Details
• Who Must Cancel
• Claim Submission Window
• Airbnb-Specific Limitation
• Booking.com Requirement
• Policy Editing Restrictions
• VAT and Fee Structure
• Reconciliation and Carry-Over Amounts
• Split Payments Impact
• When Existing Rentals Aren't Auto-Enrolled
• System Requirements
• Getting Support

Before using Cancellation Protection, it's important to understand the coverage parameters, eligibility requirements, and current limitations of the feature.

Supported Channels

Cancellation Protection is currently available on:

✓ Airbnb

✓ Booking.com

Not Currently Supported:

✗ Direct bookings through your Smily website

✗ Other OTAs (Expedia, VRBO, etc.)

There are currently no plans to add support for additional channels in the near future. The website booking engine will be supported in the near future.

Payment Gateway Requirements

SmilyPay Exclusive

Cancellation Protection is only available if you use SmilyPay as your payment gateway. This feature does not work with other payment processors.

If you're not currently using SmilyPay, you'll need to set it up before you can access Cancellation Protection.

Rental Eligibility Criteria

For a rental to be eligible for Cancellation Protection, it must meet ALL of the following requirements:

Currency

EUR (Euro) only

Rentals using other currencies cannot be enrolled in Cancellation Protection at this time.

Location

Europe only, with specific exclusions:

✓ Eligible: All European countries except those listed below

✗ Excluded: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus

Payment Gateway

SmilyPay gateway must be assigned to the rental

Additionally, the gateway's IBAN must be properly configured and verified for each channel (Airbnb and Booking.com) before protection becomes fully active.

Mid-term Not Compatible

Cancellation Protection applies only to short-term bookings. It is not compatible with mid-term rentals.

Length of Stay (LOS) limits

• Airbnb: bookings with a LOS greater than 28 nights are excluded.
• Booking.com: bookings with a LOS greater than 30 nights are excluded.

Coverage Window Details

When Protection Applies

Cancellations are covered when they occur:

Between 30 days and 1 day before check-in

• 30 days (720 hours) before check-in: Coverage begins
• 1 day (24 hours) before check-in: Coverage ends

Cancellations outside this window are not eligible for reimbursement.

Waiting Period

24-hour waiting period after booking creation

If a traveler books and then cancels within 24 hours (even if within the 30-1 day window), the cancellation is not covered.

This prevents abuse of the protection system.

Example Scenario:

• Check-in: January 31 at 3:00 PM
• Booking created: January 15 at 10:00 AM
• Coverage window: January 1 at 3:00 PM to January 30 at 3:00 PM

• Actual coverage for this booking: January 16 at 10:00 AM to January 30 at 3:00 PM (due to 24-hour waiting period)

   

Who Must Cancel

Only traveler-initiated cancellations are covered

Cancellation Protection does NOT apply if:

✗ You (the property manager) cancel the booking

✗ Smily cancels the booking (for any reason)

✗ The cancellation initiator cannot be determined

Claim Submission Window

1 to 60 days after the original checkout date

You must submit your claim:

✓ At least 1 day after the checkout date

✓ No more than 60 days after the checkout date

Claims submitted outside this window will not be processed.

One Claim Per Booking

You can only submit one claim per booking. Once submitted, you cannot submit again, even if you made an error. Make sure all information is correct before submitting.

Reimbursement Amount

You recover 96% of your rental revenue (the amount you normally earn after OTA commissions and fees). It represents 96% of your rental income

Refund Split

To keep things simple and maintain Owner trust, we suggest this split:

• Owner: Gets 100% of what they were expecting
• Property Manager: Gets 80% of their commission

This way you absorb the 4% difference so the Owner still receives their full payout.

Maximum refund cap

Replacement Bookings

If you receive another booking for the same dates:

• The protection partner automatically adjusts the reimbursement
• You receive the difference between the original and replacement booking (if applicable)

• You will not receive double payment for the same dates

   

Airbnb-Specific Limitation

60-Day Display Rule

Airbnb only displays the non-refundable discount option to travelers when the stay is within 60 days of booking.

What this means:

• For stays more than 60 days away: Only the flexible (protected) rate is visible
• For stays within 60 days: Both flexible and non-refundable rates are visible

Impact:

This may result in travelers seeing only the higher flexible rate on your listing even when you'd prefer to also offer a non-refundable option at a lower price, particularly for:

• Long-term advance bookings
• Properties in destinations with long booking lead times
• Seasonal rentals booked well in advance

Managing This Limitation

You can opt out of Cancellation Protection on Airbnb for specific rentals:

1. Go to the rental's Cancellation Policy settings
2. Find the Airbnb preferences section
3. Toggle off protection for Airbnb (while keeping it active on Booking.com)

This gives you flexibility to manage your pricing strategy per channel.

Booking.com Requirement

Cannot opt out on Booking.com

If a rental is enrolled in Cancellation Protection, it must remain active on Booking.com. You cannot selectively disable it for this channel.

If you want to stop offering protection on Booking.com, you must disable Cancellation Protection for the entire rental.

Cancellation Policy Editing Restrictions

Once Protection Is Active:

You cannot edit cancellation policies directly from the channel apps

When Cancellation Protection is active for a rental:

• On Airbnb: You can view but not edit the cancellation policy or non-refundable discount percentage
• On Booking.com: The cancellation policy and non-refundable rate are locked

All changes must be made from your Smily dashboard. This ensures consistency and prevents conflicts between systems.

VAT and Fee Structure

Protection Fee

The Cancellation Protection fee is:

• 11% net if your account has Travelers' Fees enabled AND / OR if the rental uses Split Payments
• 13% net otherwise

VAT is added on top:

• With 20% VAT: 11% becomes 13.2% gross, or 13% becomes 15.6% gross

Calculated From

The fee is calculated from the final booking price minus city taxes.

City taxes are excluded because they're often added by the channels themselves and are outside your control.

Reconciliation and Carry-Over Amounts

In rare cases where a channel payout contains deductions or adjustments, there may not be enough funds to cover the Cancellation Protection fee.

When this happens:

• The shortfall (called a "carry-over amount") is collected from Smily wallets
• For split payment bookings: Taken from PM wallet
• For other bookings: Taken from PM wallet (with carte G) or Owner wallet (without)

This ensures the protection partner is paid, even when payout reconciliation is complex.

Split Payments Impact

Cancellation Protection does not affect split payment functionality

The protection fee is treated as an acquisition cost (similar to OTA commission), so:

• It reduces the total payout amount
• But does not change how funds are split between PM and owner
• Split payment percentages remain the same

However, Cancellation Protection is unfortunately not yet compatible with Split Payments, but rest assured that this will be compatible very soon thanks to new improvements.

When Existing Rentals Aren't Auto-Enrolled

Important: Rentals created before you enrolled in Cancellation Protection are NOT automatically protected.

You must manually enable protection for each existing rental that you want to enroll.

Only new rentals created after enrollment are automatically enabled (if they meet eligibility criteria).

System Requirements

New Bookings UI

Enrolling in Cancellation Protection automatically activates the new Bookings UI in your dashboard.

This updated interface provides better visibility into protection status and claim management.

Getting Support

If you have questions about eligibility, limitations, or how Cancellation Protection works in your specific situation, contact Smily support. Our team can help you:

• Verify rental eligibility
• Understand channel-specific behavior
• Troubleshoot enrollment issues
• Clarify coverage in specific scenarios

Understanding these limitations ensures you can make the most of Cancellation Protection while avoiding confusion or unexpected outcomes.