Online bookings

[Lea Ann]

Anyone else experienced getting an email for a reservation and then 5 minutes later getting a cancellation? We have gotten a few of these over the last several weeks.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

yep. not sure why.

 

[Lee2014]

Is this on your website, OTA, Air, etc?

 

[Joey Camb]

its people continuing to shop around - book something then see something cheaper
What is also becoming a phenomenon is people book somewhere with say 48 hours free cancellation - then wait till 60 hours to go, look online to see if places with rooms have dropped their prices then cancel and re-book at a cheaper price in same venue or different one (we call it place holding) we have had couples do it in reverse to us ie booked Holi da y in n - waited till the last minute and then start shopping around again.

 

[Morticia]

its people continuing to shop around - book something then see something cheaper
What is also becoming a phenomenon is people book somewhere with say 48 hours free cancellation - then wait till 60 hours to go, look online to see if places with rooms have dropped their prices then cancel and re-book at a cheaper price in same venue or different one (we call it place holding) we have had couples do it in reverse to us ie booked Holi da y in n - waited till the last minute and then start shopping around again..

This is one reason we started talking deposits. If someone wants to play games, then I'm making money on it. Those place holders dropped off a lot when the fee went into effect.
But who has time to book and cancel in 5 minutes? Maybe it's really hard to find rooms right now.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Similar but a little OT, we got a call last night asking if we had rooms. Yes, we had two, described them and he said he was close by and would be right over. Never showed.
I was annoyed that our evening had been disrupted for nothing and DH was fine with it saying, heck, we're here, what difference does it make? (That's why he is the innkeeper and I'm the office worker.)

 

[Morticia]

Similar but a little OT, we got a call last night asking if we had rooms. Yes, we had two, described them and he said he was close by and would be right over. Never showed.
I was annoyed that our evening had been disrupted for nothing and DH was fine with it saying, heck, we're here, what difference does it make? (That's why he is the innkeeper and I'm the office worker.).

Without a credit card just go back to your lives citizens, there's nothing to see here.
We actually had one that did show up last night! Surprise!

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Similar but a little OT, we got a call last night asking if we had rooms. Yes, we had two, described them and he said he was close by and would be right over. Never showed.
I was annoyed that our evening had been disrupted for nothing and DH was fine with it saying, heck, we're here, what difference does it make? (That's why he is the innkeeper and I'm the office worker.).

Without a credit card just go back to your lives citizens, there's nothing to see here.
We actually had one that did show up last night! Surprise!
.

Without a credit card just go back to your lives citizens, there's nothing to see here.
We actually had one that did show up last night! Surprise!

Yes, but you can't just get in your jammies when you're expecting the doorbell. But whatever, our November close is only 4 weeks away! (open all winter, but closed for repairs in Nov.)

 

[Anon Inn]

Similar but a little OT, we got a call last night asking if we had rooms. Yes, we had two, described them and he said he was close by and would be right over. Never showed.
I was annoyed that our evening had been disrupted for nothing and DH was fine with it saying, heck, we're here, what difference does it make? (That's why he is the innkeeper and I'm the office worker.).

Without a credit card just go back to your lives citizens, there's nothing to see here.
We actually had one that did show up last night! Surprise!
.

Us too. Referred from local resort. Very nice folks.
I learned the 'need the credit card to hold the room' trick here. Amazing how well it works

 

[Generic]

Similar but a little OT, we got a call last night asking if we had rooms. Yes, we had two, described them and he said he was close by and would be right over. Never showed.
I was annoyed that our evening had been disrupted for nothing and DH was fine with it saying, heck, we're here, what difference does it make? (That's why he is the innkeeper and I'm the office worker.).

We don't do "shopping," especially the day of. We just say we are full and enjoy the rest of our day. We even told all the OTAs that we don't take anyone past noon, no matter what.
If you do want the room past noon you must be at the door, extremely polite and well dressed and desperate. Because 9 times out of 10 we say that we are full, when people are at the door, even if we aren't.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Similar but a little OT, we got a call last night asking if we had rooms. Yes, we had two, described them and he said he was close by and would be right over. Never showed.
I was annoyed that our evening had been disrupted for nothing and DH was fine with it saying, heck, we're here, what difference does it make? (That's why he is the innkeeper and I'm the office worker.).

Without a credit card just go back to your lives citizens, there's nothing to see here.
We actually had one that did show up last night! Surprise!
.

Us too. Referred from local resort. Very nice folks.
I learned the 'need the credit card to hold the room' trick here. Amazing how well it works

.

Us too. Referred from local resort. Very nice folks.
I learned the 'need the credit card to hold the room' trick here. Amazing how well it works

Lesson learned. Along with the 'don't make breakfast for the wedding group the day after the wedding until you confirm that they will be here to enjoy it.'

 

[Halfmoonbay]

Sometimes they request we hold their reservation and then do not want to commit, so we won't hold any now. Any reservation that has come through online is a reservation, we haven't seen many cancel, but then we charge a small processing fee for cancelling, so it may be in regards to that.

 

[Generic]

Sometimes they request we hold their reservation and then do not want to commit, so we won't hold any now. Any reservation that has come through online is a reservation, we haven't seen many cancel, but then we charge a small processing fee for cancelling, so it may be in regards to that..

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.

 

[Halfmoonbay]

Sometimes they request we hold their reservation and then do not want to commit, so we won't hold any now. Any reservation that has come through online is a reservation, we haven't seen many cancel, but then we charge a small processing fee for cancelling, so it may be in regards to that..

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.
.

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.

We learned the lesson the hard way a couple years back on holding rooms and then someone else comes along and want to reserve it. 10 minutes is never what they do anyway, they want a 24 hour hold or something. Once I was visiting NewYork and was told "get in line when you are ready to order"

 

[Lea Ann]

Is this on your website, OTA, Air, etc?.

No, it's not listed on our site.

 

[Lea Ann]

Sometimes they request we hold their reservation and then do not want to commit, so we won't hold any now. Any reservation that has come through online is a reservation, we haven't seen many cancel, but then we charge a small processing fee for cancelling, so it may be in regards to that..

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.
.

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.

We learned the lesson the hard way a couple years back on holding rooms and then someone else comes along and want to reserve it. 10 minutes is never what they do anyway, they want a 24 hour hold or something. Once I was visiting NewYork and was told "get in line when you are ready to order"
.

W aren't holding anything. We get an email saying we have a reservation and almost immediately we get an email with a cancellation.

 

[Morticia]

Sometimes they request we hold their reservation and then do not want to commit, so we won't hold any now. Any reservation that has come through online is a reservation, we haven't seen many cancel, but then we charge a small processing fee for cancelling, so it may be in regards to that..

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.
.

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.

We learned the lesson the hard way a couple years back on holding rooms and then someone else comes along and want to reserve it. 10 minutes is never what they do anyway, they want a 24 hour hold or something. Once I was visiting NewYork and was told "get in line when you are ready to order"
.

W aren't holding anything. We get an email saying we have a reservation and almost immediately we get an email with a cancellation.
.

W aren't holding anything. We get an email saying we have a reservation and almost immediately we get an email with a cancellation.

Are these coming thru your own booking engine or a third party? Just wondering if you're being spammed somehow.

 

[Lea Ann]

Sometimes they request we hold their reservation and then do not want to commit, so we won't hold any now. Any reservation that has come through online is a reservation, we haven't seen many cancel, but then we charge a small processing fee for cancelling, so it may be in regards to that..

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.
.

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.

We learned the lesson the hard way a couple years back on holding rooms and then someone else comes along and want to reserve it. 10 minutes is never what they do anyway, they want a 24 hour hold or something. Once I was visiting NewYork and was told "get in line when you are ready to order"
.

W aren't holding anything. We get an email saying we have a reservation and almost immediately we get an email with a cancellation.
.

W aren't holding anything. We get an email saying we have a reservation and almost immediately we get an email with a cancellation.

Are these coming thru your own booking engine or a third party? Just wondering if you're being spammed somehow.
.

They are coming from boo king.

 

[Morticia]

Sometimes they request we hold their reservation and then do not want to commit, so we won't hold any now. Any reservation that has come through online is a reservation, we haven't seen many cancel, but then we charge a small processing fee for cancelling, so it may be in regards to that..

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.
.

I won't even hold a reservation for 10 minutes! If you want it, reserve it. If you want to wait, that's fine, but I'm not holding it. The world is in real time.

We learned the lesson the hard way a couple years back on holding rooms and then someone else comes along and want to reserve it. 10 minutes is never what they do anyway, they want a 24 hour hold or something. Once I was visiting NewYork and was told "get in line when you are ready to order"
.

W aren't holding anything. We get an email saying we have a reservation and almost immediately we get an email with a cancellation.
.

W aren't holding anything. We get an email saying we have a reservation and almost immediately we get an email with a cancellation.

Are these coming thru your own booking engine or a third party? Just wondering if you're being spammed somehow.
.

They are coming from boo king.
.

They are coming from boo king.

OK, that is interesting. Do you have a cancellation policy on booking that charges the guest for cancellations? That might slow this down a bit.