Vacation rental cancellation policy and rental agreement

Most vacation rentals do well with a moderate cancellation policy: a full refund for a guest who cancels a week or more before check-in, half back inside that week, and nothing in the final day. Flexible terms win bookings in a crowded market or when a cancelled week is easy to refill; strict terms protect peak dates and seasonal homes that are hard to rebook at short notice. Whichever you choose, guests read it before they book and again at checkout, so the terms are agreed before money changes hands.

A cancellation policy settles the money; a rental agreement settles everything else. The policy decides what a guest is owed when plans change. The agreement is the signed record of your house rules and terms — occupancy, damage, quiet hours, whatever you put in it — captured with the signer's name, IP address, and timestamp and stored as a PDF, so a dispute is decided by a document both sides accepted rather than by a message thread. Paired, the signature also fixes the cancellation terms: a guest who signs at booking signs a copy that states the policy they read, and from that moment the reservation keeps those terms whatever you later change on the listing.

Both take a few minutes. The policy is a section of the listing editor with templates to start from. For the agreement, attach one under Trust & Safety and turn on Sign at booking; guests then sign at checkout and cannot pay until they have.

Key facts

• Every booking carries a 24-hour grace period. A guest can cancel within 24 hours of booking for a full refund, whatever policy you set. It is platform-wide and cannot be turned off.
• A policy is a stack of refund tiers, with templates to start from. Flexible (100% back 7 or more days out), Moderate (100% at 7 days, 50% up to a day before), Strict (50% at 14 or more days), Super strict (non-refundable), plus Layered and Firm + mid-stay shapes for longer stays. Edit any tier after seeding it, or let Help me decide recommend a full set from your market and booking lead time.
• The policy freezes onto a booking when the guest pays. Changing your listing's policy later never touches a paid reservation. A request you have not answered, or an approved booking the guest has not paid for, follows the listing until payment.
• Refunds are the tier percentage, with nothing taken out. No payment processing fee is deducted from a cancellation refund, and a booking you cancel yourself is refunded in full. Refunds can also be given as a stay credit toward a future direct booking instead of money back.
• A rental agreement signed at booking blocks payment until it is signed. Haven snapshots the agreement to a PDF with the signer's name, IP address, browser, and timestamp, sends you the signed copy when the booking confirms, and locks the cancellation policy on that reservation from the signature on.

Choose a cancellation policy

Your cancellation policy sets the rules for refunds if a guest needs to cancel. Guests see this policy before they book, so it sets expectations up front and protects you from last-minute surprises.

1. Open the property and go to Edit Listing → Cancellation Policy.
2. Choose the policy that fits how you run your place.

You do not need to overthink the tiers. Pick the option that matches how flexible you want to be, and move on. You can change it later as you learn what works.

Here is what a guest sees at checkout, so they know the terms before they confirm:

For the full breakdown of each option, see the cancellation policy guide.

Require a rental agreement (optional)

A rental agreement is a document your guests sign, spelling out your house rules and terms. Asking for one is optional. Many people like the added clarity, especially for higher-value stays.

Signing before payment is one switch:

1. Open Settings → Trust & Safety → Rental agreements → Property settings → Sign at booking.
2. Turn Sign at booking on. On means Right after booking: guests sign at checkout and cannot pay until they sign.

Each listing with an agreement attached has its own Sign at booking switch on its row. To decide for every listing at once, set the Sign at booking row in the All listings card at the top of the same panel to All on or All off. The same choice also appears on each listing under Edit Listing → Arrival → Check-in & tasks, as When do guests sign? below the task list.

Attach the agreement from Manage agreement on that row (or Set up agreement when nothing is attached yet), or write it in Library. For details, see the rental agreement guide.

A note on extra protection

If you want more safeguards later, Haven offers guest ID verification, Truvi screening and damage protection, and security deposits. See Guest security options. None of these is required to take your first booking, so set them up once you are comfortable.

You're done when…

You have selected a cancellation policy that guests will see before booking, and you have either set up a rental agreement or made a deliberate choice to skip it for now.

Related articles

• Cancellation policy
• Rental agreement
• Guest verification
• Security deposits