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Alibi Ike

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I'm wondering if you ask guests why they are cancelling and if you believe what they tell you? This is not someone trying to get their money back on a deposit with a sad story. Just wondering if the guest doesn't have a story do you ask why?
Trying to figure out the 7 cancellations I've had for just this month! I know lots of you say you never have cancellations, but I generally have 100 or so a year. I always wonder if they've just decided to stay somewhere else, in which case I'd like to know why.
 
I typically do not ask under general circumstances - if they don't offer a reason it is left unknown. Do you think that if you ask and they are staying elsewhere that they will tell you and why? I guess some reasons would be interesting to note such as 'others are staying xyz and I want to be there' or 'XYZ is closer to where we are going'. But what if the tell you it is because they got it for $20 or more less? They could be thinking you might be willing to barter.
 
When I do have a cancel - and it really is rare - they usually give a reason but I have yet to get the dead grandmother.
 
I typically do not ask under general circumstances - if they don't offer a reason it is left unknown. Do you think that if you ask and they are staying elsewhere that they will tell you and why? I guess some reasons would be interesting to note such as 'others are staying xyz and I want to be there' or 'XYZ is closer to where we are going'. But what if the tell you it is because they got it for $20 or more less? They could be thinking you might be willing to barter..
I wouldn't worry if it the reason was the price, but I'd like to know that's the reason. 2 of them so far got an offer to stay free with friends. Can't beat free.
 
Most give me a reason, but I'm not sure I always believe them. My guess is that some book a getaway hoping to do some outdoor activity and then watch the weather and decide to cancel if the weather looks bad. Hence, the 10-day cancellation policy. If they cancel because they can't physically get here because of the weather then I accept the cancellation without a fee.
 
We don't ask. If they are canceling last minute a lot of times it's weather-related. For more distant cancellations, it's usually an illness in the family, or these past few years someone lost or changed jobs.
 
I never asked. Usually they offered a reason...job related or illness was the usual reason. Other than that, you all know what my husbands policy was.....keep it simple and don't worry about it!
 
I don't ask. With about 100 cancellations a year, I sure hope you're charging a cancellation fee!
 
I don't ask. With about 100 cancellations a year, I sure hope you're charging a cancellation fee!.
I'd make a small fortune if I did, but I don't. We're testing the waters on the deposit first.
.
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
 
I don't ask. With about 100 cancellations a year, I sure hope you're charging a cancellation fee!.
I'd make a small fortune if I did, but I don't. We're testing the waters on the deposit first.
.
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
.
Breakfast Diva said:
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
Same thing started happening to us. So that's when we implemented the online booking discount and we told everyone, even frequent repeaters, that this was our new system and we now only took online deposits. We also told them that we're no longer storing the cc info (which is true), so that's why we need their cc number every time.
 
I don't ask. With about 100 cancellations a year, I sure hope you're charging a cancellation fee!.
I'd make a small fortune if I did, but I don't. We're testing the waters on the deposit first.
.
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
.
No one has mentioned a problem with it. I'm in the same situation with repeats, no info. However, the last cancellation came in the day before the card would have been charged. I would have run the deposit today, they canceled yesterday. So guests are paying attention to the deadline much more than they did when there was no deposit.
A few guests have asked if I would not charge their credit card as they wanted to pay cash. We'll see how that works out. Everything is a trial this year. In some cases, this is a good thing as these are overseas cards that would have cost a fortune to run without card in hand. I had about 100 reservations already on the books before we decided on the deposit, so they get a grace period this year.
I've had repeats cancel last minute and offer their cc # to me on the phone saying they understand that I don't have it.
 
I don't ask. With about 100 cancellations a year, I sure hope you're charging a cancellation fee!.
I'd make a small fortune if I did, but I don't. We're testing the waters on the deposit first.
.
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
.
Breakfast Diva said:
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
Same thing started happening to us. So that's when we implemented the online booking discount and we told everyone, even frequent repeaters, that this was our new system and we now only took online deposits. We also told them that we're no longer storing the cc info (which is true), so that's why we need their cc number every time.
.
Don Draper said:
We also told them that we're no longer storing the cc info (which is true), so that's why we need their cc number every time.
We've done this a few times with guests we don't know all that well. They think we're lying. I explain the new system and they come back with the same issue I have- all the online stores file their cc info, why don't I? This is mostly because they don't have it in front of them and are mad at themselves.
 
I don't ask. With about 100 cancellations a year, I sure hope you're charging a cancellation fee!.
I'd make a small fortune if I did, but I don't. We're testing the waters on the deposit first.
.
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
.
BD - off topic, but wanted to know how your dinners were going?
 
I don't ask. With about 100 cancellations a year, I sure hope you're charging a cancellation fee!.
I'd make a small fortune if I did, but I don't. We're testing the waters on the deposit first.
.
I think you would have far less cancellations if you did. By the way, how is it going with the deposits? Have any guest had a problem with it yet?
FYI, I used to not do a deposit for repeat guests...after the economy took a dump, a couple repeats over a year period did a last minute cancellationno show and didn't give me proper notice and left me in the lurch. I didn't have their credit card number, so I really lost out. After that, I started taking the deposit for all guests. If I was questioned about it (rarely happened), I would just tell them because of the economy, we needed to do the deposit across the board. Everyone understood.
.
BD - off topic, but wanted to know how your dinners were going?
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suellen222 said:
BD - off topic, but wanted to know how your dinners were going?
Thanks for asking suellen...the dinners are going great! I'm getting more confident making them and they much appreciated by our guests.
 
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