---
key: cancel-a-reservation
title: Cancel a reservation
audience: staff
section: operations
routes: ["/reservations/:reservationUid"]
permissions: ["schedule.reservations.read"]
features: ["schedule.reservations"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Cancel a guest visit through its usual booking rules, preserve its financial history and review retained deposits separately.
keywords: [cancel reservation, cancelled visit, non-refundable deposit, cancellation charge]
related: [create-a-reservation, find-and-review-a-reservation, settle-up-a-reservation]
---

Open **Operations**, then **Reservations**, and open the reservation number. Restore an archived customer before making changes.

## Cancel the whole reservation

Choose **Cancel reservation** in the reservation actions, enter a reason and confirm. Nova cancels the bookings and work orders together through their usual cancellation rules. Your role needs permission to cancel the reservation and its underlying work. If an item refuses cancellation, none of the items or the reservation changes.

Finished work keeps its history. Uninvoiced base charges disappear. If the original policy makes received money non-refundable, Nova adds an explicit cancellation charge for the retained amount. Pending requests create no cancellation debt. The retained total includes tax and never rises because tax rates change.

With charge-editing permission, reduce an uninvoiced retained total through **Edit charge**, or choose **Waive cancellation charge** with charge-removal permission. These closeout actions remain available after Reservations is switched off. Held money stays in place: choose a cash refund or customer credit separately. Missing original terms require a staff retention decision. The whole reservation stays cancelled throughout financial closeout.

For an explicit staff retention agreement, see [[add-a-reservation-charge]]. For financial closeout, see [[settle-up-a-reservation]]. Removing work without cancelling it is covered in [[remove-or-move-reservation-work]].