Reservations that have not been checked in before the Rollover Time will officially become No Shows in the PMS.
No Shows need to be cleared out of the PMS on a daily basis. This would typically be done before noon on the morning after they were due to arrive. No Show reservations that have not been canceled will continue to hold their reserved room type out of inventory until their scheduled departure date. In order to release the room back to inventory, and be able to re-sell it, the No Show needs to be canceled first.
There are two commonly used methods when dealing with No Shows:
- There are some properties that will check in all arrivals even if they have not arrived at the property; usually just before midnight, they will ensure the charge can be put through on the Credit Card and they will check the guest in. This is common among properties that do not have an overnight Audit shift, and plan on charging the first night's Room & Tax as a cancellation penalty anyways. This method is typically not recommended as a "Best Practice", as it will skew the Occupancy reporting.
- The method recommended as a "Best Practice" is to let the reservation No Show, and then handle the reservation appropriately, according to the Cancellation Policy, the following morning.
No Show Report
After the Rollover Time has passed, if there are any No Shows remaining from the night, the No Show report should be printed.
Reports > Audits > No Shows - Date From and Date To should be set to yesterday's date.
In this example, there are 3 No Show reservations that need to be dealt with. To locate these reservations we can either use our Advanced Search (F3) to look up the Res ID's, or we can simply go to our No Shows screen by selecting that view on the right side of the main window in the PMS.
Cancelling without Charging
The first No Show we will deal with is Res ID 1416 for Kyle Leighton. In this example we will not be enforcing the Cancellation policy, or charging a penalty fee.
From the No Shows screen, ensure the black arrow is pointing to the correct reservation:
- Click Cancel
- Choose a Reason for the cancellation (This list of reasons is customizable, reasons may vary by property)
- Click Cancel Res
Cancelling and Charging
The second No Show we will deal with is Res ID 1415 for Richard Smith. In this example we will be charging the Cancellation Fee.
From the No Shows screen, ensure the black arrow is pointing to the correct reservation:
- Click Cancel
- Choose a Reason for the cancellation (This list of reasons is customizable, reasons may vary by property)
- Click Cancel & Charge (Note the amount in the Post Charge field)
Posting the Payment
In this example, the Cancellation Policy states to charge 1 night's Room & Tax for cancelling within the policy period. This is represented by the $805 in the Amount field. Where the Cancel Reservation window shows the amount before tax, this Payments window shows the final amount inclusive of tax.
- Ensure the Credit Card details on file are correct
- Click OK / Exit to post the payment.
Review the Folio
Upon reviewing the Folio, we can see the two actions that took place during that process; Posting a Cancellation Fee, and taking the Credit Card Payment.
Cancelling a No Show with Direct Billing to the City Ledger
The final No Show we will deal with is Res ID 1414 for Kia Quinn. Kia's reservation has Direct Billing established to a City Ledger Account, and as such is guaranteed to that account, not a Credit Card on file. This means that when this reservation is cancelled, and the fee is charged, instead of paying the charge, we will transfer it to the corresponding City Ledger account. This action creates an Invoice on the City Ledger, to be paid by the company at a later date.
From the No Shows screen, ensure the black arrow is pointing to the correct reservation:
- Click Cancel
- Choose a Reason for the cancellation (This list of reasons is customizable, reasons may vary by property)
- Click Cancel & Charge (Note the amount in the Post Charge field)
Review the Folio
