Cancellation policies

This guide outlines the cancellation policies supported by Demand API and includes examples of how to retrieve policy details using various endpoints during the pre-booking, booking and post-booking phases.

Cancellation types

Cancellation policies play a crucial role in the booking process, determining the terms under which a traveller can cancel their reservation and whether they are entitled to a refund or must pay a fee.

There are three types of policies that are supported in Demand API with different level of flexibility:

Flexible policies - Free cancellation until

This policy allows travellers to cancel their bookings without incurring fees within a specified time frame, usually:

• 24-48 hours before checkin time.
• 7 days before arrival.
• By 12:00 PM on the day of arrival.

Properties can set how many days prior to the check in of the reservation the traveller can cancel for free.

This is ideal for travellers seeking flexibility in their plans.

Special conditions policies (Partially refundable in v3.2 )

Bookings can be cancelled under this policy, but a cancellation fee will always apply.

• Travellers will incur a cancellation fee based on 50% of the total booking price or the cost of the first night stay.
• Properties decide the terms of the partial fees and refunds.

• You can check the specific conditions and fees applied to products by reviewing the order/preview response.

Non-refundable policies

Under this policy, travellers must always pay the full amount of the total booking cost when cancelling their bookings, unless local laws specify otherwise.

• The charge may happen at any time from the booking.
• This policy is typically associated with lower-priced, non-flexible rates.

Cancellation fees

There are 3 different fees that can be applied:

Important considerations

✓ Do not forget to inform your travellers about the applicable policy when displaying your product page and during the booking process.

✓ Make sure you display the cancellation fee in line to local regulation. Example: Properties in Germany cannot charge 100% of total booking cost for cancellations by law.

Cancellation types/fees in Demand API

Our Demand API provides detailed information about the cancellation policies, schedules and fees for each product block.

Similarly to what Booking.com offers in the website, each stage provides a different level of detail:

Pre-booking - Search and availability

Accommodation examples

When searching for accommodations calling the accommodations/search and /availability endpoints, you can retrieve a simplified version of the cancellation policy.

Response key fields

Example 1 - Free cancellation until

On this request, for this property there is a flexible cancellation policy, and travellers can cancel for free until 2025-10-06T21:59:59+00:00

"policies": {
  "cancellation": {
    "free_cancellation_until": "2025-10-06T21:59:59+00:00",
    "schedule": [
      {
        "from": "now",
        "price": 0
      },
      {
        "from": "2025-10-06T22:00:00+00:00",
        "price": 4716.9
      }
    ],
    "type": "free_cancellation"
  }
}

Example 2 - Partially refundable (special conditions)

In this case, the cancellation policy type is "partially_refundable (or special_conditions in v3.1) hence the free_cancellation_until field is marked as "null". This means there is no free cancellation and a fee may apply.

"products": [
  {
    "number_available_at_this_price": 10,
    "policies": {
      "cancellation": {
        "free_cancellation_until": null,
        "type": "special_conditions"
      },
      "meal_plan": {
        "meals": [],
        "plan": "no_plan"
      },
      "payment": {
        "timings": [
          "pay_at_the_property",
          "pay_online_later",
          "pay_online_now"
        ]
      }
    },
    "price": {
      "book": 204.00,
      "total": 204.00
    },
    "room": 1050736002
  }
]

Example 3 - Non refundable policy

When a product has a "non_refundable" type of policy, the "free_cancellation_until" field returns null, as this is not applicable.

{
  "products": [
    {
      "id": "1000420_95127794_2_0_0",
      "children": [],
      "deal": null,
      "number_of_adults": 2,
      "policies": {
        "cancellation": {
          "free_cancellation_until": null,
          "type": "non_refundable"
        },
        "meal_plan": {
          "meals": [],
          "plan": "no_plan"
        },
        "payment": {
          "timings": [
            "pay_at_the_property"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Car rental examples

When searching for cars calling the /search and /availability (3.2 Beta) endpoints, you can check a simplified version of the cancellation policy.

Response key fields

These are the fields included in the response:

Example 1 - Free cancellation

On this request, for this car there is a flexible cancellation policy, and travellers can cancel for free up to 48 hrs before pick up.

"policies": {
      "cancellation": {
        "type": "free_cancellation",
        "details": {
          "context": "before_pickup",
          "duration": "PT48H"
        }
      },

Example 2 - No refundable

For non_refundable cancellation policies:

"policies": {
      "cancellation": {
        "type": "non_refundable",
        "details": {
          "context": "null",
          "duration": "null"
        }
      },

Booking - Orders/preview

To view the cancellation policy details and final fees for a specific product use the orders/preview endpoint.

Check either the:

• data.​accommodation.​products[].​policies.​cancellation - for accommodation product cancellation policies-related details.
• data.car.policies.cancellation - for car cancellation policies-related details.

Accommodation examples

Response key fields

These are the fields included in the data.accommodation.products.policies.cancellation response:

Example 1 - Free cancellation until

In the following example:

"products": [
  {
    "id": "1000420_278556531_2_0_0",
    "deal": null,
    "policies": {
      "cancellation": [
        {
          "from": "now",
          "price": {
            "accommodation_currency": 0,
            "booker_currency": null
          }
        },
        {
          "from": "2025-12-08T23:00:00+00:00",
          "price": {
            "accommodation_currency": 177.65,
            "booker_currency": null
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
]

• from.now - Indicates that from the moment of the booking, the traveller must pay the indicated price.

  • Here, the price.accommodation_currency is 0, reflecting a free cancellation policy.

• The from date specifies the deadline after which travellers will incur a cancellation fee (in this example 177.65)

  • This indicates that travellers can cancel for free until 2025-12-08T23:00:00+00:00.
  • After this point, the indicated cancellation fee applies.

Example 2 - Non refundable

In the following example the from.now field indicates that from the moment of the booking, the traveller must pay the indicated fee for cancellations (170).

{
  "id": "1000420_95127794_2_0_0",
  "policies": {
    "cancellation": [
      {
        "from": "now",
        "price": {
          "accommodation_currency": 170,
          "booker_currency": null
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "price": {
    "base": {
      "accommodation_currency": 162.98,
      "booker_currency": null
    },
    "extra_charges": {
      "conditional": [
        {
          "charge": 3,
          "condition": 30,
          "mode": "per_stay",
          "percentage": null,
          "total_amount": {
            "accommodation_currency": 10,
            "booker_currency": null
          },
          "unit_amount": null
        }
      ]
    },
    "total": {
      "accommodation_currency": 195.06,
      "booker_currency": null
    }
  }
}

Post-booking: Orders/details

The orders/details/* endpoints present in their responses whether an order has been cancelled in the status field and also under which terms (in cancellation_details field, including the cancellation fee that was charged, and when it was charged.

Accommodation examples

Example - Free cancellation until

In this example the cancellation_details field is null because the order has not yet been cancelled, and the checkin is on the "2026-08-24".

{
  "accommodation_order_references": [],
  "cancellation_details": null,
  "checkin": "2026-08-24",
  "checkout": "2026-08-26",
  "commission": {...},
  "products": [
    "policies": {
    "cancellation": [
      {
        "from": "2026-08-22T14:22:43+00:00",
        "price": {
          "accommodation_currency": 45.00,
          "booker_currency": 38.35
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "status": "booked"
}

• The cancellation is free until 2 days before the checkin date.
• From 2026-08-22 (UCT time) the traveller will be charged the stated amount (38.35)

Example of cancelled order with fee

In this example, there is a fee applied to the cancellation.

{
  "request_id": "01fr9ez700exycb98w90w5r9sh",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "509430129718799",
      "reservation": "12345678",
      "status": "cancelled",
      "checkin": "2025-12-10",
      "checkout": "2025-12-18",
      "cancellation_details": {
        "at": "2025-12-09T00:00:00+00:00",
        "fee": {
          "accommodation_currency": 170.01,
          "booker_currency": 186.87
        },
        "original_total_price": {
          "accommodation_currency": 170.01,
          "booker_currency": 186.87
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Car rental examples

When using the orders/details/cars/live in Beta version (future orders/details/cars in v3.3)

{
  "cancellation": {
    "type": "free_cancellation",
    "schedule": [
      {
        "from": "2025-10-14T10:00:00Z",
        "to": "2025-10-17T09:59:59Z",
        "free_cancellation": true,
        "price": null
      },
      {
        "from": "2025-10-17T10:00:00Z",
        "to": "2025-10-19T10:00:00Z",
        "free_cancellation": false,
        "price": {
          "display": {
            "value": 25.00,
            "currency": "USD"
          },
          "pay": {
            "value": 22.73,
            "currency": "EUR",
            "timing": "pay_online_now"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Key parameters:

• free_cancellation → boolean indicating whether any free cancellation window exists.
• schedule → chronological array of cancellation windows.

Each window contains:

• from → start datetime for that fee.
• price → object with booker_currency and supplier_currency.

Best practices

When handling cancellation policies in your application:

• Clearly display cancellation terms to users during the booking process.
• When proceeding an order, it is crucial to emphasise the cancellation deadlines and fees within your application.