How to handle a no-show

No-shows are a fact of life — a few percent of reservations don't arrive, especially OTA bookings late in the season. Handling them properly protects revenue (the no-show fee), keeps reporting accurate (no-show rate by channel), and frees up inventory for the next night's bookings.

Mark the reservation NO_SHOW

Open the reservation. From the status menu (top of the view), pick No-Show. A confirmation dialog asks Keep Invoice — yes (preserve the folio for the no-show fee) or no (void the invoice entirely). Confirm and the reservation status flips to NO_SHOW; the room is released to inventory; the calendar shows the booking with the no-show color (pink).

Charging the no-show fee

If you kept the invoice and the guest paid a deposit upfront, the deposit covers the fee — no further action. If they didn't pay upfront but the cancellation policy allows charging, take the payment from a card on file (HotelBee Payments → Cards if you have an authorization, or your terminal otherwise). For OTA bookings on virtual cards (VCC), the VCC was issued for the room amount; charge it the same way you'd settle a check-out.

Cancellation policy alignment

Your rate plans should each have a cancellation policy that defines the no-show fee:

• Non-refundable — full stay charged on no-show. Keep the invoice, charge the full amount.
• Flexible (cancel up to X days before) — first night charged on no-show. Keep the invoice, reduce to one night, charge that.
• Fully flexible — no charge. Void the invoice.

OTA-side handling

If the booking came from an OTA (Booking.com, Expedia), the channel manager picks up the status change automatically and most OTAs apply their no-show fee policy. Some require you to mark the no-show in their extranet too — check each OTA's flow. Booking.com is largely automatic; Expedia and Airbnb usually need confirmation in their extranet.

Tracking patterns

Reports → No-Shows shows your no-show rate by source and date range. A spike in OTA no-shows often means too-aggressive overbooking on that channel; a spike in direct no-shows usually means a confirmation email problem (guests forgetting they booked). Treat the report as a signal, not just an audit log.