Wix Hotels by HotelRunner: Creating and Managing Your Cancellation and Deposit Policies
5 min
In this article
- Step 1 | Creating a cancellation policy
- Step 2 | Assigning a cancellation policy to a rate plan
- Step 3 | Managing your cancellation policies
- Step 4 | (Optional) Adding a deposit policy
- FAQs
Important:
This article refers to the latest version of Wix Hotels by HotelRunner. For the previous version of Wix Hotels, click here.
Add clear cancellation and deposit policies so guests know exactly what to expect before they book. These policies appear at checkout and help manage no-shows, reduce misunderstandings, and improve your customer experience.
A cancellation policy explains your rules for refunds or fees if a guest cancels their booking. Being upfront about your policy builds trust and helps keep rooms filled by reducing cancellations.
Before you begin:
Cancellation policies must be assigned to a rate plan to take effect. Make sure you’ve created your rate plans so you can apply the policy after setting it up.
Step 1 | Creating a cancellation policy
Offer fully refundable, partially refundable, or non-refundable policies to suit your hotel’s needs. You may offer guests a fully refundable option or create a partially refundable policy with a penalty for late cancellations.
To add a cancellation policy:
- Go to Property Settings in your site's dashboard.
- Click Manage Policies next to Cancellation and deposit policies.
- Click + Add cancellation policy.
- Enter the policy details:
- Name: Enter a policy name, e.g., "2-day cancellation policy".
- Description: Add a detailed description.
- Refund type: Choose one of the following:
- Non-refundable: Guests cannot cancel the reservation for a refund after booking.
- Free cancellation: Guests receive a full refund if they cancel within the specified time frame.
- Partially refundable: Guests receive a partial refund if they cancel within the defined time frame. Customize the penalty conditions using the options below:
- Apply penalty before check-in: Enter the number of days (e.g. 2).
- Choose time: Choose a cut-off time (e.g. 11:00).
- Fee type: Choose Fixed amount or Percentage.
- Fee amount: Enter the value (e.g. $20 or 20%).
- (Optional) Click + Add new penalty condition to add additional rules.
- Enable the Activate policy toggle.
- Click Add Cancellation Policy to save.
Important:
If you create a partially refundable cancellation policy, make sure the penalty conditions match the order shown in the Penalty Chart. The Penalty Chart shows the cancellation fees guests pay based on how long before check-in they cancel. Add the lowest penalty first, then higher penalties for cancellations closer to check-in.
Step 2 | Assigning a cancellation policy to a rate plan
Once your policy is created, you need to assign it to the relevant rate plans for it to take effect.
To assign a cancellation policy:
- Go to Rate Plans in your site's dashboard.
- Hover over the relevant rate (e.g. Standard rate or Master rate) and click Edit .
- Select the relevant cancellation policy from the Cancellation policy drop-down.
- Click Save.
Step 3 | Managing your cancellation policies
You can edit or deactivate your cancellation policies at any time. This lets you adapt your terms based on seasonality and business needs.
To manage your cancellation policies:
- Go to Property Settings in your site's dashboard.
- Click Manage Policies next to Cancellation and deposit policies.
- Click the More Actions icon
next to the relevant policy. - Click Edit.
- Choose what to do:
- Update the policy's details: Change the name, description, or penalties.
- Add or remove penalty conditions: Create or delete conditions as needed.
- Deactivate the policy: Disable the Activate policy toggle.
- Click Save.
Step 4 | (Optional) Adding a deposit policy
Charge guests a partial deposit instead of the full reservation fee to protect against no-shows and late cancellations.
To add a deposit policy:
- Go to Property Settings in your site's dashboard.
- Click Manage Policies next to Cancellation and deposit policies.
- Click Edit next to Deposit policy.
- Select the Fee type:
- Fixed amount: Charge a single, fixed deposit per stay.
- Percentage: Charge a percentage fee based on the total cost of your guests' stay.
- Fixed fee per one night: Charge a fixed deposit amount for each night.
- Enter the relevant Fee amount.
- (Optional) Select the Tax is included to amount checkbox to include the tax as part of the deposit.
- Enable the Activate policy toggle to make this policy active on your site.
- Click Save Changes.
Important:
Your deposit policy is not applied when a non-refundable cancellation policy is enabled.
FAQs
Click on a question below to learn more about cancellation and deposit policies.
How can I test how my cancellation policy appears to guests?
Can I edit or delete the default cancellation policy?
Can I disable my deposit policy?
Can I assign different policies to different rooms or plans?
