You said this much more eloquently than my SOS comment. 
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I hate that it happened.
I will admit I donāt have much sympathy for people who booked vacations after April 2020 as non-refundable or strict cancellation because by then the pandemic was known.
Iām facing losing a pre-paid vacation. In December 2019, I booked a Las Vegas vacation, to be completed in 2020 prepaid through Marriott & I was planning to use Air-miles to buy my plane tickets. Pandemic hit. Marriott offered postponement to 12/31/2021.
Iām waiting but probably going to cancel my November reservationālosing the money is cheaper than a hospital bill or funeral
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Iām with you on this. I have the most flexible cancellation policy so covid cancellations are no more disruptive than any other, but damn, folks these days want everything to come with no strings. No responsibility, no obligations. Just āgive me my money back!ā
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Same as when we tell folks here to tweet. We never know the whole story.
Everyone has to fly here to this popular summer tourist town, and Iāve had very few business travelers, and only 2 repeaters, who can now book direct because theyāre great guests and are rewarded by not paying Airās booking fees.
Iāve never had business travelers ask for refunds. None of my other guests are repeaters, and if they cancel canāt leave reviews ā and I adhere to my Firm policy.
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If indeed it was non-refundable I wish they had not reversed their cancellation policy. Iām tired of people booking during a pandemic but accepting no personal responsibility for their actions.
My summer has been very good but Iāve had several cancellations due to Covid concerns or issues. Fortunately the empty days quickly rebooked but it was time & energy & some uncertainty on my part. I guess thatās why itās called work.
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I would assume that Vacasa is in a much better financial position to give a refund in spite of the cancellation policy than you are 
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I got my first non-booking due to my covid statement in my listing yesterday.
This guest has zero reviews though a member since 2017 and doesnāt read or look at the pictures. So though the cause is vaccination, I feel that I didnāt lose out at all. My listing lede says āpro vax hostā and that first paragraph says āthis fully vaccinated host prefers vaccinated guests.ā
I wondered if maybe he just went ahead and inquired so he could pointedly tell me he wasnāt booking because of the vaccine requirement. But I really donāt care, in fact I blocked off tonight to make sure he couldnāt come back and book anyway.
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Iām wondering if my statement about being fully vaxxed and loving guests that are too has stopped some bookings.
Right now Sept is wide open, but have gotten bookings for Oct and Nov. So far things havenāt been booked out that far.
No way of knowing for sure but in general, summer tourist season is over. My dog biz was insanely busy this summer but is back to normal now and into the fall. I donāt think people are booking well in advance due to watching to see what happens with the pandemic.
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This.
My rentals were rockinā & rollinā with advance bookings until 3 weeks ago. My September is booked then nothing. I expect some of those bookings to cancel.
BTW my area hospitals are reporting no ICU beds & non-critical care with only 6% availability. In other words 1 bad day could fill the remaining hospital beds to capacity.
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Yes, sets an expectation that people project onto us small biz owners.
Last cancellation I request I got (due to death of a friend) was hard to respond to, but I chose to refer them to my cancellation policy (the most lenient offered, they were pondering canceling the night before checkin); they decided to take the trip & were glad for it (healing it seemed; old college friends whoād lost another old college friend & felt guilty about having fun right after a suicide). Interestingly, I got the distinct impression the guest wanted me to say no, kinda giving them permission to keep their trip sans guilt.
Anyway, Iām a super softy but after my time on this forum Iāve really come to see that how I run my business does impact my fellow hosts (like leaving reviews or not, leaving honest & detailed reviews, enforcing house rules, etc). I still bend a lot, wonāt lie, but I give much more thought to it now.
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Me too. Iām a big ole sap - and I know it so there!
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I hoped they enjoyed a few sweet moments of levity and danced in the kitchen, Big Chill style. (Big Chill movie about college friends reconnecting at funeral of a friend who committed suicide)
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Yes, I hope so also.
And, whatās with all the Glen Close bum w/o even a sprinkling of Kevin Klineās thrown in. I mean, come on!
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It was the 80āsā¦thatās all Iāve got.
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