What happens in the event of an early departure?
Updated on 07/07/2026
Unexpected circumstances forcing you to shorten or cancel your rental? Don't panic: here is what happens in each situation, whether your rental has already started or not, and whether the period concerned has been paid for or not.
Your rental has not yet started
You have not paid yet
As long as you have not made a payment, you can cancel freely. Open the relevant conversation in your messages, then click on "Cancel my request". You will not be charged anything.
You have pre-paid, but the host has not yet accepted
At the time of payment, you simply authorised Roomlala to debit the amount: this is not yet a final charge. If you cancel at this stage, or if the host refuses or does not respond, you are automatically and fully refunded.
Your booking is confirmed and you wish to cancel
You can cancel up to and including the day of your arrival, from the conversation with your host, by clicking on "Cancel" then "Confirm cancellation". The exact amount of your refund is displayed before you confirm: nothing is done without your agreement.
Good to know: if you have only just paid (less than 6 hours ago) and your arrival is scheduled in 3 days or more, you are refunded in full.
In other cases, the rent refund depends on the cancellation policy chosen by the host, as indicated on the listing:
- Flexible: 2 days or more before arrival, 80% refunded. Less than 2 days before, no refund.
- Moderate: 14 days or more before arrival, 80% refunded. Between 14 and 2 days before, 40% refunded. Less than 2 days before, no refund.
- Firm: 30 days or more before arrival, 80% refunded. Between 30 and 2 days before, 40% refunded. Less than 2 days before, no refund.
These percentages apply to the rent, excluding service fees. Cleaning fees, additional guest fees, and the tourist tax are always fully refunded to you.
If you have chosen to pay in instalments, the same rules apply to the sums already paid, and upcoming payments are cancelled.
Your booking is confirmed and the host cancels
If the host cancels before your arrival, you are fully refunded, including service fees. You receive a notification and the host is invited to explain the reasons for their cancellation.
Regarding the host: cancellations are counted over the last 6 months. From the second cancellation in this period, a 20% deduction of the rental amount of the first cancelled instalment may be applied to the next payments. Cases of force majeure are reviewed by our team before any potential deduction. Please note: cancellation is only possible until the day before the tenant's arrival.
Your rental has already started
Once on the premises, you can no longer cancel the booking, but you can shorten the duration of your rental at any time. Go to the payment schedule for your rental (accessible from the conversation with your host), then click on "Shorten rental" and choose your new end date.
What happens depending on the periods concerned:
- Period already paid: it remains the host's property and is not refunded. Your new end date cannot therefore be earlier than the end of the last period you have paid for.
- Unpaid periods: upcoming payments are automatically cancelled. You don't need to do anything; no further payments will be requested from you for these periods.
- Departure during an unpaid payment period: if your new end date falls in the middle of a period not yet paid, a reduced instalment is recalculated on a pro-rata basis for the remaining days. Only these days will be charged to you.
Once the change is validated, you and your host will each receive a confirmation email, and the freed dates become available again in the listing calendar. The host can also shorten the rental from their own payment schedule, according to the same rules.
Our advice: talk about it first with the other party via the messaging system. An early departure always goes better when it has been discussed together.
The tenant has left without settling the following payments
Are you a host and has your tenant left the accommodation leaving unpaid instalments? If the last paid period ended more than 14 days ago, an "Cancel schedule" button appears on the schedule page. By confirming, the rental ends at the end of the last paid instalment, the unpaid instalments are deleted and your calendar is opened up for new requests.
What about the security deposit?
If a security deposit is managed via Roomlala, its deadlines are automatically recalculated from the new departure date: the host has 10 days after departure to declare any damage, and the deposit is returned to the tenant no later than 15 days after departure.
In case of dispute or disagreement
If you leave the accommodation due to a disagreement with the host, non-compliant accommodation, or an inability to be accommodated, do not cancel your booking yourself: the cancellation would be attributed to you and the refund conditions above would apply. You must contact our team via the contact section: we will study your situation.