Minimum 2 Night Bookings and now 2 cancellations in a row
Jun 25, 2016 23:18:48 GMT
maria likes this
Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Jun 25, 2016 23:18:48 GMT
I've just had a weekend of very odd coincidences. For some reason the end of June/beginning of July is a bit slow, so at the beginning of the month I updated my calendar to allow 2 night bookings instead of 3 night minimum on two x 2 bedroom listings. I quickly had two new bookings for this weekend, each in a different listing. One booking was a family of four from California on a US road trip with NY as their last stop then returning the rental car and flying home. The other booking was two colleagues coming for a meeting that was to happen today. Both booked a few weeks ago, I've had good communication with each group, and was looking forward to welcoming them. In both cases accepting the two day booking left a day empty either in front or behind but I figured a two night booking is better then nothing.
The two colleagues were to arrive at 4pm yesterday and they were pretty precise in all their plans, so by 6pm I was a bit worried that I hadn't heard from them and called. Turned out one of the two had developed kidney stone issues the night before and had to be hospitalized. When I called, the woman who booked told me, I said please cancel the booking right away in case I can get the space rebooked and therefore offer you some kind of refund, although it's a long shot. She wasn't pushy about a refund and so I didn't make much noise about it either, other then wanting her to officially cancel in order to re-open the calendar.
Then today at about 2pm I went to check that the apartment for the other booking was ready and to set the code, and I get a call from the family to say they are on the way to the airport as their beloved dog of 15 years is at the vet to be put down. I expressed my sympathies and left it at that. They've yet to cancel, and even if they do, under my strict policy they won't get a refund. I didn't even bother to say anything about a potential rebooking as I now have TWO apartments open for this weekend and there's only a snowballs chance in hell I'll rebook.
Is this just a bizarre coincidence, or do two night bookings carry a higher cancelation rate? It seems so odd to me, as I have very few cancelations, and super rare to have a cancelation the same day. Is it a full moon?
The two colleagues were to arrive at 4pm yesterday and they were pretty precise in all their plans, so by 6pm I was a bit worried that I hadn't heard from them and called. Turned out one of the two had developed kidney stone issues the night before and had to be hospitalized. When I called, the woman who booked told me, I said please cancel the booking right away in case I can get the space rebooked and therefore offer you some kind of refund, although it's a long shot. She wasn't pushy about a refund and so I didn't make much noise about it either, other then wanting her to officially cancel in order to re-open the calendar.
Then today at about 2pm I went to check that the apartment for the other booking was ready and to set the code, and I get a call from the family to say they are on the way to the airport as their beloved dog of 15 years is at the vet to be put down. I expressed my sympathies and left it at that. They've yet to cancel, and even if they do, under my strict policy they won't get a refund. I didn't even bother to say anything about a potential rebooking as I now have TWO apartments open for this weekend and there's only a snowballs chance in hell I'll rebook.
Is this just a bizarre coincidence, or do two night bookings carry a higher cancelation rate? It seems so odd to me, as I have very few cancelations, and super rare to have a cancelation the same day. Is it a full moon?
