Bookings not being cancelled -yet!

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joddle
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Bookings not being cancelled -yet!

Post by joddle »

I have several bookings for my villa this summer starting in July - all are overseas people and most were booked last year and some are repeat visitors.

Yet despite the current news and situation no one has asked to cancel - which leaves us in a strange position as we don't know what the travel restrictions will be in and after July - so not even sure if we can service those bookings!

Maybe if people cancel I will be able to fill their times slots by trying to attract Spanish visitors who themselves cannot go anywhere else - but that will only work IF I know the others want to cancel - but I don't.

So what are others doing ? do you write to their existing bookings inviting them to cancel in the hope of being able to rebook a local person - or are they hoping things will be relaxed enough to service those bookings? - It seems there is no real answer!!!
I don't profess to own anything here apart from my own opinion.
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

Here I am on the Spain page again. But I have noticed the same phenomenon, where guests seem not interested in cancelling their 2020 holiday. The trend as I see it is for the guests to wait until they receive a notification from their airline that the guests' flight will not be flying and it is at that stage that I hear from them.
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

Some people are hoping they can travel. Others are holding out for you to cancel so they get a full refund without any hassle.

It very much depends on your terms and conditions, if they have taken out insurance, and the wording of the insurance policy.

From a guest perspective, they may be prepared to wait til the last minute in the hope that they get their holiday. It might be a good idea to write to them and ask about their intentions - but you need to consider your response in advance.

I have a force majeur clause in my TCs and initially wanted to persuade people to accept a deferred date at no extra cost to them. However, one of the regulators in the UK has now said such a clause is likely to be unfair; also that guests should get a refund for a cancelled holiday so I have written again asking if people want a full refund. People also have a better understanding of their own financial situation now - some are worrying about job losses, others are fine. It just seems to be the right thing to do.
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joddle
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Post by joddle »

Thanks for those responses - I agree people seem t be waiting to see what happens - but if they cancel at the last minute I will have little change of rebooking with Spanish locals.

I think I need to contact them advising I will return deposits if they decide to pull out now - but advising they may need to consider claiming from their insurance policies if they leave it to the last minute as I would then keep the deposit as I would have no change to rebook - that seems fair to me but open to comments on that!
I don't profess to own anything here apart from my own opinion.
Sunbeam
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Post by Sunbeam »

Zebedee: With respect, this page is for people with properties in Spain so things may be different here than the UK, specially around regulation. But thank you for your insight.


Many owners would love to give full refunds but just are not in a financial position to do so - so we have to apply our cancellation terms to the letter.
dixeady
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Post by dixeady »

I had a few bookings Jul/Aug, which were with HomeAway. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to them (from France & Denmark) suggesting that they might like to cancel now, as it was unlikely their flights would be allowed. They all took up the offer immediately, as they were still within the 60 day free cancellation period. I don't understand why they'd not done so before either! I don't get any money, but at least they haven't lost out.

Between ourselves, I wanted to clear the mid-summer section in case any Spaniards might be able to book. Right now, our region of Granada (and Malaga) have not been allowed to move into Phase 1, so we still can't open to take guests anyway. What are others doing?
Gazpacho
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Post by Gazpacho »

From trawling internet forums I get the impression that most people are resigned to not having a summer holiday this year, but are waiting for airlines/villa owners to cancel first as they believe that they will get full refunds in those circumstances.

We have some final balances due in June (for August stays) so I expect we will find out then how our prospective guests are feeling.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Sunbeam wrote:Zebedee: With respect, this page is for people with properties in Spain so things may be different here than the UK, specially around regulation. But thank you for your insight.


Many owners would love to give full refunds but just are not in a financial position to do so - so we have to apply our cancellation terms to the letter.
What a sorry state they are in then.
The owner only gets costs when guests are at the property. The excuse that these payments are to cover everyday bills* is not valid either. You have them guests or no guests.

*Standing charges for utilities, repairs, council taxes, advertising etc
As for things being different in eh UK at least the country has decent consumer standards. Unlike Spain where it needs to "dragged" to the European courts to ensure legislation is adhered too.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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Sanchisimo
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Post by Sanchisimo »

We too have summer bookings and I think they are hoping to travel but are waiting to see what happens. As are we to be honest. One observation about the domestic Spanish market. I have found from experience that they tend to book much more last minute - especially locally. The number of call over the years about whether our country house is free this weekend or next week (never in 6 months time) are legion.

A friend has pointed out that there may be a big market this year for people who have been trapped in their city apartment in, say Malaga, to jump at the chance to rent a country house with pool just up the road where they don't have to travel very far.

Either way, this year is one we have all but written off and any bookings that do some to fruition will be a bonus. We are looking much more about what strategies to adopt for 2021.
Sunbeam
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Post by Sunbeam »

CSE wrote:
Sunbeam wrote:Zebedee: With respect, this page is for people with properties in Spain so things may be different here than the UK, specially around regulation. But thank you for your insight.


Many owners would love to give full refunds but just are not in a financial position to do so - so we have to apply our cancellation terms to the letter.
What a sorry state they are in then.
The owner only gets costs when guests are at the property. The excuse that these payments are to cover everyday bills* is not valid either. You have them guests or no guests.

*Standing charges for utilities, repairs, council taxes, advertising etc
As for things being different in eh UK at least the country has decent consumer standards. Unlike Spain where it needs to "dragged" to the European courts to ensure legislation is adhered too.
Simply not true: we have standing charges for internet, public liability insurance, electricity (contracted potencia), grounds maintenance, pool maintenance, advertising costs, etc. We can't put all these on hold or stop them, as we need to be guest-ready.

And edited to say: our guests so far have actually been very understanding about not getting their deposit back. We are pointing them to their insurance and some hadn't even thought of doing that and can claim - it is not always about when the balance is due - they may be prevented from travelling due to age, health or non-covid reasons. As i said, we would love to ignore our cancellation policy but can't afford to.
Marks
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Post by Marks »

Sunbeam wrote:And edited to say: our guests so far have actually been very understanding about not getting their deposit back. We are pointing them to their insurance and some hadn't even thought of doing that and can claim - it is not always about when the balance is due - they may be prevented from travelling due to age, health or non-covid reasons. As i said, we would love to ignore our cancellation policy but can't afford to.
Mine too, in fact they have been very happy to move their booking to next year, one even apologising for 'being a nuisance.'

On the plus side I am fully booked 1 October - 30 March with two winter bookings in one apartment and all of January, February and March in the other.
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
costa-brava
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Post by costa-brava »

I was posting just recently with optimism about guests favouring rental villas over hotels. Regrettably I have also been following Spanish government logic as they open up. I believe that the very last accommodation category to be allowed will be holiday lets and it isn't looking like it will be this year. Please note this is just a guess but it goes like this. They have started to phase in hotels where the thinking is that they can control and monitor them. At the other end of the spectrum is private holiday lets where the health authorities cannot impose any set of rules that they can effectively monitor.
When you take into account the strength of the hotel lobby with politicians and the absolute hammering the hotels are taking, and the effect on the job market, then private hol-lets are not in the equation.
At the moment Sanchez is holding on by the teeth to both to the virus situation and to his own very tentative position as Prime Minister. It's looking like July or August before Spanish owners will be able to access their second residence if it's outside their province. Unless there is a massive shift in policy I can't see hol-lets happening this summer. If they do, it will almost certainly be restricted to Spanish agencies who can, to some extent, be controlled.
So bottom line, in my humble opinion, is that if you work through a Spanish agent, you may get a couple of weeks let. If you handle things yourself or through a private individual for meet and greet etc., you will not be allowed to operate at all this summer.
The bookings that you have now are largely irrelevant. You will not be able to honour them. You will however have the fixed costs of utilities etc. And for owners who are not at this moment in Spain and want to just have a few weeks in your holiday home, it's going to be very restrictive. From now to about July you will have to spend the first two weeks in lockdown.
Again, I stress, this is only my opinion, but it has been carefully thought out after watching how things have rolled out so far.
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roxytoo
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Post by roxytoo »

I'm not sure that is correct costa brava. In phase 1 which covers half of Spain and which we are in at the moment it says hotels and tourist accomodation will be opened. We take that as holiday lets too as it doesnt say its not
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Sunbeam wrote:
Simply not true: we have standing charges for internet, public liability insurance, electricity (contracted potencia), grounds maintenance, pool maintenance, advertising costs, etc. We can't put all these on hold or stop them, as we need to be guest-ready.

And edited to say: our guests so far have actually been very understanding about not getting their deposit back. We are pointing them to their insurance and some hadn't even thought of doing that and can claim - it is not always about when the balance is due - they may be prevented from travelling due to age, health or non-covid reasons. As i said, we would love to ignore our cancellation policy but can't afford to.
You have not read the reply I wrote.
I said that costs only are incurred when the guest(s) are in the property.
I had said that everyday bills are not guest related you have them gusts or no guests. I included standing charges for utilities, repairs, council taxes, advertising. You wrote repeating almost the same items, but you feel that these are customer related costs.


Any business will incur these sorts of costs, every day. So I wonder how the customer makes costs when they are not using a property. No other business model has this as an issue. Only some property owners seem to think they have a right to keep the money and never offer refunds.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

roxytoo wrote:I'm not sure that is correct costa brava. In phase 1 which covers half of Spain and which we are in at the moment it says hotels and tourist accomodation will be opened. We take that as holiday lets too as it doesnt say its not
I would suggest the opposite, that if it is not written about then the it is not acceptable under the Spanish Law.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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