Just wondering. Why would you not take deposits and leave people the option to cancel? If they have been charged a non refundable deposit, they will not cancel. If they do, they already know they are out the money. I started this about 3 months ago and it is a lot better than before when I was not charging a deposit. If they don't want to pay the deposit, then they are most likely making sure they have an out if they need it. This leaves you scrambling at the last min to try and book the room they just canceled. Also if they have not agreed to your terms by accepting your policies ( Not just by phone conversations but by documentation that you can prove came from them.) Then if they cancel and you charge their card and they dispute it. The credit card company will give the money back to the customer 100% off the time. You might not get a lot of this happening to you now. But with the way the economy is right now if people have a way to get their money back from you they will. If you are bringing in $200.000.00 a year and 10% cancel last min and you can not rebook the room do the math. This was happening to me until I fixed the problem..
Bob...
To be honest, we get very few cancellations at all. And most of the cancellations we get are far in advance and we can rebook them, easily. (In other words, the considerate).
It's the people who hold out for the 8th day that are problematic... and those are almost exclusively from our southern neighbour. That is why I decided to warn her that we reserve the right in the future... because from my perspective, she's a flake and doesn't understand or respect my business.
How do I say this nicely... 1/3rd of my clients are from the this one particular country but almost every single cancellation that I have had in the last year are also from this country. So, how do I not penalize my other 2/3rd of my clients for the bad behaviour on the part of 15 guests all of which come from one particular country. Or do you think I should have a deposit policy that says "no deposit unless you are from ______." That doesn't look good, either.
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I would just charge everyone a deposit. I would not leave myself open for problems even if it is just a few a year. I think by doing that you will not have those people from that county not book. It will weed out those type of people so to speak. What is your reason for not wanted to charge a deposit?
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A few reasons...
Some of my guests prefer to pay cash and not use a credit card. Some have Interac (our national debit card system) and borrow a CC to make and guarantee their reservation.
People feel more at ease when they don't have to put down a deposit. I certainly do, when I travel.
My competition for the most part also doesn't charge a deposit.
It's not an all around problem. It's a limited problem. For the most part it's really not a problem and as I said 95% of my clients are respectful. It's when they aren't that I have a problem.
Look, I'm also not comfortable with processing charges when people aren't here. It's harder when you deal with a lot of International guests. It's just so much easier when they have their chip&pin card here.
Some people also travel with special cards when they travel. I do. I have a debit card denominated in Euro and a credit card denominated in USD. My Aussie/NZ guests often have special debit cards in CAD or USD that they use when they travel.
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