Cancellation policy

The policy you book under is the one honored

When you confirm a booking, Ghatta Almaskan saves the listing's cancellation policy with your booking at that moment. Any change a host later makes to their listing's policy never affects an existing booking — your cancellation and refund are always judged by the policy you saw when you booked. It also appears on your booking voucher.

How refund windows work

Every listing has a cancellation policy that sets a free-cancellation window before check-in time. For refund purposes only, check-in time means 3:00 PM (Saudi time) on your check-in date — one reference point for every listing, whatever time that particular home opens its door. Counting back from that moment:

• Cancel before the window closes — 100% refund of what you paid.
• Cancel after the window closes — no refund.

Refunds are calculated on the total you actually paid, including the service fee.

The policies

• Flexible — full refund up to 24 hours before check-in time; after that, no refund.
• Moderate — full refund up to 72 hours (3 days) before check-in time; after that, no refund.
• Strict — full refund up to 7 days before check-in time; after that, no refund.

Ghatta Almaskan's current policies are all-or-nothing: they refund 100% before their cutoff and nothing after it. Some listings still carry an older policy with a partial-refund band. The policy that applies to you is always the one shown on the listing page and on the reservation card before you book — and it is the one saved with your booking.

Bookings made before this version took effect keep the exact terms shown at booking and on their booking documents — including any partial-refund band those terms stated.

How and where you are refunded

When you cancel a booking yourself, the refund follows the policy saved with your booking and is returned to the card you paid with, never store credit. We start the refund within one business day; your bank usually posts it within 5–10 business days. If you did not pay by card, we'll contact you to arrange your refund.

After check-in

Once you have checked in (or the stay has been delivered), the booking can no longer be cancelled from the app. If something went seriously wrong with your stay, report it — that is what the service-failure path below is for.

Service failures — full refund

Some situations are not ordinary cancellations. You are entitled to report a service failure if:

• essential services (such as electricity or water) were interrupted for more than 2 hours;
• the unit was closed by the authorities;
• you had to evacuate for a public-health or safety reason;
• you could not check in despite a confirmed reservation.

Report it from your booking or through Ghatta Almaskan support. Once approved, the refund defaults to 100% of everything you paid — including Ghatta Almaskan's service fee — and at minimum covers the failed night and all remaining nights. Card payments go back to the card you paid with — we start the refund within one business day, and your bank usually posts it within 5–10 business days. If you did not pay by card, we'll contact you to arrange your refund. The host earns nothing for a failed stay.

For hosts

Hosts cannot cancel a confirmed booking. When a guest cancels inside the window, the non-refunded portion (after Ghatta Almaskan's service fees) is added to your payout for that month. If a stay is found to be a service failure, no earnings accrue for it.

How to cancel

Open your booking under Trips in the app (or your bookings on the web) and choose “Cancel booking”. Any refund due is calculated automatically under your booking's policy and returned to the card you paid with. If no card is linked to the booking, our team contacts you to arrange it.

Questions about a specific booking? Message Ghatta Almaskan support from the app or email support@akenna.sa.