Cancellations... UGH!

[Madeleine]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

If your policy is clear on the no refund for this weekend she has nothing to go on.
You have dealt with her.
The room is your to rent to whomever you want. If someone calls and says she sent them, they get charged like anyone else.
Does she think she could resell a plane ticket she cancelled?
I know this is stressful. You're worried about some stranger showing up and making a scene. I think most of us have been in some kind of situation like this where the confusion and the guest making demands causes lots of worry.
I would stop communicating with her. If she keeps contacting you, return her email with your cancellation policy attached. Once more. Then stop. I'd make sure in that last email that she understands you will not honor any 'reservation' she makes sending someone to take her place. That time limit passed.

 

[gillumhouse]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

We had that happen once early on. Some one cancelled and then, without telling us, when we had not filled the vacancy, sent someone else in their place. We had gone out of town for the day and returned back at the B+B to about 45 frantic telephone calls. Needless to say no one was happy but we did not make the replacements sleep on the street.
Now our cancellation policy clearly states that once a cancellation confirmation email has been sent, all cancellations are FINAL.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.

Do not mean to be judgmental, just making a statement - If I were the guest, I would not have booked with you in the first place with that policy. I could understand a cancellation fee of say $25, especially since you are certain you will be able to resell the room or even the entire deposit IF you cannot re-sell the room. But to keep everything and still re-sell? Sorry, I would be an unhappy camper too.

 

[Madeleine]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

We had that happen once early on. Some one cancelled and then, without telling us, when we had not filled the vacancy, sent someone else in their place. We had gone out of town for the day and returned back at the B+B to about 45 frantic telephone calls. Needless to say no one was happy but we did not make the replacements sleep on the street.
Now our cancellation policy clearly states that once a cancellation confirmation email has been sent, all cancellations are FINAL.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.
.

I think what everyone is missing is the guest knew this policy and booked anyway. Whether it's a good policy, the right policy for the area, whatever. The guest booked, cancelled and was offered a voucher for another stay.
The offended guest cannot now delegate a representative to take her place. That time limit was up a week ago.
The OP can send the voucher and hope to never see the guest in the future but they should not be expected to honor the voucher AND the cancelled reservation.
Whether it would be your policy or my policy is moot. The guest accepted the policy and now doesn't want to pay. Too damn bad.
Yes, I'm having a tough time right now. ;-)

 

[Joey Camb]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

the reason people have policies like this is to stop people like this booking ie you only book with sail's property if you are absolutely certain you are coming - we have the same for 2 events each year to stop people messing me about and altering, cancelling and trying to get round my minimum nights

 

[mak445]

So sorry for you, that's a huge loss. This is why we have a 7 day cancellation policy

 

[windyguest]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

We had that happen once early on. Some one cancelled and then, without telling us, when we had not filled the vacancy, sent someone else in their place. We had gone out of town for the day and returned back at the B+B to about 45 frantic telephone calls. Needless to say no one was happy but we did not make the replacements sleep on the street.
Now our cancellation policy clearly states that once a cancellation confirmation email has been sent, all cancellations are FINAL.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.

Do not mean to be judgmental, just making a statement - If I were the guest, I would not have booked with you in the first place with that policy. I could understand a cancellation fee of say $25, especially since you are certain you will be able to resell the room or even the entire deposit IF you cannot re-sell the room. But to keep everything and still re-sell? Sorry, I would be an unhappy camper too.
.

First of all when you book a room online, the guest has to accept our policy before the reservation can be made, she knew that, and accepted the policy. Second, We get reservations for HWS events months in advance because people know the rooms fill up fast in this town, we are also a tourist town, winerys and weddings on top of the special event. The rule in our policy is that the special event weekends are NON refundable, and that we will give them a gift certificate in the amount of their stay if we can rebook the room, so that they can stay with us another time. (This guest even said in her voicemail, that they were cancelling and would stay next year when her son attended HWS) When we told her on the phone that we would be sending her a gift certificate because the weekend was non refundable, and if we were able to rebook her room, she was very nasty and said she didnt want a gift certificate, she wasnt coming back to this town (so she lied when cancelling). We have already spoken to every B&B in town so we know what the deal is, everyones policy is the same when it comes to special events for HWS, Reselling the room for that weekend is NOT an easy task as most people coming in for that weekend have already booked.(months in advance, and one a year in advance) The room that this guest took , we already turned away 7 other reservations for it, and they have since found rooms elsewhere. our only hope is that maybe someone will be here for a wine tour and book that room. And yes we had every intention of sending her a gift certificate for the room until she used the language she did. threatened us, and said she would sell the room, fine we gave her until Aug. 1, she didnt get anyone to take the room, so the reservation was cancelled and she still had more choice words for us. To begin with when the reservation is taken, all of the fee for the entire stay is usually taken, for whatever reason, only one nights stay was taken, so already she has money in her pocket, (we didnt take the second nights fee, which by our policy we should have), so ontop of that we offered her a gift certificate, so basically unless we re rent the room, we get nothing. we are not working for nothing, and we have rules for a reason, if one person gets away with it, they all will. believe me, these other B&Bs have been in this town for years, so they know what people try to get away with, which is why there is a strict policy for the special event weekends. (Even HWS has it on their website, BOOK YOUR ROOMS EARLY, as they fill up fast...now as it is closer to the event, everyone has already booked their rooms. Im going to end this because im just repeating myself , to sum up, im not asking about our policy, im asking about the woman sending someone else in her place after the room has been cancelled, and Madeleine, thank you, you seem to understand exactly what im talking about. We sent her two emails which clearly state the policy, and she already had them because she agreed to them when she booked, so that makes 3. I wont be bullied into giving a refund when she clearly has already received one by us not taking the second night fee.

 

[windyguest]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

the reason people have policies like this is to stop people like this booking ie you only book with sail's property if you are absolutely certain you are coming - we have the same for 2 events each year to stop people messing me about and altering, cancelling and trying to get round my minimum nights
.

Exactly Joey, we are not taking her money and booking the room, she was only charged half of what she should have been at time of booking, and was offered a gift certificate for that full amount, she told us what we could do with that GC.....our policy for any other stay is different, they get a refund if cancelled within 15 days of their stay minus the credit card fee......all of these things are on the policy they agree to before being able to book a room. I dont feel bad, This woman owns a yoga studio and has policies of her own, so its not like she has no clue. She just wants to get around the policy and its not happening. As i stated before , we STILL plan to send her the voucher for a one night stay, but it will say, non transferable and non exchangeable , and is good for one year.

 

[windyguest]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......

 

[JBloggs]

We're in the people business. We are small B&B's not travelziew. I would be mindful of that, and change my policies, it is extreme to have such a stern policy for a parents weekend at a college when you can surely book it many times over in the following months. My 2 cents worth, I am sorry I am not backing you on this, your first post to the forum, but as you know we try to speak the truth, even when it hurts (us) innkeepers.
It is not worth being called names, losing sleep, getting irritated, upset and troubled by this. Choose your battles...this is one I would never want to fight, too many others.

 

[Madeleine]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

Please use paragraphs. The posts are very long, with no break! Hard to read.

 

[MtnKeeper]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

I'm sorry that I agree with others but with 4 months to fill the room (and knowing that you will refill it due to that being a popular weekend) and the guest getting really upset, I would have refunded her money but I would have worked out a cancellation fee - perhaps double what you usually charge. You certainly would never want an irate guest to show up using the gift certificate at a future date so why even issue her one if you know that you'll fill the room.
With just four days out on a $1000 cancellation, I'm fully within my policy rights to keep the deposit and charge the balance. However, I've already gotten one night rebooked and hope someone takes the others so I can refund money. Then the guest will be happy, I won't be upset about losing money and I'll feel better that I didn't have to charge someone for a stay they didn't have. I realize that we all have policies but in some instances it's so worth adjusting them to avoid the headache and hassle. But I respect your right to do what you like, we all have to run our business as we see fit (I get lots of replies every time I say I won't do late check-ins and appreciate that everyone has to do what they choose).

 

[gillumhouse]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

We had that happen once early on. Some one cancelled and then, without telling us, when we had not filled the vacancy, sent someone else in their place. We had gone out of town for the day and returned back at the B+B to about 45 frantic telephone calls. Needless to say no one was happy but we did not make the replacements sleep on the street.
Now our cancellation policy clearly states that once a cancellation confirmation email has been sent, all cancellations are FINAL.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.

Do not mean to be judgmental, just making a statement - If I were the guest, I would not have booked with you in the first place with that policy. I could understand a cancellation fee of say $25, especially since you are certain you will be able to resell the room or even the entire deposit IF you cannot re-sell the room. But to keep everything and still re-sell? Sorry, I would be an unhappy camper too.
.

First of all when you book a room online, the guest has to accept our policy before the reservation can be made, she knew that, and accepted the policy. Second, We get reservations for HWS events months in advance because people know the rooms fill up fast in this town, we are also a tourist town, winerys and weddings on top of the special event. The rule in our policy is that the special event weekends are NON refundable, and that we will give them a gift certificate in the amount of their stay if we can rebook the room, so that they can stay with us another time. (This guest even said in her voicemail, that they were cancelling and would stay next year when her son attended HWS) When we told her on the phone that we would be sending her a gift certificate because the weekend was non refundable, and if we were able to rebook her room, she was very nasty and said she didnt want a gift certificate, she wasnt coming back to this town (so she lied when cancelling). We have already spoken to every B&B in town so we know what the deal is, everyones policy is the same when it comes to special events for HWS, Reselling the room for that weekend is NOT an easy task as most people coming in for that weekend have already booked.(months in advance, and one a year in advance) The room that this guest took , we already turned away 7 other reservations for it, and they have since found rooms elsewhere. our only hope is that maybe someone will be here for a wine tour and book that room. And yes we had every intention of sending her a gift certificate for the room until she used the language she did. threatened us, and said she would sell the room, fine we gave her until Aug. 1, she didnt get anyone to take the room, so the reservation was cancelled and she still had more choice words for us. To begin with when the reservation is taken, all of the fee for the entire stay is usually taken, for whatever reason, only one nights stay was taken, so already she has money in her pocket, (we didnt take the second nights fee, which by our policy we should have), so ontop of that we offered her a gift certificate, so basically unless we re rent the room, we get nothing. we are not working for nothing, and we have rules for a reason, if one person gets away with it, they all will. believe me, these other B&Bs have been in this town for years, so they know what people try to get away with, which is why there is a strict policy for the special event weekends. (Even HWS has it on their website, BOOK YOUR ROOMS EARLY, as they fill up fast...now as it is closer to the event, everyone has already booked their rooms. Im going to end this because im just repeating myself , to sum up, im not asking about our policy, im asking about the woman sending someone else in her place after the room has been cancelled, and Madeleine, thank you, you seem to understand exactly what im talking about. We sent her two emails which clearly state the policy, and she already had them because she agreed to them when she booked, so that makes 3. I wont be bullied into giving a refund when she clearly has already received one by us not taking the second night fee.
.

I also have only 3 rooms and I am on "Podunk". I understand how badly a cancel hits the revenue stream - BIG TIME. I was just shocked by the non-refund policy, not knowing that is the standard in your town for that festival. It just seemed so harsh and in MY world, WOW! It was the policy I was addressing, not you personally.
However, that said, once the woman dumped on you, all bets were off. She sounds like one of "The ENTITLED" (at least they think they are).
I hope you stick around so we get to know you better and vice-versa.

 

[Generic]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

...If you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours...

Follow the leader, is not a good policy. Set the policy that is more customer friendly and increase the rate if it is going to book no matter what. If your policy reads no cancellation, then she didn't need to call and she could have just let the room sit. You want them to call and cancel and give you a chance to resell and double dip. So maybe 1 night if they cancel more than 30 days out but no gift certificate. And then maybe if they cancel closer they get a gift certificate for up to 50% if you can rebook the room.

 

[windyguest]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

...If you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours...

Follow the leader, is not a good policy. Set the policy that is more customer friendly and increase the rate if it is going to book no matter what. If your policy reads no cancellation, then she didn't need to call and she could have just let the room sit. You want them to call and cancel and give you a chance to resell and double dip. So maybe 1 night if they cancel more than 30 days out but no gift certificate. And then maybe if they cancel closer they get a gift certificate for up to 50% if you can rebook the room.
.

You are correct Jon, she didnt need to call, she did because she wanted her money back, and not the gift certificate she was suppose to get. Our policy works for most people and for the percentage that she represents we dont need her business. This B&B is not our only source of income so we can afford to be choosey.
If she had let the room sit and didnt show, she would have still been charged for being a no show, so whats the point in that when she wanted a full refund? In my opinion by us not charging her for the entire stay to begin with, and offering her a GC for the cancellation is more than fair. she cancelled in May, but we allowed her until August 1 to resell her room, she didnt, we have less than 4 weeks to rent that room and im pretty sure unless we get a walk in, thats NOT going to happen.(anyone who was looking for a room for that weekend has already found one elsewhere, because they know how hard it is to get a room for that weekend) If she werent so disrespectful, she may have persuaded us to give her more, but the way she behaved , she gets nothing.

 

[JBloggs]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

...If you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours...

Follow the leader, is not a good policy. Set the policy that is more customer friendly and increase the rate if it is going to book no matter what. If your policy reads no cancellation, then she didn't need to call and she could have just let the room sit. You want them to call and cancel and give you a chance to resell and double dip. So maybe 1 night if they cancel more than 30 days out but no gift certificate. And then maybe if they cancel closer they get a gift certificate for up to 50% if you can rebook the room.
.

You are correct Jon, she didnt need to call, she did because she wanted her money back, and not the gift certificate she was suppose to get. Our policy works for most people and for the percentage that she represents we dont need her business. This B&B is not our only source of income so we can afford to be choosey.
If she had let the room sit and didnt show, she would have still been charged for being a no show, so whats the point in that when she wanted a full refund? In my opinion by us not charging her for the entire stay to begin with, and offering her a GC for the cancellation is more than fair. she cancelled in May, but we allowed her until August 1 to resell her room, she didnt, we have less than 4 weeks to rent that room and im pretty sure unless we get a walk in, thats NOT going to happen.(anyone who was looking for a room for that weekend has already found one elsewhere, because they know how hard it is to get a room for that weekend) If she werent so disrespectful, she may have persuaded us to give her more, but the way she behaved , she gets nothing.
.

So all of the innkeepers advice here is useless.
When you get tee'd off by something consider an action that may help vs bellyaching. Jus' sayin', we all do it, we all understand how you feel, we really do. If you wanted a hug we are sorry we tried to help or fix things, that is what we always do here, it is in our nature, even when we are not asked for a fix or help.
Carry on...

 

[windyguest]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

I'm sorry that I agree with others but with 4 months to fill the room (and knowing that you will refill it due to that being a popular weekend) and the guest getting really upset, I would have refunded her money but I would have worked out a cancellation fee - perhaps double what you usually charge. You certainly would never want an irate guest to show up using the gift certificate at a future date so why even issue her one if you know that you'll fill the room.
With just four days out on a $1000 cancellation, I'm fully within my policy rights to keep the deposit and charge the balance. However, I've already gotten one night rebooked and hope someone takes the others so I can refund money. Then the guest will be happy, I won't be upset about losing money and I'll feel better that I didn't have to charge someone for a stay they didn't have. I realize that we all have policies but in some instances it's so worth adjusting them to avoid the headache and hassle. But I respect your right to do what you like, we all have to run our business as we see fit (I get lots of replies every time I say I won't do late check-ins and appreciate that everyone has to do what they choose).
.

You have the right to agree or disagree, she cancelled in May, we gave her until August 1 to sell her room to someone else, because that is what SHE wanted. She didnt sell the room, so we cancelled her reservation and set the room as open for booking.
We now have less than 4 weeks to re rent that room, most people have already booked rooms elsewhere, because they know how hard it is to get a room for that weekend. She wasnt charged for the entire weekend when she booked the room, we charged her one night, so basically she already got that money back since we didnt take it to begin with, for the other night we offered a GC, she didnt want it.
So you are saying i should give her back her money for the one night that we did charge her for and we get stuck with an empty room and no money? that makes no sense. I am in NO way upset about losing this woman as a guest, as i said to Jon in my reply, this is not our only business so we can afford to be a bit choosey. rules are rules and they are there for a reason.
just because someone doesnt like the way we do business doesnt mean we need to change, maybe she should change the way she speaks to people and the words she chooses to use. We have had NO complaints except from this woman, and other guests had no issues with our policy, because it makes it easier for them to book rooms when their kids are here for college.

 

[JBloggs]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

I'm sorry that I agree with others but with 4 months to fill the room (and knowing that you will refill it due to that being a popular weekend) and the guest getting really upset, I would have refunded her money but I would have worked out a cancellation fee - perhaps double what you usually charge. You certainly would never want an irate guest to show up using the gift certificate at a future date so why even issue her one if you know that you'll fill the room.
With just four days out on a $1000 cancellation, I'm fully within my policy rights to keep the deposit and charge the balance. However, I've already gotten one night rebooked and hope someone takes the others so I can refund money. Then the guest will be happy, I won't be upset about losing money and I'll feel better that I didn't have to charge someone for a stay they didn't have. I realize that we all have policies but in some instances it's so worth adjusting them to avoid the headache and hassle. But I respect your right to do what you like, we all have to run our business as we see fit (I get lots of replies every time I say I won't do late check-ins and appreciate that everyone has to do what they choose).
.

You have the right to agree or disagree, she cancelled in May, we gave her until August 1 to sell her room to someone else, because that is what SHE wanted. She didnt sell the room, so we cancelled her reservation and set the room as open for booking.
We now have less than 4 weeks to re rent that room, most people have already booked rooms elsewhere, because they know how hard it is to get a room for that weekend. She wasnt charged for the entire weekend when she booked the room, we charged her one night, so basically she already got that money back since we didnt take it to begin with, for the other night we offered a GC, she didnt want it.
So you are saying i should give her back her money for the one night that we did charge her for and we get stuck with an empty room and no money? that makes no sense. I am in NO way upset about losing this woman as a guest, as i said to Jon in my reply, this is not our only business so we can afford to be a bit choosey. rules are rules and they are there for a reason.
just because someone doesnt like the way we do business doesnt mean we need to change, maybe she should change the way she speaks to people and the words she chooses to use. We have had NO complaints except from this woman, and other guests had no issues with our policy, because it makes it easier for them to book rooms when their kids are here for college.
.

I am saying change your policies.
No one is defending her, in any way, she was rude and it was wrong.

 

[windyguest]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

We had that happen once early on. Some one cancelled and then, without telling us, when we had not filled the vacancy, sent someone else in their place. We had gone out of town for the day and returned back at the B+B to about 45 frantic telephone calls. Needless to say no one was happy but we did not make the replacements sleep on the street.
Now our cancellation policy clearly states that once a cancellation confirmation email has been sent, all cancellations are FINAL.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.
.

Oh my, Sorry to hear that, i think we have covered our bases, our website has always clearly stated that any event for hobart william smith is NON refundable, We have sent two emails letting them know the reservation was cancelled. Instead of being grateful that we didnt charge her for the whole weekend, she goes through this rant because she was charged at all (we were being nice at the time and only took one nights fee for her deposit instead of the amount of the entire stay).....if she sends someone else, they will be very disappointed because nobody in this area will have a room, these rooms are booked months in advance for HWS events, I am sure we will have no trouble finding another guest to take the room, and we still plan to send her a gift certificate which i am sure she will immediately throw away, since it will say NON exchangeable and NON transferable, and must be used within one year. I cant imagine that after her display of a child like temper tantrum, she wont want to stay here herself, and since she cant give or sell it to anyone it is basically useless.

Do not mean to be judgmental, just making a statement - If I were the guest, I would not have booked with you in the first place with that policy. I could understand a cancellation fee of say $25, especially since you are certain you will be able to resell the room or even the entire deposit IF you cannot re-sell the room. But to keep everything and still re-sell? Sorry, I would be an unhappy camper too.
.

First of all when you book a room online, the guest has to accept our policy before the reservation can be made, she knew that, and accepted the policy. Second, We get reservations for HWS events months in advance because people know the rooms fill up fast in this town, we are also a tourist town, winerys and weddings on top of the special event. The rule in our policy is that the special event weekends are NON refundable, and that we will give them a gift certificate in the amount of their stay if we can rebook the room, so that they can stay with us another time. (This guest even said in her voicemail, that they were cancelling and would stay next year when her son attended HWS) When we told her on the phone that we would be sending her a gift certificate because the weekend was non refundable, and if we were able to rebook her room, she was very nasty and said she didnt want a gift certificate, she wasnt coming back to this town (so she lied when cancelling). We have already spoken to every B&B in town so we know what the deal is, everyones policy is the same when it comes to special events for HWS, Reselling the room for that weekend is NOT an easy task as most people coming in for that weekend have already booked.(months in advance, and one a year in advance) The room that this guest took , we already turned away 7 other reservations for it, and they have since found rooms elsewhere. our only hope is that maybe someone will be here for a wine tour and book that room. And yes we had every intention of sending her a gift certificate for the room until she used the language she did. threatened us, and said she would sell the room, fine we gave her until Aug. 1, she didnt get anyone to take the room, so the reservation was cancelled and she still had more choice words for us. To begin with when the reservation is taken, all of the fee for the entire stay is usually taken, for whatever reason, only one nights stay was taken, so already she has money in her pocket, (we didnt take the second nights fee, which by our policy we should have), so ontop of that we offered her a gift certificate, so basically unless we re rent the room, we get nothing. we are not working for nothing, and we have rules for a reason, if one person gets away with it, they all will. believe me, these other B&Bs have been in this town for years, so they know what people try to get away with, which is why there is a strict policy for the special event weekends. (Even HWS has it on their website, BOOK YOUR ROOMS EARLY, as they fill up fast...now as it is closer to the event, everyone has already booked their rooms. Im going to end this because im just repeating myself , to sum up, im not asking about our policy, im asking about the woman sending someone else in her place after the room has been cancelled, and Madeleine, thank you, you seem to understand exactly what im talking about. We sent her two emails which clearly state the policy, and she already had them because she agreed to them when she booked, so that makes 3. I wont be bullied into giving a refund when she clearly has already received one by us not taking the second night fee.
.

I also have only 3 rooms and I am on "Podunk". I understand how badly a cancel hits the revenue stream - BIG TIME. I was just shocked by the non-refund policy, not knowing that is the standard in your town for that festival. It just seemed so harsh and in MY world, WOW! It was the policy I was addressing, not you personally.
However, that said, once the woman dumped on you, all bets were off. She sounds like one of "The ENTITLED" (at least they think they are).
I hope you stick around so we get to know you better and vice-versa.
.

we will stick around, no one says everyone has to like our policies

....but they work for us. There are many B&Bs in our area, we are kid friendly and pet friendly, many are not, we are within walking distance to the college (HWS). When the HWS weekends roll around (There are 4 of them throughout the year) it gets very busy around here and the parents of the college kids know if they want a room, they need to book it early. Which is why we have a strict NON refundable policy.
In my honest opinion , this woman was just mad because she thought by throwing her weight around that we would cave in and give her a refund. She didnt even know when she cancelled that we had only charged her for one night and not two. Plus, on top of that we offered her a GC to return, that is when she became a witch, using language i would reserve for a truck driver,
We gave her from May, when she cancelled, to August 1 to resell the room herself, she didnt, so the room was cancelled and now we have less than 4 weeks to re book the room, if we re book it, we can send her the GC, because its on our website under our policy, but it will state that it is non transferable and non exchangeable, so she will have to use it herself. If she has guts to book a room and come here to use it, more power to her, but i highly doubt she will set foot in this town, since she already stated at cancellation that she would not be coming here next year.
just so you know, this woman owns a yoga studio and has policies of her own, im sure she would be highly ticked off if one of her students treated her with so much disrespect. Especially since she already knew when she booked the room,that she would NOT get a refund if she cancelled....
Guests have to check a box stating they have read and agreed to our rules before they can reserve the room. She checked the box, so if she failed to read the rules, that is her problem not ours.

 

[Copperhead]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

She cancelled. She doesn't have a room. If she 'sells' it to someone else, you have no responsibility.
Have you sent her a cancellation confirmation? If yes, you're done.
.

Yes Madeleine ....we sent her two actually, but the last phone call after she received the email, she stated she would sell it. Just wondering what we would do if she actually sold the room and that person showed up to claim it.....obviously we would tell her that reservation was cancelled per the womans request, but we arent really looking to argue with anyone that weekend as we will have other guests. or if this woman showed up herself (that would be balsey to say the least).....
.

the reason people have policies like this is to stop people like this booking ie you only book with sail's property if you are absolutely certain you are coming - we have the same for 2 events each year to stop people messing me about and altering, cancelling and trying to get round my minimum nights
.

Exactly Joey, we are not taking her money and booking the room, she was only charged half of what she should have been at time of booking, and was offered a gift certificate for that full amount, she told us what we could do with that GC.....our policy for any other stay is different, they get a refund if cancelled within 15 days of their stay minus the credit card fee......all of these things are on the policy they agree to before being able to book a room. I dont feel bad, This woman owns a yoga studio and has policies of her own, so its not like she has no clue. She just wants to get around the policy and its not happening. As i stated before , we STILL plan to send her the voucher for a one night stay, but it will say, non transferable and non exchangeable , and is good for one year.
.

Windyguest, THANK YOU for sticking to your policies and not be bullied.

I say this regardless of whether I agree or not with the policy you have!!! It IS your policy, they knew it when they booked.
I have had this situation twice. Once the person said she was going to send someone else. I told her I must have that name prior to the stay and if she did not want to be held liable for any other charges she should have the other guest call and provide their own CC to have on file. Had no one take the room.

The 2nd time we did have someone come in their place. They arrived with chips on their shoulders created by the story they were given by the person who booked. We knew it would be that way. We treated them as we do all our guests, they left with a smile on their face and happy they came.

Since this person told you explicitly what you could do with your GC, I am not sure I would even send it. Who would want her in their business?
BUT if you do feel the need to send it, you are right - call it a VOUCHER, not a GC. One night stay, non-transferable and has NO cash value. I would NOT give it a year, only 6mths. I would also put restrictions on the dates - not allowing it to be used for holiday or event periods. People who cancel within your cancellation period should not be given the opportunity to tie up another period of easy money! Also, it should state that once the booking is made, the voucher is deemed void.

 

[windyguest]

Hello all, we are new here, we own a 3 room bed and breakfast in Geneva NY, we have a strict no refund policy for all Hobart william smith events (the college here in Geneva) This is clearly stated on our website. We had a woman call in March to reserve our king room for Family weekend in September. She called in May to cancel saying her son decided to take a year off and that they would be back the following year. When we returned her call to remind her that weekend is NON refundable, she literally went up one side of us and down the other, saying she gave us plenty of notice to cancel. When we explained that our policy clearly states this on our website and that we could give her a gift certificate to use the following year, she said "We dont plan on coming back", which totally contradicts what she said when she left her voicemail. Before the phone call ended she threatened to just leave the room empty but we informed her that per her request the room had already been cancelled, she said you cant do that, You already have my money, so again we told her , the room was NON refundable. We also told her that she was only charged for a one night stay rather than the two night stay she had booked. (Our website states they will be charged the entire stay) After shouting and calling us rude and a few other choice things she said she was going to find someone else to buy the room from her.....we gave her until August 1 to do this, on August 6 (today) We sent an email to her which came back undeliverable....we found her husbands email and sent him the message that the room had been cancelled and was now back open for bookings. within minutes she called and again told us we were rude and ignorant people and she was going to tell everyone about us....blah blah blah....we tried again to explain to her that the weekend was NON refundable and that we would be happy to give her a gift certificate, (i wont bother telling you what she said we could do with it). At one point she said she was still coming and we told her the room had been cancelled. Before hanging up she said she was going to sell the room to someone else and hung up the phone. Since we have already cancelled her reservation and the room is open for booking, we are not sure how to handle this since it is very possible she will do as she said and sell the room to someone else......how would you handle this situation? what if she does send someone else and we have already rebooked?.

Honestly, I think you need to change your policy. Allow cancellation with a fee if it's easily rerentable. You still get to keep the fee and you don't have to worry about her writing a justifiable rant on TA.
.

Jon, for all our other days we do have that policy,(We just had someone cancel 18 days out, 2 rooms, 2 nights and he was refunded minus the fee) for HWS events it is NON refundable, if you look at the B&Bs in our area, all the policies are the same as ours, because the rooms are booked so far in advance by these people, we turn down a lot, and since it is so close to the event it is unlikely we will resell the room, unless we get a walk in.....our policy stays, as is, because it works, we are not going to be bullied, she will get her gift certificate as is stated in the policy, that she agreed to when she booked the room. The good thing about TA and B&B.com is that we get the last say, and we will clearly let others know why she left that review. Especially since her review would be about our policy and not her stay with us......
.

I'm sorry that I agree with others but with 4 months to fill the room (and knowing that you will refill it due to that being a popular weekend) and the guest getting really upset, I would have refunded her money but I would have worked out a cancellation fee - perhaps double what you usually charge. You certainly would never want an irate guest to show up using the gift certificate at a future date so why even issue her one if you know that you'll fill the room.
With just four days out on a $1000 cancellation, I'm fully within my policy rights to keep the deposit and charge the balance. However, I've already gotten one night rebooked and hope someone takes the others so I can refund money. Then the guest will be happy, I won't be upset about losing money and I'll feel better that I didn't have to charge someone for a stay they didn't have. I realize that we all have policies but in some instances it's so worth adjusting them to avoid the headache and hassle. But I respect your right to do what you like, we all have to run our business as we see fit (I get lots of replies every time I say I won't do late check-ins and appreciate that everyone has to do what they choose).
.

You have the right to agree or disagree, she cancelled in May, we gave her until August 1 to sell her room to someone else, because that is what SHE wanted. She didnt sell the room, so we cancelled her reservation and set the room as open for booking.
We now have less than 4 weeks to re rent that room, most people have already booked rooms elsewhere, because they know how hard it is to get a room for that weekend. She wasnt charged for the entire weekend when she booked the room, we charged her one night, so basically she already got that money back since we didnt take it to begin with, for the other night we offered a GC, she didnt want it.
So you are saying i should give her back her money for the one night that we did charge her for and we get stuck with an empty room and no money? that makes no sense. I am in NO way upset about losing this woman as a guest, as i said to Jon in my reply, this is not our only business so we can afford to be a bit choosey. rules are rules and they are there for a reason.
just because someone doesnt like the way we do business doesnt mean we need to change, maybe she should change the way she speaks to people and the words she chooses to use. We have had NO complaints except from this woman, and other guests had no issues with our policy, because it makes it easier for them to book rooms when their kids are here for college.
.

I am saying change your policies.
No one is defending her, in any way, she was rude and it was wrong.
.

Thanks, but the policy stays, we have had every room booked for all 4 HWS events throughout the year, as i said most people know how hard it is to find rooms for that weekend, and none of them have had an issue with our policy, and they all understood why it was there.
Since they have to read and agree to the rules before they are able to book the room, there should be no questions asked. If you read and dont agree with the rules, its pretty simple, dont book the room.
We are pretty busy and have had no problems until now, and we would have been a bit more lenient with her, if she had been nicer, dont call me and try to bully me into giving you a refund, when you knew the rules before you booked.