An optional reservation is a reservation that is not yet confirmed but still blocks the space at your property. You can create an optional reservation by choosing the “Optional” option. 

Cancelling an optional reservation releases the space back to availability. You can configure your bookable service set up to: 

• Remind guests of their optional reservation twenty-four hours before release.
• Automatically cancel optional reservations at the time of release.  

You cannot view the expenses related to an optional reservation on the Billing screen. All the items associated with the reservation reflect on the Billing screen only after confirming the reservation.

Note: Mews does not send the Booking abandoned cancellation email automatically by default. To enable the feature, submit a support ticket through the Mews Digital Assistant.

In this article, you can learn about:

• Confirming an optional reservation
• Canceling an optional reservation
  • How to set up an automatic release of optional reservations 
  • How to manually cancel an optional reservation

Confirming an optional reservation

Guests can confirm their reservation through the guest portal, or you can manually confirm their reservation in Mews Operations. To manually confirm an optional reservation:

1. Open the reservation you want to confirm, then go to the Status tab. Note: If it's past the release time set for the reservation, you can view the optional reservation in Mews Dashboard > Optional reservations missed. 
2. In the Confirmation section, from the drop-down menu: 
   • Select or customize the email address you want to send the confirmation email to, or 
   • Deselect the Send confirmation email checkbox if you don't want to send the email.

3. Click Confirm.

Note: You cannot change a confirmed optional booking back to the unconfirmed status. To correct a potential mistake, cancel the booking and create a new one.

Canceling an optional reservation

You can adjust your bookable service settings in Mews Operations, to cancel an optional reservation automatically, 24 hours after the reservation's release date. You can also manually cancel an optional reservation.
 

How to set up an automatic release of optional reservations 

To set up your bookable service settings to automatically cancel optional reservations at the time of release:

1. In Mews Operations, go to the main menu  > Settings > Services.
2. Click on your bookable service.
3. In the Options section, scroll down to the Visit options field.
4. From the drop-down menu, select Enable automatic cancellation for optional reservations. Note: If you select this option, Mews enables automatic release for reservation inquiries as well. 
5. Click Save.

Tip: if you want Mews to remind guests of their optional reservation twenty-four hours before release, select Enable automatic email reminders for optional bookings. 
 

How to manually cancel an optional reservation

If you don't want Mews to automatically cancel optional reservations, then you need to cancel them manually.

1. Open the reservation you want to cancel, then go to the Status tab. Note: If it's past the release time set for the reservation, you can view the optional reservation in Mews Dashboard > Optional reservations missed.
2. In the Cancellation section, select the reason for the cancellation and enter any relevant details.
3. Deselect Apply cancellation fee.
4. Check the Send email to customer and booker checkbox to send a cancellation email to the guest and booker. Note: If you deselect this option, Mews does not send a cancellation email after canceling the reservation.

5. Click Cancel and confirm cancellation.