Do you as a host consider changes in reservations that cost you money the same as you do cancellations?

1

I have a guest that requested to cut his stay short by a day for a reservation starting next week. I have not responded yet.

I don’t want to accept the change because it’s going to cost me $100 bucks, with almost no chance of re-booking a single, lone Sunday night. On the flip side, of course, I don’t want angry guests in my house.

How do you handle these situations?

2

Can you offer to refund if you book the night?

3

I refund if I can re-book and I often can. I agree with Jess that you can make the refund contingent on re-booking. If you just explain why it costs you money they guest shouldn’t have a problem with it. If he becomes angry, well, let us know in the review because we don’t want to host him.

1 Like
5

I don’t look at a one night alteration as costing me x amount, because I haven’t earned it yet. To me it’s a cost of doing business. Guests asking for extensions outnumber them fivefold.

6

The guest has made that date unavailable to any other travelers that might have wanted it, and it they alter the reservation less than a week out, depending on your market, your chances of getting another booking are extremely thin. It’s that pretty much the same as lost?

And apparently individual markets differ in many ways. You say that your extension requests outnumber let’s call them contraction requests, fivefold. Over the course of 3 years, I’ve had 2 of each.

1 Like
7

You are quite right. It’s all I can do to get rid of them. Must be the free detergent!