Booking.com: Cancellation Policy & Prepayment

You can configure your Booking.com cancellation policy and prepayment settings directly from Smily's new Booking.com app. This replaces the old property settings page, which is now read-only.

📌 Where to find it: Smily → Booking.com app → Cancellation policy & prepayment section

Table of content

• Overview
• Step 1: Free cancellation period
• Step 2: Specify conditions
• Step 3: Prepayment
• Policy Summary
• Full scenario examples
• Applying the same policy to multiple listings (Bulk edit)
• Switching from the old app

Overview

The cancellation policy configuration follows a step-by-step flow. Your answers determine which options appear next, and a policy summary at the bottom updates in real time so you can see exactly what your guests will see on Booking.com.}

• Example 1:

• Example 2: 

Step 1: Free cancellation period

Is there a period when the guest can cancel free of charge?

Choose Yes or No.

• Select Yes if guests can cancel without penalty up to a certain point before arrival.
• Select No if cancellations are always subject to a fee.

Step 2: Specify conditions

If you selected Yes:

How long before arrival can the guest cancel free of charge?

Select a duration from the dropdown. Available options range from anytime to up to 90 days before arrival.

💡 Special case — "Anytime": If you select anytime, the policy is fully flexible. No further questions are shown. Guests won't need a credit card to book and no prepayment will be charged. The policy summary will read: "The guest can cancel free of charge at any time."

For all other durations, you'll also be asked:

How much is the guest charged for cancellation within [X] days before arrival?

• 50% of the total price
• 100% of the total price

If you selected No:

How much is the guest charged for cancellation?

• 50% of the total price
• 100% of the total price

Step 3: Prepayment

This section appears once your cancellation conditions are complete (except in the anytime - see above).

Do you want to charge guests before they arrive?

Choose Yes or No.

If No:

No prepayment will be collected. The policy summary will note that you'll handle any cancellation/no-show fees directly with the guest.

If Yes:

Depending on your free cancellation setup, you may be asked:

When do you want to collect prepayment?

• Before free cancellation ends — prepayment can be collected any time after the reservation is made.
• After free cancellation ends — prepayment can only be collected within the cancellation window (i.e., in the [X] days before arrival).

📌 This question only appears if you selected Yes to free cancellation with a specific duration. If there is no free cancellation period, prepayment is always collected any time after booking.

Policy Summary

At the bottom of the form, a Policy summary box shows the combined cancellation and prepayment policy as your guests will see it on Booking.com. It updates live as you make selections.

The Save button becomes active only once all required fields are filled in.

Full scenario examples

Applying the same policy to multiple listings (Bulk edit)

If you manage several properties and want to apply the same cancellation policy across all of them at once, you can use the bulk edit feature, no need to configure each listing one by one.

How to use bulk edit:

1️⃣ From your listing list, select the properties you want to update.

2️⃣ Click Bulk edit. 

3️⃣ In the Select option dropdown, choose Cancellation policy & prepayment.

4️⃣ Click Next and configure your policy using the same step-by-step flow described above.

5️⃣ Save, the policy will be applied to all selected listings simultaneously.

💡 Tip: This is especially useful when rolling out a new policy across your entire portfolio, or aligning all listings under the same cancellation terms.

Switching from the old app

The old Booking.com property settings page is now read-only. This is due to a recent Booking.com API update that made some of the old settings incompatible.

All cancellation policy and prepayment settings must now be configured from the new app. You'll find a direct link to the new app in the banner at the top of the old settings page.