Once more into the fray- cancellation polices

[user 26]

i took a deposit ... ran the card right then. our fiscal year was january thru december, so if i had a reservation for the next coming summer, i told them i'd be running the card in january and i did. i always mailed a written confirmation with receipt. if they cancelled 14 days or more before their stay, i refunded. otherwise i kept the deposit. but i had different policies for groups and whole house rentals. for them, i requested 30 days cancellation notice and they agreed. as you know, groups and whole house rentals present their own challenges, and i made strict rules about accepting them. those that wanted to stay with me accepted my terms.
for a single room, deposit for 1 to 3 nights it was $100 (edit: i changed the 3 night deposit to one nights stay)
4 nights or more it was 1/2 the cost of the stay. group rentals, it was 1/2 the cost of the stay. that was the deposit.
now, once in a while i'd get fussed at about not refunding the deposit and extenuating circumstances, if so, i would offer to CREDIT IT TOWARD THEIR NEXT STAY during the same year ... i stressed that. ... sometimes they came a different time, sometimes never came. i didn't worry about the percentage the cc processor took for not running the physical card at the time of the deposit. it was worth it to me to have the deposit... guests had paid $$ to come and they mostly came. if they were cancelling because of something tragic, i offered the refund or the credit. you know i had to follow my instincts on that refund offer .... but they mostly took the credit.

 

[Samster]

I give y'all credit if you have long cancellation time frames and it works for you. As a guest, I won't reserve with a place with anything over 5 days and I have never cancelled a stay at a B&B yet in all my years of traveling and choosing B&Bs. But life can get in the way and you never know when that can happen.
Ours was 72 hours but we had a fair number of biz guests. I only had a handful of cancellations in 2 years.

 

[Proud Texan]

Have people ever heard of Travel Insurance???? That's what it's for.
Why should we have to eat it every time someone has a life crisis. If you start missing your mortgage payments due to frequent cancellations, you'll end up having your own life crisis.
Do you think the bank or credit card companies give a crap if you're having a bad day?
I'm not saying don't be compassionate when the circumstances call for it, but this is first and foremost a business. This is not "Mother Theresa's Bed & Breakfast"
We just need to find a way that does not deprive of us of our just income but still appeases the customer. It's much easier if you can rebook a room, but if you can't and you must then offer a discount toward a future visit.

 

[Don Draper]

I give y'all credit if you have long cancellation time frames and it works for you. As a guest, I won't reserve with a place with anything over 5 days and I have never cancelled a stay at a B&B yet in all my years of traveling and choosing B&Bs. But life can get in the way and you never know when that can happen.
Ours was 72 hours but we had a fair number of biz guests. I only had a handful of cancellations in 2 years..

It entirely depends on the b&b's situation. We are in an area where people plan far in advance to come. If we did more last minute bookings I suspect we'd have to change the policy, but it works perfectly for now.
We had a very loose policy (same as our PO's) for the first year that we were here, and with our occupancy being so high it just didn't work...we were losing revenue when people were cancelling last minute with the softer policy.
It also doesn't hurt that most of our competitors have similar policies.

 

[Copperhead]

Breakfast Diva wrote: This summer has been the worst in 10 years for cancellations and for credit cards that are declined. We have 3 situations where people have said they would dispute it with their credit card company this summer alone. I politely tell them that is their option. In 10 years we have never even had the credit card company contact us for a dispute because they see our cancellation policy and it's very clear.
This year has been the worst for me as well. I am seeing this to be a trend and time to buckle down on my policies. I state that I take a deposit of 1 nights stay when the cancel date has kicked in - I even give them the date right on their confirmation. But for the last few years I have been slacking on actually taking the deposit... all had been going smoothly until this year.
According to financial resourses, this new triend is liable to be here for a while, and may get worse before it gets better. After several discussions with DH we have decided to start following through with our deposit policies. Taking the deposit at that time insures that we do not have to worry about refunding anyone and we know for a fact that the card is good for the use of the remaining reservation. If the card is declinded, we will contact the guest and ask for another card or will cancel their reservation and open the room for rebooking.
I do not want to have a large amount of deposits sitting in my account with the possiblity of having a cancelation and needing to refund someones money. When this money hits my account, it is mine! And if I get a sob story that weaks my gut, I can then choose to either refund or give a voucher and I will be looked on as a generious soul. If I don't, I am looked at as a strict business person that has policies and stands behind them.

 

[Highlands John]

We charge a £10 per person per night non-refundable deposit at booking time, and I don't recall anyone ever having had a problem with that.
When they cancel I get some people asking "how will you refund my deposit" to which I reply "We don't". But like most people I'm flexible and I tend to work on the basis of how likely is it that their cancellation will leave me with an empty room which I could have filled.
So if they booked in January for September and cancel the day before, no way. Had a cancellation this week for 2 nights towards the end of August, although they booked in March I've got a pretty good chance of filling the room so I told her I would refund if it re-let.
But do you believe the excuses? We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

 

[One Day]

We charge a £10 per person per night non-refundable deposit at booking time, and I don't recall anyone ever having had a problem with that.
When they cancel I get some people asking "how will you refund my deposit" to which I reply "We don't". But like most people I'm flexible and I tend to work on the basis of how likely is it that their cancellation will leave me with an empty room which I could have filled.
So if they booked in January for September and cancel the day before, no way. Had a cancellation this week for 2 nights towards the end of August, although they booked in March I've got a pretty good chance of filling the room so I told her I would refund if it re-let.
But do you believe the excuses? We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?"..

But do you believe the excuses? We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

Good point........
When we had to go to Texas to assist my brother in law in making the decision to turn off the respirator for my sister..........the airline provided us a prefered rate.........they confirmed our situation with the hospital my sister was in. Hotel near by did the same thing.

 

[domsmom]

Our cancellation policy is 14 days prior to arrival and this summer has been just as busy as last. I bill the full amount around 10-14 days before arrival. This has worked wonderously for me. I don't have to deal with collecting payment as I am serving breakfast, I know well in advance if credit cards are good. I am happy to accept a check 2 weeks before arrival. I may loose a little business, but I am loosing people who are "unsure" and I don't want that business, because I want the "I know for sure". When situations arise I do take them on a case for case basis. I had 3 bookings that cancelled due to the cancelled flights in Europe when the Iceland Volcano erupted and I did give them a refund, though it hurt. Anyone else just needs to contact me and can stay another time without charge.
The policy is stated throughout the reservation form, on our website and on other websites. This has really taken care of many problems. Also it is good for my accounting as I generally collect May's money in May, June's in June and so on. When I took a deposit in May for an August guest, if they cancelled in June and I gave them a refund it messed up my accounting.

 

[wendydk]

We charge a £10 per person per night non-refundable deposit at booking time, and I don't recall anyone ever having had a problem with that.
When they cancel I get some people asking "how will you refund my deposit" to which I reply "We don't". But like most people I'm flexible and I tend to work on the basis of how likely is it that their cancellation will leave me with an empty room which I could have filled.
So if they booked in January for September and cancel the day before, no way. Had a cancellation this week for 2 nights towards the end of August, although they booked in March I've got a pretty good chance of filling the room so I told her I would refund if it re-let.
But do you believe the excuses? We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?"..

We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

Known during my hotel days as "SGDS" or "Sudden Granny Death Syndrome"

 

[Morticia]

Breakfast Diva wrote: This summer has been the worst in 10 years for cancellations and for credit cards that are declined. We have 3 situations where people have said they would dispute it with their credit card company this summer alone. I politely tell them that is their option. In 10 years we have never even had the credit card company contact us for a dispute because they see our cancellation policy and it's very clear.
This year has been the worst for me as well. I am seeing this to be a trend and time to buckle down on my policies. I state that I take a deposit of 1 nights stay when the cancel date has kicked in - I even give them the date right on their confirmation. But for the last few years I have been slacking on actually taking the deposit... all had been going smoothly until this year.
According to financial resourses, this new triend is liable to be here for a while, and may get worse before it gets better. After several discussions with DH we have decided to start following through with our deposit policies. Taking the deposit at that time insures that we do not have to worry about refunding anyone and we know for a fact that the card is good for the use of the remaining reservation. If the card is declinded, we will contact the guest and ask for another card or will cancel their reservation and open the room for rebooking.
I do not want to have a large amount of deposits sitting in my account with the possiblity of having a cancelation and needing to refund someones money. When this money hits my account, it is mine! And if I get a sob story that weaks my gut, I can then choose to either refund or give a voucher and I will be looked on as a generious soul. If I don't, I am looked at as a strict business person that has policies and stands behind them..

I am liking this idea but how do you keep track of whose deposit you need to take on any given day? I'm wondering if just the paperwork itself would make me crazy.
Do you then need to file all of those receipts to get sigs on check-in? Again, how do you do that? (Can you tell I am AWFUL at paperwork???)

 

[user 26]

i forgot to mention that i had the $25 administrative fee for cancellations ... so even if they cancelled before the 14 or 30 day window, we kept $25. i started doing this ... did a lot of things ... because i was following along with the policies of the most successful and popular places around that i was trying to emulate. some places called it a service charge, some called it an administrative fee ...
do you know, some folks said .'oh well, we'll just come then.' odd ... i thought they were cancelling because they could not come.
i seem to hear more and more about folks making reservations at numerous places and then just cancelling under the wire ... does the administrative fee cut down on that? i don't know.

 

[Morticia]

i forgot to mention that i had the $25 administrative fee for cancellations ... so even if they cancelled before the 14 or 30 day window, we kept $25. i started doing this ... did a lot of things ... because i was following along with the policies of the most successful and popular places around that i was trying to emulate. some places called it a service charge, some called it an administrative fee ...
do you know, some folks said .'oh well, we'll just come then.' odd ... i thought they were cancelling because they could not come.
i seem to hear more and more about folks making reservations at numerous places and then just cancelling under the wire ... does the administrative fee cut down on that? i don't know..

Not sure I would jump in with the fee right off, but I can see easing into that. Had some local friends who got more grief from that $25 fee than the actual cancellation amount. I don't want more grief. But I can totally see where it helps with the additional fees I'll have to pay all year.
I may refer all problems to the 'head office' once we implement any new procedures.

 

[Copperhead]

Breakfast Diva wrote: This summer has been the worst in 10 years for cancellations and for credit cards that are declined. We have 3 situations where people have said they would dispute it with their credit card company this summer alone. I politely tell them that is their option. In 10 years we have never even had the credit card company contact us for a dispute because they see our cancellation policy and it's very clear.
This year has been the worst for me as well. I am seeing this to be a trend and time to buckle down on my policies. I state that I take a deposit of 1 nights stay when the cancel date has kicked in - I even give them the date right on their confirmation. But for the last few years I have been slacking on actually taking the deposit... all had been going smoothly until this year.
According to financial resourses, this new triend is liable to be here for a while, and may get worse before it gets better. After several discussions with DH we have decided to start following through with our deposit policies. Taking the deposit at that time insures that we do not have to worry about refunding anyone and we know for a fact that the card is good for the use of the remaining reservation. If the card is declinded, we will contact the guest and ask for another card or will cancel their reservation and open the room for rebooking.
I do not want to have a large amount of deposits sitting in my account with the possiblity of having a cancelation and needing to refund someones money. When this money hits my account, it is mine! And if I get a sob story that weaks my gut, I can then choose to either refund or give a voucher and I will be looked on as a generious soul. If I don't, I am looked at as a strict business person that has policies and stands behind them..

I am liking this idea but how do you keep track of whose deposit you need to take on any given day? I'm wondering if just the paperwork itself would make me crazy.
Do you then need to file all of those receipts to get sigs on check-in? Again, how do you do that? (Can you tell I am AWFUL at paperwork???)
.

Really fairly easy. Go to your management system each day and look in advance - 7, 10, 14 what ever days ahead your cancellation is and run their cards. Place the receipts in a folder, I just keep all for a given check in day paper clipped together, sticky with the date of check in. It really is not that cumbersome as you are rotating in and out each day.
On the day of check in I just place each reciept with the key and check in card together... I know you take payment on check in, so after you run the remaining charge, have them sign both reciepts and you are set.
This is the best way I have found. Less headaches than any other I have tried. Again, nothing is fool proof and there will be a few that will try to buck your system but if your policies are in place & are clearly with their confirmation, you will find it will stand up to any that fight the charge. The few I have had try, I have won.

 

[Highlands John]

We charge a £10 per person per night non-refundable deposit at booking time, and I don't recall anyone ever having had a problem with that.
When they cancel I get some people asking "how will you refund my deposit" to which I reply "We don't". But like most people I'm flexible and I tend to work on the basis of how likely is it that their cancellation will leave me with an empty room which I could have filled.
So if they booked in January for September and cancel the day before, no way. Had a cancellation this week for 2 nights towards the end of August, although they booked in March I've got a pretty good chance of filling the room so I told her I would refund if it re-let.
But do you believe the excuses? We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?"..

We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

Known during my hotel days as "SGDS" or "Sudden Granny Death Syndrome"

.

We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

Known during my hotel days as "SGDS" or "Sudden Granny Death Syndrome"

Unfortunately it's not the sort of thing you can question their honesty about!!

 

[Penelope]

Breakfast Diva wrote: This summer has been the worst in 10 years for cancellations and for credit cards that are declined. We have 3 situations where people have said they would dispute it with their credit card company this summer alone. I politely tell them that is their option. In 10 years we have never even had the credit card company contact us for a dispute because they see our cancellation policy and it's very clear.
This year has been the worst for me as well. I am seeing this to be a trend and time to buckle down on my policies. I state that I take a deposit of 1 nights stay when the cancel date has kicked in - I even give them the date right on their confirmation. But for the last few years I have been slacking on actually taking the deposit... all had been going smoothly until this year.
According to financial resourses, this new triend is liable to be here for a while, and may get worse before it gets better. After several discussions with DH we have decided to start following through with our deposit policies. Taking the deposit at that time insures that we do not have to worry about refunding anyone and we know for a fact that the card is good for the use of the remaining reservation. If the card is declinded, we will contact the guest and ask for another card or will cancel their reservation and open the room for rebooking.
I do not want to have a large amount of deposits sitting in my account with the possiblity of having a cancelation and needing to refund someones money. When this money hits my account, it is mine! And if I get a sob story that weaks my gut, I can then choose to either refund or give a voucher and I will be looked on as a generious soul. If I don't, I am looked at as a strict business person that has policies and stands behind them..

I am liking this idea but how do you keep track of whose deposit you need to take on any given day? I'm wondering if just the paperwork itself would make me crazy.
Do you then need to file all of those receipts to get sigs on check-in? Again, how do you do that? (Can you tell I am AWFUL at paperwork???)
.

Really fairly easy. Go to your management system each day and look in advance - 7, 10, 14 what ever days ahead your cancellation is and run their cards. Place the receipts in a folder, I just keep all for a given check in day paper clipped together, sticky with the date of check in. It really is not that cumbersome as you are rotating in and out each day.
On the day of check in I just place each reciept with the key and check in card together... I know you take payment on check in, so after you run the remaining charge, have them sign both reciepts and you are set.
This is the best way I have found. Less headaches than any other I have tried. Again, nothing is fool proof and there will be a few that will try to buck your system but if your policies are in place & are clearly with their confirmation, you will find it will stand up to any that fight the charge. The few I have had try, I have won.
.

We use something fairly similar. However, there is also a folder where we have a page for each month with columns: "date deposit taken", "name of guest", "amount of deposit", and "date of stay". That way, there is no question as to exact amounts of deposits out. When checking the guests out of the system, their name gets crossed off the list. Now their deposit has been used. Tops, 5 minutes of time extra.

 

[egoodell]

We charge a £10 per person per night non-refundable deposit at booking time, and I don't recall anyone ever having had a problem with that.
When they cancel I get some people asking "how will you refund my deposit" to which I reply "We don't". But like most people I'm flexible and I tend to work on the basis of how likely is it that their cancellation will leave me with an empty room which I could have filled.
So if they booked in January for September and cancel the day before, no way. Had a cancellation this week for 2 nights towards the end of August, although they booked in March I've got a pretty good chance of filling the room so I told her I would refund if it re-let.
But do you believe the excuses? We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?"..

We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

Known during my hotel days as "SGDS" or "Sudden Granny Death Syndrome"

.

We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

Known during my hotel days as "SGDS" or "Sudden Granny Death Syndrome"

Unfortunately it's not the sort of thing you can question their honesty about!!
.

We had a spate of "grandma's passed away" a couple of years ago and I felt like saying "What? Again?".

Known during my hotel days as "SGDS" or "Sudden Granny Death Syndrome"

Unfortunately it's not the sort of thing you can question their honesty about!!

There was someone who would immediately ask for the address of the funeral home/hospital to send flowers that used to work...
Riki

 

[Highlands John]

i forgot to mention that i had the $25 administrative fee for cancellations ... so even if they cancelled before the 14 or 30 day window, we kept $25. i started doing this ... did a lot of things ... because i was following along with the policies of the most successful and popular places around that i was trying to emulate. some places called it a service charge, some called it an administrative fee ...
do you know, some folks said .'oh well, we'll just come then.' odd ... i thought they were cancelling because they could not come.
i seem to hear more and more about folks making reservations at numerous places and then just cancelling under the wire ... does the administrative fee cut down on that? i don't know..

We had a couple booked in for two nights, by 10pm they hadn't arrived so I called the mobile number and obviously woke them up. I said "This is xx and we were wondering what time you expect to arrive as it is getting late?".
"Oh" he said "We hadn't realised how far it is from Edinburgh to Inverness so we decided to stay in Edinburgh instead".
"And when exactly did you intend on letting us know this?" I asked. "Mmm I supose we should have called."
We'd had a few No Shows before that, but that was the final straw and we've taken deposits ever since.

 

[Mary at Bridgewater Inn and Cottage]

Here is a policy for yaaa..... http://www.abovetherestcabins.com/agreement.htm Mary in Bwater.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Breakfast Diva wrote: This summer has been the worst in 10 years for cancellations and for credit cards that are declined. We have 3 situations where people have said they would dispute it with their credit card company this summer alone. I politely tell them that is their option. In 10 years we have never even had the credit card company contact us for a dispute because they see our cancellation policy and it's very clear.
This year has been the worst for me as well. I am seeing this to be a trend and time to buckle down on my policies. I state that I take a deposit of 1 nights stay when the cancel date has kicked in - I even give them the date right on their confirmation. But for the last few years I have been slacking on actually taking the deposit... all had been going smoothly until this year.
According to financial resourses, this new triend is liable to be here for a while, and may get worse before it gets better. After several discussions with DH we have decided to start following through with our deposit policies. Taking the deposit at that time insures that we do not have to worry about refunding anyone and we know for a fact that the card is good for the use of the remaining reservation. If the card is declinded, we will contact the guest and ask for another card or will cancel their reservation and open the room for rebooking.
I do not want to have a large amount of deposits sitting in my account with the possiblity of having a cancelation and needing to refund someones money. When this money hits my account, it is mine! And if I get a sob story that weaks my gut, I can then choose to either refund or give a voucher and I will be looked on as a generious soul. If I don't, I am looked at as a strict business person that has policies and stands behind them..

I am liking this idea but how do you keep track of whose deposit you need to take on any given day? I'm wondering if just the paperwork itself would make me crazy.
Do you then need to file all of those receipts to get sigs on check-in? Again, how do you do that? (Can you tell I am AWFUL at paperwork???)
.

Mine's pretty simple. When the reservation comes in, I take a deposit. Even with repeat guests. That way you know that if they're in your calendar, they've paid. You can make a note in your guest management software or on their reservation sheet. easy peasy

 

[EmptyNest]

Here is a policy for yaaa..... http://www.abovetherestcabins.com/agreement.htm Mary in Bwater..

Looks like they have it all covered...too bad...people won't read it all :-(