Varying Cancellation Fees/Time Depending on Cost and Length of Reservation?

Does anyone have a varying cancellation fee that depends on the dollar amount and length of reservation? Or a longer cancellation time frame during peak season or for long stays? I know I've seen one place that does, but can't remember where.
We've have several reservations each year where guests hold rooms for the foliage season and then send emails that they're sorry they have to cancel. Just had two totaling almost $3000 for a month from now. We have a typical cancellation fee of $25 to cover credit card fees since we take a 50% deposit but with these large reservations we pay more than that in fees.
Also I'm thinking the longer stays should have to give us more time because it's much harder to fill a 5-9 night stay the closer we get. Any wording would be appreciated. Thanks.

For peak season or longer stays or multiple room stays you could have a one month cancel but that doesn't really help this situation because they're outside the one month.
This may be counter intuitive but would reducing the deposit help you because you wouldn't be hit with such high processing fees?
It doesn't seem that the 50% deposit kept these folks from canceling just outside the time frame.
I try to keep things as simple as possible because I'm very easily distracted and I forget to change the confirmation to the one for 30 days.
And, BTW, ouch! That's a big hit.

Our policy is the same regardless of season: we take a 25% deposit to confirm a reservation, and in the event of cancellation, the deposit is non-refundable unless we succeed in re-renting the accommodation...

I do a 25% non-refundable deposit for Elopements. No deposit for rooms - but I am not a more than 3 night stay place. Labor Day is unusual but it is It alian Her it age Fest ival time.

I'm thinking the higher cancel fee will stop those holding rooms for the peak season until they decide if they're really coming. Waiting to see if they can get good airfare perhaps or if their plans are going to change -- they are always long distance ones who pick the best rooms for long periods so they don't miss out. I know they just can't cancel their airfare so I do believe they are holding us because it's only $25.

Have you taken a look at what other places in the area charge?
I did not have many stays of 7 days, very few and never for longer. But I did often have people book several rooms. For long stays or several rooms, the booking deposit was 25% charged at the time of the reservation, the next 25% due 30 days out ... both refundable less the processing fee only if we were able to re-book the rooms. Balance due at check in. So if someone reserved for a week or several rooms just one month out, the deposit was 50%. I had a cycling tour group reserve all the rooms twice each summer. On one occasion, two of the rooms stayed empty and I only found out that two couples cancelled as they were all checking in. I was not able to re-book the rooms - so I kept the total 50% deposit on those two.
It is complicated to have special rules for certain situations. But worth it.

MtnKeeper said:

I'm thinking the higher cancel fee will stop those holding rooms for the peak season until they decide if they're really coming. Waiting to see if they can get good airfare perhaps or if their plans are going to change -- they are always long distance ones who pick the best rooms for long periods so they don't miss out. I know they just can't cancel their airfare so I do believe they are holding us because it's only $25..

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I like seashanty's and harbors idea of non refundable unless rooms are rebooked.
We are one of the only places in town that take a deposit. Altho we still get a ton of cancellations at 7 days out, I'm getting a lot less than before and I'm getting the $25 fee to cover the cost. And I think we're getting a LOT less 'placeholder' reservations where the guest books multiple properties and then cancels AT the cancellation deadline. Seriously, people, do you like it when guests invited to a wedding don't show or cancel after you've paid?
You could phrase it along the lines of "As a small business all cancellations impact us greatly. Thus, our cancellation policy for peak season or stays of 5 or more days is slightly more detailed than for off season and shorter stays." (Then put in what you want.)

It's a matter of being comprehensive on what you want the policy to do and how it affects your business.
So, here is my question... if they cancel, how long will it take you to rerent the room with certainty?
That's what your policy should cover.
As for wording, something like: Please note that a deposit equal to 25% of the reservation is require for either reservations from the 1st of October through to the 31st of October or reservations of 7 days or more. At all other times, the deposit is $25. Please note that the deposit is non-refundable.

I've been thinking more about this. If you accept really long reservations and book part of the time would the guest who cancelled challenge the non refund - asking for partial refund? Say you are able to re-book 4 nights, 5 remain open of the 9 night original booking. Maybe I am over thinking this and you would probably have to work it out, case by case. But the goal is really to discourage/prevent bookings and cancellations by those you suspect are place holders, right? So maybe you add something about refundable only if able to book the entire stay.

seashanty said:

I've been thinking more about this. If you accept really long reservations and book part of the time would the guest who cancelled challenge the non refund - asking for partial refund? Say you are able to re-book 4 nights, 5 remain open of the 9 night original booking. Maybe I am over thinking this and you would probably have to work it out, case by case. But the goal is really to discourage/prevent bookings and cancellations by those you suspect are place holders, right? So maybe you add something about refundable only if able to book the entire stay..

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Our detailed policy does say that the refund would be pro-rated if we are only partially successful in re-booking the dates. I don't think we have ever had the situation arise, though.

If it is a whole house booking, otherwise the same applies to everyone.
We have to be realistic, we are a lodging establishment, why can't people cancel? Plans change. Stuff happens. This is why guests book hotels so they have more flexibility.
Our guests checked out and told me they are going to two prime B&B locations from here, and I asked if they chose a B&B they said no, they need to adjust their plans as they go (which they did here they added on an additional night). I was about to recommend a couple places, btw, one stop is Lancaster PA.
Peak season should be easy to rebook? Sure maybe not a longer stay, but it is what it is.
I am soooooo not on the same page as most of you here on this. If you have a cancellation policy use the policy, why are you penalizing people for booking a room and having to change it?
This is why I am not wanting to stay at B&B's as much now, that is an honest statement from me, you all won't like it, but it is true. Better way to stay? Stop making the business about you and your needs, make it guest friendly I implore you!

Joey Bloggs said:

If it is a whole house booking, otherwise the same applies to everyone.
We have to be realistic, we are a lodging establishment, why can't people cancel? Plans change. Stuff happens. This is why guests book hotels so they have more flexibility.
Our guests checked out and told me they are going to two prime B&B locations from here, and I asked if they chose a B&B they said no, they need to adjust their plans as they go (which they did here they added on an additional night). I was about to recommend a couple places, btw, one stop is Lancaster PA.
Peak season should be easy to rebook? Sure maybe not a longer stay, but it is what it is.
I am soooooo not on the same page as most of you here on this. If you have a cancellation policy use the policy, why are you penalizing people for booking a room and having to change it?
This is why I am not wanting to stay at B&B's as much now, that is an honest statement from me, you all won't like it, but it is true. Better way to stay? Stop making the business about you and your needs, make it guest friendly I implore you!.

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That is why I have a 48 hour cancel policy. Yes, stuff happens. I am not in a tourist destination so my chances of re-renting are slim & none anyway. As for place-holders, that would probably only happen for WVU football games - and since I do not have a 2-night minimum, IF they are willing to drive the 45 minutes from here to there, they are unlikely to cancel. Now that all the hotels have been built, those happenings are VERY rare.
In addition to the quality of my lodgings and food, I am selling flexibility, hence the 4 AM to 10 AM breakfast times. There are things one CAN offer when they are small that larger facilities absolutely could not.

Joey Bloggs said:

If it is a whole house booking, otherwise the same applies to everyone.
We have to be realistic, we are a lodging establishment, why can't people cancel? Plans change. Stuff happens. This is why guests book hotels so they have more flexibility.
Our guests checked out and told me they are going to two prime B&B locations from here, and I asked if they chose a B&B they said no, they need to adjust their plans as they go (which they did here they added on an additional night). I was about to recommend a couple places, btw, one stop is Lancaster PA.
Peak season should be easy to rebook? Sure maybe not a longer stay, but it is what it is.
I am soooooo not on the same page as most of you here on this. If you have a cancellation policy use the policy, why are you penalizing people for booking a room and having to change it?
This is why I am not wanting to stay at B&B's as much now, that is an honest statement from me, you all won't like it, but it is true. Better way to stay? Stop making the business about you and your needs, make it guest friendly I implore you!.

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I don't charge a deposit. I don't charge cancellation unless it's within 7 days. And the only time I have considered changing this policy was this year when a 7 day reservation cancelled a day in advance. I charged a single day, but lost 2 of the 7 days (someone else did the same to us and we lost 3 of the day.) So basically at the last minute I had to hope to find someone to fill 14 days from my calendar and I managed to lose just 5 of the 14 days. But those two reservations account for 40% of my daily income. This was the first time that we have contemplated changing the policy. Do we change it to 14 days notice? Well, no... that wouldn't have saved us. We currently charge one day or 14.3% (a seventh), so should we charge two days or maybe 25% in hopes that we don't lose money when it's a reservation of 7 days or more?
But for the most part our policy of not taking a deposit and not charging if they give us 7 days notice has worked for us up to this point. People have so far been courteous for the most part with cancelling well in advance. Those who don't get the warning "Please note that we reserve the right to require a non-refundable deposit for all of your future bookings in spite of any indications to the contrary on our website." Which seems to work and hasn't resulted in anyone actually doing it a second time. We also didn't say we would, just that we reserve the right... which seems to make those who do play this game of cancellation find somewhere else to play these games.
I see nothing wrong with not charging a deposit.

Joey Bloggs said:

If it is a whole house booking, otherwise the same applies to everyone.
We have to be realistic, we are a lodging establishment, why can't people cancel? Plans change. Stuff happens. This is why guests book hotels so they have more flexibility.
Our guests checked out and told me they are going to two prime B&B locations from here, and I asked if they chose a B&B they said no, they need to adjust their plans as they go (which they did here they added on an additional night). I was about to recommend a couple places, btw, one stop is Lancaster PA.
Peak season should be easy to rebook? Sure maybe not a longer stay, but it is what it is.
I am soooooo not on the same page as most of you here on this. If you have a cancellation policy use the policy, why are you penalizing people for booking a room and having to change it?
This is why I am not wanting to stay at B&B's as much now, that is an honest statement from me, you all won't like it, but it is true. Better way to stay? Stop making the business about you and your needs, make it guest friendly I implore you!.

Click to expand...

We have a typical cancellation policy like everyone in our area. However, this isn't about the typical reservations -- we are consistently getting huge reservations $2,000 to $3,000 that are holding the room for peak foliage season because they know that they have to book early to get good places and then they will make up their mind as they get closer because they're only losing the $25 cancellation fee. I have a family to feed so I have to find a way to weed out these ones.
Also, this creates an issue when I've made the room nights around it bookable for just one night stays perhaps on either end to fill in and then they cancel close to their long stay. So I might wind up filling the rooms or some of them, but I will instead of having 2 or 3 night reservations I may have to take a bunch of 1 night reservations which is killer for any innkeeper during peak season.
It's OK you don't agree, no problem. But I'm going to come up with some plan for peak season that weeds out these guests holding my best rooms for huge amounts of money each year -- it's too stressful to lose $3K at once and hope you have to refill it with people who didn't plan ahead like most guests do coming to our area.

MtnKeeper said:

Joey Bloggs said:

If it is a whole house booking, otherwise the same applies to everyone.
We have to be realistic, we are a lodging establishment, why can't people cancel? Plans change. Stuff happens. This is why guests book hotels so they have more flexibility.
Our guests checked out and told me they are going to two prime B&B locations from here, and I asked if they chose a B&B they said no, they need to adjust their plans as they go (which they did here they added on an additional night). I was about to recommend a couple places, btw, one stop is Lancaster PA.
Peak season should be easy to rebook? Sure maybe not a longer stay, but it is what it is.
I am soooooo not on the same page as most of you here on this. If you have a cancellation policy use the policy, why are you penalizing people for booking a room and having to change it?
This is why I am not wanting to stay at B&B's as much now, that is an honest statement from me, you all won't like it, but it is true. Better way to stay? Stop making the business about you and your needs, make it guest friendly I implore you!.

Click to expand...

We have a typical cancellation policy like everyone in our area. However, this isn't about the typical reservations -- we are consistently getting huge reservations $2,000 to $3,000 that are holding the room for peak foliage season because they know that they have to book early to get good places and then they will make up their mind as they get closer because they're only losing the $25 cancellation fee. I have a family to feed so I have to find a way to weed out these ones.
Also, this creates an issue when I've made the room nights around it bookable for just one night stays perhaps on either end to fill in and then they cancel close to their long stay. So I might wind up filling the rooms or some of them, but I will instead of having 2 or 3 night reservations I may have to take a bunch of 1 night reservations which is killer for any innkeeper during peak season.
It's OK you don't agree, no problem. But I'm going to come up with some plan for peak season that weeds out these guests holding my best rooms for huge amounts of money each year -- it's too stressful to lose $3K at once and hope you have to refill it with people who didn't plan ahead like most guests do coming to our area.
.

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Simply vary your cancellation fee as a percentage of the reservation or deposit for that period and that period only. If you can sell the nights no matter what, then set the number of days notice based on how long it will take to hypothetically take to resell those rooms. And voila, problem essentially solved without having to inconvenience other good customers.

MtnKeeper said:

Joey Bloggs said:

If it is a whole house booking, otherwise the same applies to everyone.
We have to be realistic, we are a lodging establishment, why can't people cancel? Plans change. Stuff happens. This is why guests book hotels so they have more flexibility.
Our guests checked out and told me they are going to two prime B&B locations from here, and I asked if they chose a B&B they said no, they need to adjust their plans as they go (which they did here they added on an additional night). I was about to recommend a couple places, btw, one stop is Lancaster PA.
Peak season should be easy to rebook? Sure maybe not a longer stay, but it is what it is.
I am soooooo not on the same page as most of you here on this. If you have a cancellation policy use the policy, why are you penalizing people for booking a room and having to change it?
This is why I am not wanting to stay at B&B's as much now, that is an honest statement from me, you all won't like it, but it is true. Better way to stay? Stop making the business about you and your needs, make it guest friendly I implore you!.

Click to expand...

We have a typical cancellation policy like everyone in our area. However, this isn't about the typical reservations -- we are consistently getting huge reservations $2,000 to $3,000 that are holding the room for peak foliage season because they know that they have to book early to get good places and then they will make up their mind as they get closer because they're only losing the $25 cancellation fee. I have a family to feed so I have to find a way to weed out these ones.
Also, this creates an issue when I've made the room nights around it bookable for just one night stays perhaps on either end to fill in and then they cancel close to their long stay. So I might wind up filling the rooms or some of them, but I will instead of having 2 or 3 night reservations I may have to take a bunch of 1 night reservations which is killer for any innkeeper during peak season.
It's OK you don't agree, no problem. But I'm going to come up with some plan for peak season that weeds out these guests holding my best rooms for huge amounts of money each year -- it's too stressful to lose $3K at once and hope you have to refill it with people who didn't plan ahead like most guests do coming to our area.
.

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We had 2 guests who consistently cancelled 7 days prior to arrival after holding the room for 51 weeks. We fired them. Told them they had to wait until one month prior to book the room. They never came back. It's OK.
We're too small to have the same policies as a hotel. They lose 1 room and it's 1% or less of their revenue. Here it's 15%. And a lot of work rebooking. It's rare that we get one other guest willing to take the same time frame.
As it gets closer we also play the money game. Reduce the rate or the minimum stay to get someone in to finish up the season on a strong note. And deal with a series of one nighters.
I just took my 2 night min off for this weekend and got 2 one nighters immediately. More work, but that's what happens.

Jon Sable said:

MtnKeeper said:

Joey Bloggs said:

If it is a whole house booking, otherwise the same applies to everyone.
We have to be realistic, we are a lodging establishment, why can't people cancel? Plans change. Stuff happens. This is why guests book hotels so they have more flexibility.
Our guests checked out and told me they are going to two prime B&B locations from here, and I asked if they chose a B&B they said no, they need to adjust their plans as they go (which they did here they added on an additional night). I was about to recommend a couple places, btw, one stop is Lancaster PA.
Peak season should be easy to rebook? Sure maybe not a longer stay, but it is what it is.
I am soooooo not on the same page as most of you here on this. If you have a cancellation policy use the policy, why are you penalizing people for booking a room and having to change it?
This is why I am not wanting to stay at B&B's as much now, that is an honest statement from me, you all won't like it, but it is true. Better way to stay? Stop making the business about you and your needs, make it guest friendly I implore you!.

Click to expand...

We have a typical cancellation policy like everyone in our area. However, this isn't about the typical reservations -- we are consistently getting huge reservations $2,000 to $3,000 that are holding the room for peak foliage season because they know that they have to book early to get good places and then they will make up their mind as they get closer because they're only losing the $25 cancellation fee. I have a family to feed so I have to find a way to weed out these ones.
Also, this creates an issue when I've made the room nights around it bookable for just one night stays perhaps on either end to fill in and then they cancel close to their long stay. So I might wind up filling the rooms or some of them, but I will instead of having 2 or 3 night reservations I may have to take a bunch of 1 night reservations which is killer for any innkeeper during peak season.
It's OK you don't agree, no problem. But I'm going to come up with some plan for peak season that weeds out these guests holding my best rooms for huge amounts of money each year -- it's too stressful to lose $3K at once and hope you have to refill it with people who didn't plan ahead like most guests do coming to our area.
.

Click to expand...

Simply vary your cancellation fee as a percentage of the reservation or deposit for that period and that period only. If you can sell the nights no matter what, then set the number of days notice based on how long it will take to hypothetically take to resell those rooms. And voila, problem essentially solved without having to inconvenience other good customers.
.

Click to expand...

Jon Sable said:

Simply vary your cancellation fee as a percentage of the reservation or deposit for that period and that period only. If you can sell the nights no matter what, then set the number of days notice based on how long it will take to hypothetically take to resell those rooms. And voila, problem essentially solved without having to inconvenience other good customers.

Click to expand...

This is a very good solution to the issue presented.

In general, location plays a big part in what type of cancellation policy should be used. Those that are in a very touristy destination are usually not hit as hard on cancellations as those who are not.
I'm in an what I would call an overflow type area when it comes to events. People book here because rates are sky high IN the city.
Sometimes I am a place hold while they search for something affordable in or closer to the event.
We have found that the closer to the event, less and less calls come in making rebooking almost impossible. I have tried several different tactics throughout the years never finding anything to be the best laid plan.

I booked at a hotel and had to cancel. No refund. Not a b&b or inn, a hotel.
I also booked a round trip flight on jetblue and had to cancel. No refund.
Round trip ferry reservations and had to cancel those as well. No refund but I can use the tickets within a certain time frame.
The response to me from the hotel and jetblue was that I should have bought trip insurance. Big mistake on my part.
My son reserved a venue for a wedding reception - over a year away. $1500 deposit. Within a month they had to change the date and no refund, not even if they switched dates at that venue. That place is booked solid and they immediately found a new couple wanting the date and time. I know it's not a hotel or b&b but the penalty was staggering. Not refunded because the venue was able to rebook. the place had done nothing but take their info and their deposit.
I had a much more lenient policy for shorter stays at my b&b - and it was a much smaller cancellation window. I could often get a walk-in for one night on a Friday or Saturday - sometimes both nights, the rest of the week, no.
For me, for a whole house booking or a long stay - that would have a huge impact on me and those rooms would go begging if people were to cancel that kind of booking.
I see this as wanting to discourage place holders for big bookings or long stays. I see nothing wrong with that. You can always make exceptions case by case for someone who cancels if you choose.
I had a local innkeeper with a small place come crying to me (literally) when her one booking of all three of her rooms was a no show. She kept thinking something happened to them and they would show up. Finally chased them down on what would have been the 3rd night of their 4 night stay. They'd found someplace they liked better, that was all. And she turned away so many reservations as it was during the lobster festival in a nearby town. She had no deposit, nothing. Maybe her out of the way location was the problem - it was lovely but it also made walk-ins rare.
Maybe it hardened me. It totally hardened her.

and JB has a point, too -

I'm kind of confused here because of some of your responses of non-refundable at time of booking. Wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago a newbie got roasted over the coals for doing just that?