Cancellations... UGH!

Just lost 40% of my rooms for the next week! UGH! 14 room nights, in prime season. So far I have managed to rent out 4 of the nights.
I hope they are paying DOUBLE what I charge. The cheapest room in town next weekend is $200... for a place I would need to be paid to stay! I'm a little upset at the moment...

I know how you are feeling!

Sorry, that really bites.

We had a cancellation this week for 5 nights out of 7 reserved. I was peeved. He's a long time guest who's in the hospital. So what good does it do to be peeved?
The rest of his group came and apologized and brought us a gift from him. He offered to pay knowing how hard it is to rebook.
We were lucky to get some of the nights taken care of.

So sorry for you, that's a huge loss. This is why we have a 14 day cancellation because it gives us time to rebook if they do cancel and guests cannot see the 10 day forecast and then cancel on us. I told this to our banker when he came to visit last year and he asked us about last minute cancellations -- he laughed saying - boy that's smart, because I'd hate to go away to do all outdoor stuff and have it raining on me. I told him that I knew he'd be looking for his huge chunk of change each month on the 1st and I was gonna make sure that I had it for him. Can you increase your cancellation policy to more than 7 days?

I had a cancellation for 4 room nights for this weekend. So we shall see if she disputes the charges.

I am so sorry. That is a huge reservation to have cancel.

Do you take a deposit or have a cancellation policy? At least keeping some of their $$ helps ease the pain a little. We run a 505 deposit at time of booking and have a 14 day cancellation policy with a 10% fee if they do cancel outside the 14 days. We refund the deposit - the 10% if we're able to rent the room.

When I have booking for 3 or more rooms from the same party the cancellation is extended to 30 days (instead of 7 days). So far did not have any problems or challenges.

April said:

When I have booking for 3 or more rooms from the same party the cancellation is extended to 30 days (instead of 7 days). So far did not have any problems or challenges..

Click to expand...

April said:

When I have booking for 3 or more rooms from the same party the cancellation is extended to 30 days (instead of 7 days). So far did not have any problems or challenges.

Click to expand...

We have had 5 rooms checking in for 5 nights next week for a wedding. They all booked separately. No one mentioned a wedding. How do I know they're together? They all live in same town and it's far enough away that it's not likely they don't know each other.
One of them cancelled last week.
Had they booked together, yes, it would have been 30 days. As it is, I'm now wondering about the other 20 room nights.

Madeleine said:

April said:

When I have booking for 3 or more rooms from the same party the cancellation is extended to 30 days (instead of 7 days). So far did not have any problems or challenges..

Click to expand...

April said:

When I have booking for 3 or more rooms from the same party the cancellation is extended to 30 days (instead of 7 days). So far did not have any problems or challenges.

Click to expand...

We have had 5 rooms checking in for 5 nights next week for a wedding. They all booked separately. No one mentioned a wedding. How do I know they're together? They all live in same town and it's far enough away that it's not likely they don't know each other.
One of them cancelled last week.
Had they booked together, yes, it would have been 30 days. As it is, I'm now wondering about the other 20 room nights.
.

Click to expand...

I am sure we had same - individual bookings for the same event and no idea of knowing. To this point we were lucky. Sorry it happened to you.

I'm definitely going to have to change a policy or two because of this. I didn't know that the two reservations were related, they arrive from two different countries and different days. But reservations of a week should have a different policy, I guess.
I get so very few cancellations that my policy has always been quite liberal. But this one stings. I did manage to sell some of the days, but I was on track to surpass my previous July and now... I'm down from last year all because of this.

Jon Sable said:

I'm definitely going to have to change a policy or two because of this. I didn't know that the two reservations were related, they arrive from two different countries and different days. But reservations of a week should have a different policy, I guess.
I get so very few cancellations that my policy has always been quite liberal. But this one stings. I did manage to sell some of the days, but I was on track to surpass my previous July and now... I'm down from last year all because of this..

Click to expand...

Good idea for extended stays. A longer stay = long cancellation period.

We just got a cancelation of 2 rooms for 11 nights. Ugh! We usually have a 30-day cancelation policy for this time of year but he booked it last March and I sent the standard confirmation letter that states our usual 10-day cancelation policy.

Country Girl said:

We just got a cancelation of 2 rooms for 11 nights. Ugh! We usually have a 30-day cancelation policy for this time of year but he booked it last March and I sent the standard confirmation letter that states our usual 10-day cancelation policy..

Click to expand...

That frosts me. Guests who hold onto the room until the last minute and then cancel. We fired a guest who did that to us 3 times in 4 years.
Another guest who did that twice had the nerve to yell at me when I said she couldn't rebook the same rooms for next year.
She said, "I let you know one week in advance! That's all I had to do!" Made it sounds like she waited until exactly 7 days in advance to cancel 2 rooms!

Madeleine said:

Country Girl said:

We just got a cancelation of 2 rooms for 11 nights. Ugh! We usually have a 30-day cancelation policy for this time of year but he booked it last March and I sent the standard confirmation letter that states our usual 10-day cancelation policy..

Click to expand...

That frosts me. Guests who hold onto the room until the last minute and then cancel. We fired a guest who did that to us 3 times in 4 years.
Another guest who did that twice had the nerve to yell at me when I said she couldn't rebook the same rooms for next year.
She said, "I let you know one week in advance! That's all I had to do!" Made it sounds like she waited until exactly 7 days in advance to cancel 2 rooms!
.

Click to expand...

Our policy when a guest cancels at the last moment is to send them the following notice with their cancellation notice, the first time....
"Please be aware that we reserve the right to require a non-refundable deposit on your future reservations in spite of all notifications to the contrary."
Doesn't mean that I have to, but just that I can, if I want to. But the reality is that once they see it, they think it applies to them and they act accordingly.

Madeleine said:

Country Girl said:

We just got a cancelation of 2 rooms for 11 nights. Ugh! We usually have a 30-day cancelation policy for this time of year but he booked it last March and I sent the standard confirmation letter that states our usual 10-day cancelation policy..

Click to expand...

That frosts me. Guests who hold onto the room until the last minute and then cancel. We fired a guest who did that to us 3 times in 4 years.
Another guest who did that twice had the nerve to yell at me when I said she couldn't rebook the same rooms for next year.
She said, "I let you know one week in advance! That's all I had to do!" Made it sounds like she waited until exactly 7 days in advance to cancel 2 rooms!
.

Click to expand...

We just had a guy call exactly at the 10 day cancellation mark and wanted to cancel just 1 night of his 2 night reservation when we have a 2 night minimum. Two strikes and you're out! I told him he would have to totally cancel, no 1 night reservation. His excuse was that his wife had to work on Friday until 6:00pm and it's a 2 hour drive. When I told him a late check-in was not a problem and most of our guests do this on a Friday night he said "yeah, but I want to have fun".
That really ticked me off! Of course I still had to be polite to him.

Breakfast Diva said:

Madeleine said:

Country Girl said:

We just got a cancelation of 2 rooms for 11 nights. Ugh! We usually have a 30-day cancelation policy for this time of year but he booked it last March and I sent the standard confirmation letter that states our usual 10-day cancelation policy..

Click to expand...

That frosts me. Guests who hold onto the room until the last minute and then cancel. We fired a guest who did that to us 3 times in 4 years.
Another guest who did that twice had the nerve to yell at me when I said she couldn't rebook the same rooms for next year.
She said, "I let you know one week in advance! That's all I had to do!" Made it sounds like she waited until exactly 7 days in advance to cancel 2 rooms!
.

Click to expand...

We just had a guy call exactly at the 10 day cancellation mark and wanted to cancel just 1 night of his 2 night reservation when we have a 2 night minimum. Two strikes and you're out! I told him he would have to totally cancel, no 1 night reservation. His excuse was that his wife had to work on Friday until 6:00pm and it's a 2 hour drive. When I told him a late check-in was not a problem and most of our guests do this on a Friday night he said "yeah, but I want to have fun".
That really ticked me off! Of course I still had to be polite to him.
.

Click to expand...

This is why I charge a deposit of £20 per room, per night and it says at booking that in the case of a partial cancellation the relevant deposit may be lost.

Highlands John said:

Breakfast Diva said:

Madeleine said:

Country Girl said:

We just got a cancelation of 2 rooms for 11 nights. Ugh! We usually have a 30-day cancelation policy for this time of year but he booked it last March and I sent the standard confirmation letter that states our usual 10-day cancelation policy..

Click to expand...

That frosts me. Guests who hold onto the room until the last minute and then cancel. We fired a guest who did that to us 3 times in 4 years.
Another guest who did that twice had the nerve to yell at me when I said she couldn't rebook the same rooms for next year.
She said, "I let you know one week in advance! That's all I had to do!" Made it sounds like she waited until exactly 7 days in advance to cancel 2 rooms!
.

Click to expand...

We just had a guy call exactly at the 10 day cancellation mark and wanted to cancel just 1 night of his 2 night reservation when we have a 2 night minimum. Two strikes and you're out! I told him he would have to totally cancel, no 1 night reservation. His excuse was that his wife had to work on Friday until 6:00pm and it's a 2 hour drive. When I told him a late check-in was not a problem and most of our guests do this on a Friday night he said "yeah, but I want to have fun".
That really ticked me off! Of course I still had to be polite to him.
.

Click to expand...

This is why I charge a deposit of £20 per room, per night and it says at booking that in the case of a partial cancellation the relevant deposit may be lost.
.

Click to expand...

Highlands John said:

This is why I charge a deposit of £20 per room, per night and it says at booking that in the case of a partial cancellation the relevant deposit may be lost.

Click to expand...

His reservation was held with a 50% deposit and when cancelled, he had to pay a $25 cancellation fee.

Madeleine said:

Jon Sable said:

I'm definitely going to have to change a policy or two because of this. I didn't know that the two reservations were related, they arrive from two different countries and different days. But reservations of a week should have a different policy, I guess.
I get so very few cancellations that my policy has always been quite liberal. But this one stings. I did manage to sell some of the days, but I was on track to surpass my previous July and now... I'm down from last year all because of this..

Click to expand...

Good idea for extended stays. A longer stay = long cancellation period.
.

Click to expand...

this is our cancellation policy
1 - night – no cancellation is available-full charge will apply
2 - 14 nights – minimum 7 days notice is required
15-30+ nights or 3+ rooms or long week ends/holidays- minimum 30 days notice is required