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'We have six months to make up our minds...'

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Posted on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 4:15pm
Morticia
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Beating head against wall. Guest reserved 4 rooms for an event weekend. Then they called and wanted another room. We added the one they wanted. Then they reserved another online. I called to find out if they really wanted 6 rooms. Oh no, only 4. Well, which 4 would work for you? 'We have 6 months to decide don't we?' Um, no. There are other people who want to reserve rooms for that event, too.

Guest kept saying how they knew so many people who were looking for rooms but they didn't see where their holding 6 rooms when they only wanted 4 was a big deal.

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This comment (215832) was in reply to the Original Topic on Wed, 10/16/2019 - 9:34am
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ChrisandShelley
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In January of each year, we take a $100 deposit for all festival and holiday weekend reservations. This deposit is non-refundable (although we have made the occasional exception) and secures the reservation. It also provides a little extra income in the winter.

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This comment (215719) was in reply to the Original Topic on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 4:14am
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Highlands John
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In this situation I take a non-refundable deposit per room and tell them any rooms for which they haven't paid a deposit for will be freed up for others to book in 3 days. 

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This comment (215715) was in reply to the Original Topic on Mon, 10/07/2019 - 6:23pm
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Tom
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We've done ok with a 10-day except for certain BIG events when people start banking rooms before they figure out what they need.  Local U graduation became a real drag.  Sure, "we'll book the whole inn, lovely home, blah, blah", then it turns out Aunt X got a Vrbo for her family, Uncle Y is having his stent replaced, and the kid isn't graduating this year anyway.  True that last one: all the plans were made and kid didn't have the courage to give dad the bad news -- it arrived by mail from the U.  I even had a mom cancel last minute saying she couldn't attend because she had had an emergency hysterectomy; I called her back that weekend and it was obvious she was in town, in a bar.

So for graduation, and probably Olympic trials next summer, we have a special policy: reserve, send me a check with the reservation number and "non-refundable" in memo, dated Jan 15 (so income will appear in year of service).  You can change your mind before that date; then I cash the check.  People get it when I explain.  I say, tell your child that if he doesn't graduate, he has to reimburse you for the rooms.  That doesn't get much of a laugh, I'm afraid. Probably too close to home.

This comment (215709) was in reply to the Original Topic on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 5:57pm
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Generic
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What's your cancellation policy on events?

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This comment (215711) was in reply to comment 215709 on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 8:40pm
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Morticia
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Generic wrote:

What's your cancellation policy on events?

30 days.

This comment (215713) was in reply to comment 215711 on Mon, 10/07/2019 - 6:29am
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JimBoone
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Don't you just love the way people think. I'd have to go look for details, but seems like I have a line in our policy about "different terms apply when 3 or more rooms are reserved by the same or related parties".

A hotel with a hundred rooms, six rooms may not be a big deal to them, for you and I with only eight rooms, six is 75% of our availability. I don't know for a fact, but bet if I wanted to hold 75 rooms at a 100 room hotel they would expect something more of me than the usual cancellation policies. I think I'd have to send these folks a written contract with some different rules.

We, years ago, used to get youth groups coming skiing, but experience proved they often cancelled at the last minute, group fell apart or weather wasn't ideal, these days I tell them up front that my policies are unreasonable and a large hotel would be a better option.

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This comment (215718) was in reply to comment 215713 on Mon, 10/07/2019 - 7:14pm
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Morticia
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We have a line that states the regular cancellation policy does not apply to group bookings of more than 4 rooms. The group cancellation date is 30 days out.

This comment (215708) was in reply to the Original Topic on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 5:48pm
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Arks
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When big events are involved, common sense goes out the window. Same for small events, and for no event at all.

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This comment (215710) was in reply to comment 215708 on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 8:40pm
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Morticia
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Arks wrote:

When big events are involved, common sense goes out the window. Same for small events, and for no event at all.

Ha ha!

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