> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.riservahq.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Cancellations and refunds Cancel a reservation from its page. Riserva shows the refund your policy grants before you confirm, then refunds it through Shopify. *** ## Cancelling a reservation 1. Open the reservation. 2. Press **More actions → Cancel reservation.** 3. Read the confirmation. It tells you the refund before you commit. 4. Press **Cancel reservation.** The confirmation looks like this: > Cancel reservation RES-7K4M? This releases its capacity. > > **Refund per policy: 100% (\$300.00)** That figure is computed from the policy attached to this reservation's experience, against the actual visit time, right now. It is what will move. ## Overriding the refund Sometimes the policy's answer isn't the right one. A guest may cancel inside the no-refund window with a genuinely good reason. Or they kept the room an extra hour and shouldn't get everything back. When the guest has paid anything (add-ons included), the confirmation offers **Override the refund amount**. Set any amount from \$0 up to what the guest has paid, and give a **reason** (required). The override is deliberately accountable. The amount, the policy's original answer, your name and your reason all land on the reservation's timeline. Guests can never override a refund: this exists only in the admin. *** ## Where the percentage comes from Exactly one set of rules applies. It's the experience's **custom rules** if it has them, otherwise your **shop policy** (Settings → Policies). The reservation's own page states the applicable rules in its Details card, so you never have to work this out from Settings. Riserva then applies **the most generous refund step that matches** the notice given. The refund is **0%** with less notice than any step, once the visit has started, or under all sales final. See [Set your cancellation policy](/getting-started/cancellation-policies). *** ## What actually gets refunded **The percentage applies to everything the guest paid, add-ons included.** A "100% refund" that left the cheese pairing unrefunded wouldn't be a 100% refund. The money goes back through Shopify as a real refund against the original order, to the original payment method. A partial policy refund is a partial order refund. **A reservation with no Shopify order refunds nothing**, because there's nothing to refund. That's the normal case for a phone reservation your team took and never collected on. This happens when a party grew and paid the extra guests through a payment link, or a balance was settled at the register. The refund walks every order that holds the reservation's money, newest first. It takes from each what it still holds until the amount is met. An order already refunded to zero is skipped. The reservation page lists each order with what it still holds, and one **Refunded** row with the total. *** ## Shrinking a party uses the same schedule Removing guests from a paid reservation is a **partial cancellation**, and it follows this exact schedule. The removed guests' share of the payment is refunded at whatever percentage the policy grants *right now*. A party that shrinks at the door under a "no refund within 24 hours" policy gets nothing back for the dropped seats. The withheld amount stays on the order. Both the timeline and the reservation's Payment card record it. Staff can go beyond the policy deliberately: * The reservation's Edit page always offers a full refund, recorded as an override on the timeline. * Shopify POS check-in offers it only if you've allowed it in **Settings → Policies → Refund overrides**. *** ## Everything else cancelling does In one action, Riserva also: * **Releases the capacity** — the seat, table or venue goes back on sale. * **Cancels any scheduled charge**, so a dead reservation can't be billed later. * **Forgives any unbilled balance** from added guests. * **Voids any open payment link**, so a guest can't pay an invoice for a reservation that no longer exists. * **Marks purchased add-ons refunded**, since the one order refund covered them. * **Emails the guest** the cancellation, with the refund amount when money is moving. A \$0 cancellation says nothing about refunds at all. * **Writes a staff note** on the reservation recording the policy applied. *** ## When something doesn't go through Riserva never fails quietly. Always check the reservation's timeline after a cancellation you expected money to move on. > The open payment link could not be voided (…) — delete the draft order in > Shopify admin. Do that, or the guest could still pay it. The cancellation still stands. The timeline records the refund as pending, "Refund of \$150.00 pending", with Shopify's own words attached. The Payment card shows a **Refund owed: \$150.00** callout. * Press **Retry refund** to send it again from Riserva. * Or, if you issued it from the Shopify order yourself, press **Mark handled in Shopify** so the record agrees. > The gateway allowed 50.00 of the 75.00 refund — verify in Shopify. Whatever didn't go back lands in the same **Refund owed** callout. *** ## Guests cancelling themselves If your policy allows it, guests cancel from the manage link in their confirmation email. They go through **exactly the same path**: same refund calculation, same real refund, same timeline entries, same email. The timeline shows the guest as the actor. When a guest cancels online, they're asked **why** before confirming. They pick one of your cancellation reasons, plus an optional line of free text. The answer is recorded on the reservation, so you can see patterns over time. Its timeline shows, for example, *"Reason for cancelling: Travel or weather"*. Edit the list of reasons under **Settings → Policies → Cancellation reasons**. Clear it to stop asking. See [Guests managing their own reservations](/guest-experience/guest-self-serve). *** ## Refunds without cancelling Shrinking a party or moving to a cheaper experience refunds proportionally, without cancelling anything. That's on the edit screen. See [Edit a reservation](/daily-operations/edit-a-reservation). *** ## No-shows Press **Mark no-show** from the reservation page or the host desk. Or let Riserva mark parties that never check in by itself, under **Settings → Reservations → No-shows**. * Marking a no-show releases nothing retrospectively. * **It charges no fee.** Riserva doesn't charge no-show fees. * A no-showed reservation stays collectible. If you want to chase payment, you still can with a payment link. * Riserva does **not** email the guest about being marked a no-show. That's a conversation, not a notification. If the guest walks in after all, press **Undo no-show**. It's the reservation page's main button, or find the party on the Done tab in Shopify POS. The reservation goes back to Confirmed, or to Pending payment if that is where it was, so you can check them in. *** ## Deleting There is no delete. Reservations are cancelled, never erased, the same discipline as every other operator tool. Cancelled reservations stay in the **Cancelled** view and in your reports. *** ## Related **What things mean on this screen:** [What things mean: A reservation's page and Edit reservation](/reference/reservation-page) * [Cancellation policies](/getting-started/cancellation-policies) * [Edit a reservation](/daily-operations/edit-a-reservation) * [Guests managing their own reservations](/guest-experience/guest-self-serve) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.