How much details do you give to start?

[Margaret]

I actually meant normal - I was comparing with people who have lots of damage and high cancellation rates. Our guests are just ordinary people but we do seem to have less problems that some people and I was just musing as to why that might be...... I was not meaning to imply any superiority.

[Giddy Goat]

I'm not sure anyone has said they've had a high incidence of both Margaret? Most cancellations are simply down to bad luck aren't they - unless, as we said, owners are accepting bookings too far in advance? Or that the holding deposit is too small to deter people from just having a change of heart?

[enid]

I've recently had my first cancellation A couple with 2 children who were here last year are divorcing so can't come. I feel so sad about it. She told me that they had been having some problems but they had had such a good time here they booked for this year straight away and were hoping that the holiday marked a new period in their marriage but it didn't work out. I don't think they weren't serous when they made the booking.

[la vache!]

It must be the day for cancellations! I've had one - a family who re-booked when they were here last year have had to cancel one of the cottages they'd reserved because her father is seriously ill and will be unable to travel. It is just something that happens when people book a long time in advance and unforeseen ill health is something that can happen to anyone, even "high quality" guests.

[Rocket Rab]

Me too. Cancellation yesterday from someone who is being posted abroad as part of a career move. Watch out, GG, it looks like "cancellation-itis" has struck!

[Beanie]

Appreciate this is off topic - but whilst we're talking about cancellations - we had a family have to cancel for the half term week in Feb (one of our peak times) due to the fact that the 7 year old grandson had broken his leg.

They let us know on Boxing Day, (when we were a little busy) so I just released the dates on the calendars everywhere, muttering under my breath, and penned a quick line saying I'd get back to them soon but try to re-let so that they didn't end up having to pay for a holiday they weren't having.

Nothing for a week .... 10 days ... and beginning to get a little anxious for them (we were well within our rights to with-hold all the funds but that just didn't sit well with us), so went through our enquiry tracker and emailed all those who had enquired for Feb but we were booked (over 30). Each of them kindly responded saying, as I thought, that they'd found somewhere else by now but thanks anyway.

In the second week of Jan we suddenly had a flurry of enquiries from both Brits and locals (I think the good snow reports helped) and managed to re-let it. I was hugely relieved and was just waiting for funds to clear before I rang the original family to tell them the good news. However - they rang me .... to say that they'd now like to come !! Poor grandson had metal pins in his legs by this point but the others still wanted to come even though he couldn't ski and would have to stay home. Well, I was quite speechless at this point, thinking they'd be delighted I'd saved their money, but found myself having to 'break the bad news' that we'd managed to re-let (after about 3 solid days of work, on our holiday and with friends present, it has to be said).

They were very disappointed and I found myself grasping for platitudes and ended up lamely pointing out how fed up the poor grandson would be if he were abandoned and all the nasty adults went off skiing without him, but I don't think that really helped. You just can't win sometimes !

Don't you just love this business

[Giddy Goat]

Ooh SB, I was empathising every syllable of the way with that one! And wouldn't you just love to be able to say how much time and effort you went to to get it re-let!

What proportion of our guests take out holiday insurance which covers against forced cancellation d'you think? We remind people in our bumf to take out cover but I wonder who does, unless it's built into some other kind of policy they already have?

[Beanie]

What proportion of our guests take out holiday insurance which covers against forced cancellation d'you think? We remind people in our bumf to take out cover but I wonder who does, unless it's built into some other kind of policy they already have?

Hi GG

Yes, we do the same in our Rental Agreement and strongly advise all guests to take out full travel insurance.

However, we did wonder if the group would have been covered if just one member (the grandson) wasn't able to go on the holiday .... hmmmm.


Beanie

[Big Sis..]

Beanie,You definitely went out of your way for this family..
You could do no more If it was possible for them to still go Im surprised they didnt consider that more thoroughly before cancelling...[and outting you to all this trouble..

Don't you just love this business

I Know exactly what you mean

[A-two]

of course getting any money out of someone on the other side of the world is a different matter.

And therein lies the problem!

It's not so much of a problem as a risk. Everything has an element of risk and the more risks you take in business, the more rewards you may achieve. However, I would never take a risk that I could not afford to lose.

[Giddy Goat]

I would never take a risk that I could not afford to lose.

When you're super-rich and famous, this quote will be household stuff A2!

[Jimbo]

I would never take a risk that I could not afford to lose

I followed this route until my early 30's and still ended up broke, homeless and going nowhere. After that, I decided to take every opportunity that presented itself and things improved markedly. Of course, if it all goes wrong, it's no good feeling sorry for yourself.

Jim

[Mountain Goat]

I was reading through this thread again, and picking up the very good points which have been made.

Apart from the attachments, it looks as though we aren't the 'longest' repliers by a long chalk, with the exception of the attachments, which are clearly named, and punters can choose whether they read them or not, the same as our website.

In fact, our replies are reasonably succinct. I might mend my ways with the attachments and send them in a second email, so at least I can be sure they get the first.

We do seem to get a high number of cancellations - most have been N.Americans this year, most skiers, and they lost their 20% deposits. We would try to avoid penalising cancellations when they have paid in full, by making every effort to resell.

20% lost deposits (approaching £1.7k this year) would seem a nice little earner until one counts the cost (in time) and stress of dealing with them.

One interesting point was A2's 'remind them which property they've asked about', which leads me to ask: do you change the subject line of the incoming email?

What I mean is: incoming enquiries from the listing sites usually have something like: 'Holiday-Rentals.co.uk enquiry: #56381 - from Joseph Bloggs....'"

Do you change it to something more personal to your property, or do you leave it so they have a clue who you are and where they found you?

MG

[Rocket Rab]

One interesting point was A2's 'remind them which property they've asked about', which leads me to ask: do you change the subject line of the incoming email?

What I mean is: incoming enquiries from the listing sites usually have something like: 'Holiday-Rentals.co.uk enquiry: #56381 - from Joseph Bloggs....'"

Do you change it to something more personal to your property, or do you leave it so they have a clue who you are and where they found you?

MG

Yes, I do change it, but only to tidy it up a bit - I would mention Holiday Rentals (say), and the name of our house, and the location (town and Ile de Ré).

[Giddy Goat]

Ditto, plus the property reference number - of course unless the enquiry has come directly from our website! That sorta goes without saying.