Happy holidays hosts.
I have a guest due to arrive tomorrow Dec 27 through Dec 31. They just messaged to say can they change their stay to start a day later ie Dec 28 . This would involve me absorbing the cost of the lost night as there’s no chance I will sell a single Saturday night at this notice. However they’re not canceling the trip overall. And ironically I have a flexible cancellation policy which means if they simply canceled the whole trip they would’ve been 100% refunded. Would you absorb any of the cost? Thanks for advising how you’d handle this.
I don’t see that you’re “absorbing” anything. Them arriving a day layer than planned isn’t “costing” you anything… you’re just not “making” quite as much as you would make.
I would change their stay and forget about it. Be grateful that they didn’t cancel the entire stay with you. There are LOTS of reasons they might want to start their stay with you a day later – missed airline connections, accidentally messing up the dates when they were booking, or maybe someone near and dear asked them to stay an extra day.
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Considering that with your flexible policy, you always run the risk of someone cancelling last minute and getting a full refund, I would not make a big deal about them changing the start date by one night.
It’s annoying in that, as you say, you won’t be able to rebook that night and would probably have gotten a booking for it, considering that it’s holiday time, but they might turn out to be lovely guests who, as Ken said, may book again in the future or recommend your place to friends, not to mention turning their request down might lead to them being less than generous when leaving a review.
You could also just tell them they don’t need to do a date change, as even though it would open up your calendar for the 27th, you wouldn’t be able to get a replacement booking for that night so last mimute, and to just come on the 28th. Unless they have mentioned wanting a refund for that one night, they might not ask for one anyway, and if they do, you could refund them. Who knows, they might turn out to be nice people who say “We realize our last minute date change meant you couldn’t get a replacement booking, but anything you’d be willing to refund would be appreciated.” and you could refund them half or whatever.
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I agree with @muddy - simply say “No need to change - it’s not a problem if you show up a day late, and I appreciate you letting me know so I don’t worry”. Let them be the ones to ask for a refund for the unused night. If they ask, don’t fight over it - just say “yes” since they could have cancelled the entire stay.
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Are we talking about $100 or $5,000?
Are you going to change your cancellation policy in the future?
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I think it depends on how much you charge for a night. I would also wait for them to ask if they can have a refund and then offer 50%. Nothing to lose.
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we are talking about $300. Happy(ish) ending I gave them the night back and managed to re-sell the night. Still more work for me / cleaners.
And yes it has prompted me to re set my cancellation policy to moderate - flexible was way too lax.
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I’ve always used the moderate policy and it has worked well for me. The few cancellations I’ve had past the 5 day 100% refund cutoff hasn’t resulted in guests hassling me for full refunds, especially since my homeshare listing is only $28/US/night, so they aren’t losing that much money, and I’ve never had scammer, entitled- type bookers who weren’t willing to respect the cancellation policy.
I can’t see flexible working well for almost any hosts, unless they have a listing where last minute bookings are their bread and butter, like living near an airport where people might have unexpected layovers or cancelled flights, or like KKC’s place, right near an interstate highway, where she said she got a lot of last minute bookings from road trippers who decided they had enough driving for the day.
Happy for you that you managed to fill the cancelled night.
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Yes I would, I do that whenever that kind of request occurs. One guest changed her dates 3 x . Ive been hosting for some years now and I’m pretty much ok with no bookings, cancellations, changes etc. I get enough bookings overall and use the time where the place is free to do extra cleaning, repairs etc.
Swings and Roundabouts is the term
Though i did get ‘hit’ by the swing some years ago when a guest cancelled several times over a matter of months, finally requesting a refund. I think that was what she was aiming for all along, avoiding my strict booking terms . By then she deserved that refund!!
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Glad this worked out for you.
Good idea to change to the moderate cancel policy. I use the strict policy since my Summer bookings are so important, and I want to discourage guests from cancelling with less than a month’s notice. The few times guests have had to cancel unexpectedly, I work with them.
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