Cancellations

[Ann Steele]

o:) o:) o:)

I have a small B & B. I do not take credit cards. Has anyone any bright ideas on how to protect the business re 'no- shows' who do not cancel in writing or by phone prior to a booking?

Ann

[Gill Horsfield]

o:) o:) o:)

I have a small B & B. I do not take credit cards. Has anyone any bright ideas on how to protect the business re 'no- shows' who do not cancel in writing or by phone prior to a booking?

Ann

Hi Ann,
I'm now in year 2 of running my B&B. With only 2 rooms, I haven't set up debit card facilities either. So far, I've only had a couple of no shows. I always take a £25 deposit per room booked and although this doesn't cover the loss completely, it does compensate for the extra provisions I've bought and work put in to get the room ready.

Unfortunately, there will always be guests that feel £25 paid up front entitles them not to show up should they change their mind, so we just have to live with it. I don't take drive-by guests - pre-booked only, so there's no chance of filling that room on these occasions.

Incidently, I've set up a PayPal email facility for collecting deposits for those that don't want to be bothered with sending a cheque. I simply attach the request button with the confirmation email. The guest doesn't need a PayPal account, and payment is instant. For deposits, the commission is just over £1, so worth it in my opinion.

[enquiries@catton-hall.co.uk]

Has anyone else had trouble with people cancelling after arrival?

Just had a foreign guest book for 5 nights at our guest house and who stayed the first night but the following morning was told he needed to leave as he had been found accommodation nearer to the place he is working for the next few days. He claimed our 48 hour cancellation policy didn't apply to cancellations after arrival but I contacted the website through which he had booked and after speaking to them he reluctantly paid up. I charged him for two nights (including the night he actually stayed) which I think is reasonable. He has now left a really stinky review listing a whole host of untruths which I have countered to the booking website but they have refused to take down the review. I have now altered our T&C to including the cancellation policy wording for cancellation prior to and after arrival.

[hoteldorset@aol.com]

if the site that refuses to take down the booking is booking.com then i suggest you change the hotel policies on this site to advise that full payment of the accommodation will be taken three days prior to the arrival date and is non refundable. This prevents this agument if guests try to leave earlier after checking in we have found this works for us

[Longinthetooth]

Credit card machine has stopped most of this nonsense with guests. Also note that along with cancellations, "amendments" and "early departures" should be put in your T&Cs too. I had a guest change dates of stay (which included not staying on one night he had reserved off for prior 6 months) and sent me a very hissy e mail after his stay - which I expected and confirmed what I thought of him during his stay anyway!! People are getting so belligerent and rude and the power of Trip Advisor etc., thinks they can do and say what they want and write their own terms. I can only advise the earlier person who had a horrible review to reply in a very uber professional way - most people can read between the lines on both sides.