Beginning July 1, 2024, the California Senate Bill No. 644 requires hotels, third-party booking services, and hosting platforms to allow a reservation for a hotel accommodation or a short-term rental located in California to be cancelled without penalty for at least 24 hours after the reservation is confirmed.*

This applies to reservations made at Californian properties on or after July 1, 2024. This requirement does not apply to properties located outside of California. 

Identify which cancelled reservations are eligible for a refund

When a traveler cancels an eligible California reservation within 24 hours after a reservation has been made, these are the policies that integrated property managers (IPMs) and platform partners should follow. 

a. Integrated property managers 
You need to cancel the reservation in your software and then process a full refund of any guest payments completed within 30 days of the traveler cancelling. Vrbo will refund the service fee.

b. Platform partners
You can view and identify the canceled reservation in the Inbox.
  1. Log in to your account.
  2. Select the property if you have multiple properties.
  3. In the navigation menu, select Inbox.
  4. In the Inbox, the impacted reservation will have Canceled - 24 hours under Status.
    • You can also filter the conversations by selecting Filter. Then go to Reservation and select Canceled. 
Details about the reservation and cancel policy will persist on impacted reservations so it's easy to distinguish between cancellations that are eligible for a refund under this legislation and those that are not.

Guest cancellation requests

In some cases, a guest may request to cancel from their account, and it will require your approval. For guest cancel requests that are eligible for a refund under this legislation, the Reservation status will be "Cancelation request - 24 hour" in the Inbox and Reservation Detail. You must confirm these requests as soon as possible to ensure they are refunded within 30 days for their request to cancel. As with all guest cancellation requests, you will not be penalized for these cancellations. 

*Exceptions include reservations made within 72 hours of the check-in date. Certain reservations are excluded from the requirement. This information is based on Expedia Group's current understanding of applicable laws and should not be relied upon by partners; please consult your own counsel for legal advice.