But why can't I just move my reservation?

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Don Draper

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Gal who has been booked for next weekend since March called this morning to "change" her reservation. I explained that our cancellation policy is 14 days, so since she is only giving us 8 days notice she will lose her deposit unless we are able to re-book the room. I also told her there's a good chance we WILL re-book it, given that it's a weekend.
She asks "But can't I just change it to a different date, in September?" Yes, you can make a reservation for September today if you like, but it will require a new deposit. If we are able to re-book your room for next weekend I can also apply that deposit to a future stay if you like, but I won't know until next weekend if we've resold it or not. "Well, I guess if we are going to lose the money anyway I will just cancel it, but I don't understand why we can't just move it."
*sigh* That weekend has been sold out for over a month, we've been turning folks away for that weekend because we were all booked. That is why we have a 14 day cancellation policy...I guess in her mind she wasn't cancelling, she was "moving" the reservation.
Is there something I could have said that would have explained it better? She still sounded confused when I hung up. Bottom line, we probably will re-book it, but now I doubt she will move the reservation. I wish people would read their confirmations!
 
Perhaps you could have pointed out that June 27 will not be found to exist in September. The calendar does not move.
 
Yeah...don'tcha just love that? Why don't people get it? I just had one myself. She wasn't 'cancelling' for this weekend, she just wanted to move her reservation to another date....and couldn't understand why she should forfeit 50% of her stay since it wasn't a "cancellation".
The outcome of it was that I charged her for the full amount with the understanding that she could pick another time within the next 30 days at no additional charge. No Holidays.
It worked out for us because she chose 2 days midweek rather than the weekend. The downside is now we have an empty room this weekend with no prayer of rebooking it since it is supposed to rain straight for the next 4 days....(grumble). This weather is killing us.
 
I try to be flexible, but we are at 90-95% occupancy and 100% on weekends, so she is taking money out of our pocket if I let her move without penalty.
 
Not going to help, but we allow guests to change a date without penalty. But we are nowhere near 100% occ!
 
If you're confident you'll rebook why not just move her deposit and reservation to the September date which would keep her happy. Then if/when you get a booking for this weekend not only will you still have the room sold but you'll also have her for September. The thing is yes, you'll have the deposit now if nobody books, but if chances are she's not going to come in September because you ticked her off then you just lost the rest of the reservation.
 
For any newbies or aspiring I hope you read what Innsider wrote - that is an old trick they will try to get out of a cancellation fee. We have had them do that here and I had moved them since it was not a booked time period, then they cancel WITHIN the cancellation period. BEWARE!
 
Don't move bookings. The reservation they made was NOT OPEN ENDED, it was for the date THEY CHOSE. That is the AGREEMENT they made with you. They agreed to abide by those policies.
Can you imagine pulling that with an airline or hotel? Uh we can't make it this weekend, let's just make it for Sept. NO WAY!
 
If you're confident you'll rebook why not just move her deposit and reservation to the September date which would keep her happy. Then if/when you get a booking for this weekend not only will you still have the room sold but you'll also have her for September. The thing is yes, you'll have the deposit now if nobody books, but if chances are she's not going to come in September because you ticked her off then you just lost the rest of the reservation..
Exactly what Junie said below...our reservations are NOT open-ended. When you make a reservation with us you are basically signing a contract...we agree not to accept another booking for the room you chose, and you agree to come on your selected dates. We do not oversell rooms like hotels do.
I am confident that we will re-sell, but nothing is 100%. Honestly, on further reflection I guess I'm not all that worried about "keeping her happy"...she certainly wasn't worried about keeping me happy! If we resell I will give her the option to move her full deposit, or receive a refund less the $25 processing fee. We've just found that if they try this once and you give them any kind of wiggle room, they'll try it (or something worse) again.
 
Not going to help, but we allow guests to change a date without penalty. But we are nowhere near 100% occ!.
Even if they were checking in tomorrow night...would you let them move it without penalty? Just curious.
 
Don't move bookings. The reservation they made was NOT OPEN ENDED, it was for the date THEY CHOSE. That is the AGREEMENT they made with you. They agreed to abide by those policies.
Can you imagine pulling that with an airline or hotel? Uh we can't make it this weekend, let's just make it for Sept. NO WAY!.
She could charge a fee to move the reservation then, like the airlines do if you make changes to your ticket. Say a $50 'transfer' fee.
 
Sometimes it’s not a matter of explaining. More a matter if they want to understand it.
You could tell them sorry no rebooking. It’s considered a cancellation and a new booking according to your cancellation policy.
 
Not going to help, but we allow guests to change a date without penalty. But we are nowhere near 100% occ!.
Even if they were checking in tomorrow night...would you let them move it without penalty? Just curious.
.
InnsiderInfo said:
Even if they were checking in tomorrow night...would you let them move it without penalty? Just curious.
Yes. Mostly because allowing the transfer of the date saves me the aggro of charging them for the cancellation and dealing with the hassles involved in having guests screaming at me on the phone. I don't need that. And this compromise works for us. If you already have their money, then I wouldn't worry about it.
BUT, I don't EVER even approach your occupancy, so it's a different ballgame here. There are enough rooms available in this town that a guest could come here for the next 20 years and never stay in the same place twice. If I get burned by the policies I learn not to trust THAT guest again. So far it has worked out for us to do it this way.
NOW, if they call to cancel and don't want to rebook at all, that's another matter. I haven't had the 'change the date and then cancel again without penalty' problem. Most guests really just need to come a different weekend and we don't have big events here that are booked a year in advance, either. No festivals, no NASCAR, no nothing! The ones who are going to play games we're better off without anyway. If they think they pulled a fast one, who cares. There's an express lane to hell for people like that.
wink_smile.gif

 
For any newbies or aspiring I hope you read what Innsider wrote - that is an old trick they will try to get out of a cancellation fee. We have had them do that here and I had moved them since it was not a booked time period, then they cancel WITHIN the cancellation period. BEWARE!.
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
 
Not going to help, but we allow guests to change a date without penalty. But we are nowhere near 100% occ!.
Even if they were checking in tomorrow night...would you let them move it without penalty? Just curious.
.
InnsiderInfo said:
Even if they were checking in tomorrow night...would you let them move it without penalty? Just curious.
Yes. Mostly because allowing the transfer of the date saves me the aggro of charging them for the cancellation and dealing with the hassles involved in having guests screaming at me on the phone. I don't need that. And this compromise works for us. If you already have their money, then I wouldn't worry about it.
BUT, I don't EVER even approach your occupancy, so it's a different ballgame here. There are enough rooms available in this town that a guest could come here for the next 20 years and never stay in the same place twice. If I get burned by the policies I learn not to trust THAT guest again. So far it has worked out for us to do it this way.
NOW, if they call to cancel and don't want to rebook at all, that's another matter. I haven't had the 'change the date and then cancel again without penalty' problem. Most guests really just need to come a different weekend and we don't have big events here that are booked a year in advance, either. No festivals, no NASCAR, no nothing! The ones who are going to play games we're better off without anyway. If they think they pulled a fast one, who cares. There's an express lane to hell for people like that.
wink_smile.gif

.
Thanks for explaining that Bree. When we are in our slower times, I can be more flexible. I hate to charge anyone when they can't stay, but it's a fact we have to deal with during the busy season.
 
For any newbies or aspiring I hope you read what Innsider wrote - that is an old trick they will try to get out of a cancellation fee. We have had them do that here and I had moved them since it was not a booked time period, then they cancel WITHIN the cancellation period. BEWARE!.
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
.
I understand your point MrDesign, but at this point we are as busy as we possibly can be, so it's to the point that there's actually competition (if you will) to "get" to stay here on a weekend.
I don't expect guests to keep me happy, but I certainly expect them to respect me, my house, and my policies. This person couldn't even be bothered to read the policies, let alone respect them.
 
For any newbies or aspiring I hope you read what Innsider wrote - that is an old trick they will try to get out of a cancellation fee. We have had them do that here and I had moved them since it was not a booked time period, then they cancel WITHIN the cancellation period. BEWARE!.
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
.
Mr.Design said:
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
What about this, just tossing this into the mix, what about issuing a GC for the entire stay and letting her pick the next date she wants to book using the GC (our GC's say same policies apply so there is no funny business). You take her money, she has a gc for any time in the future.
Agreed about the hotel, this is why so many book hotels over BnB's, I do it if I am on the road, they allow cancellation up to 4pm ON THE DAY for the most part. Unless you book a hotels.com or something where they charge in full so you can get the discount, and NO cancellation period at all.
 
For any newbies or aspiring I hope you read what Innsider wrote - that is an old trick they will try to get out of a cancellation fee. We have had them do that here and I had moved them since it was not a booked time period, then they cancel WITHIN the cancellation period. BEWARE!.
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
.
Mr.Design said:
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
What about this, just tossing this into the mix, what about issuing a GC for the entire stay and letting her pick the next date she wants to book using the GC (our GC's say same policies apply so there is no funny business). You take her money, she has a gc for any time in the future.
Agreed about the hotel, this is why so many book hotels over BnB's, I do it if I am on the road, they allow cancellation up to 4pm ON THE DAY for the most part. Unless you book a hotels.com or something where they charge in full so you can get the discount, and NO cancellation period at all.
.
Joe Bloggs said:
Mr.Design said:
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
What about this, just tossing this into the mix, what about issuing a GC for the entire stay and letting her pick the next date she wants to book using the GC (our GC's say same policies apply so there is no funny business). You take her money, she has a gc for any time in the future.
I go over and over on this one and can't make up my mind. Sometimes I think it's a good solution and other times I think not. I guess I don't want all those GC's hanging around out there and because they're paid for they'd be on the books forever. Maybe. Then again, we don't do deposits so I don't have the guest's money before I offer that option.
But, in this case it would work out to the same thing she doesn't want to do...the GC would be for the next visit so where's the difference between doing that and just letting them change the rez now?
 
For any newbies or aspiring I hope you read what Innsider wrote - that is an old trick they will try to get out of a cancellation fee. We have had them do that here and I had moved them since it was not a booked time period, then they cancel WITHIN the cancellation period. BEWARE!.
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
.
Mr.Design said:
Then make them aware if they try that they won't get their deposit back.
As for a hotel, many you can cancel up to 24 hours before you arrive.
And Innsider, I hate to say it but it's not her job to keep you happy, it's yours to keep her happy.
What about this, just tossing this into the mix, what about issuing a GC for the entire stay and letting her pick the next date she wants to book using the GC (our GC's say same policies apply so there is no funny business). You take her money, she has a gc for any time in the future.
Agreed about the hotel, this is why so many book hotels over BnB's, I do it if I am on the road, they allow cancellation up to 4pm ON THE DAY for the most part. Unless you book a hotels.com or something where they charge in full so you can get the discount, and NO cancellation period at all.
.
Joe Bloggs said:
What about this, just tossing this into the mix, what about issuing a GC for the entire stay and letting her pick the next date she wants to book using the GC (our GC's say same policies apply so there is no funny business). You take her money, she has a gc for any time in the future.
The problem is she'll do it again with the GC.She'll book and change. Does not solve the problem.
Riki
 
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