I think that people are just so used to the big hotel chains that they think everyone has the same policy. We charge the first night stay as the deposit, or if they are staying a week, half the total. It usually works out pretty well, we only have problems with the last minute credit card holds. And it has happened to us several times that someone shows up to check in and THEN they inform us that they are only staying the one night and do not need the second. It is infuriating. You do want to be nice and accommodating but when you know that you have been turning people away from that room because it was booked, what do you do? Well we usually charge them for it and tell them that we will refund them if we can re-rent it last minute. And sometimes this alone makes them change their mind and decide that now they (miraculously) can stay for the whole length of time..
Renee V said:
I think that people are just so used to the big hotel chains that they think everyone has the same policy. We charge the first night stay as the deposit, or if they are staying a week, half the total. It usually works out pretty well, we only have problems with the last minute credit card holds. And it has happened to us several times that someone shows up to check in and THEN they inform us that they are only staying the one night and do not need the second. It is infuriating. You do want to be nice and accommodating but when you know that you have been turning people away from that room because it was booked, what do you do? Well we usually charge them for it and tell them that we will refund them if we can re-rent it last minute. And sometimes this alone makes them change their mind and decide that now they (miraculously) can stay for the whole length of time.
You do have to be very clear about it in your policies though, don't you?
This is my one beef with Webervations. There is a click box for "I have read your policies", but it does not require the guest to click it before the reservation is passed through. This should be MANDATORY. In other words, you can't have a reservation here UNLESS you agree to our policies.
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PT
IN Webervations, under "Configuration" and then "Custom Messages", just below the box where you enter your policies, there is a little check box that says:
Require the guest to check a box that they have read your Policies?
If you have that box checked, a guest MUST check the box in order to proceed with a reservation. If you don't have it checked, they don't.
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