Multiple alterations and then cancellation

[Paris0]

Has anyone had a similar situation?

ive had a few guests that will wait until the day before their reservation and send me an alteration request (sometimes more then once), send their reservation out a few weeks and then cancel their stay.  Now their reservation is so far out that they cancelled without any penalty and a full refund. This is ridiculous, now it’s last min and I’ve lost the prospect of a weekend reservation because they didnt come and then they ultimately cancel on me anywho?! If I cancel on them it’s a penalty but you can change your reservation with me a few times, ultimately cancel all together and there’s no consequences? I’m a little sad and jaded because this has happened more then a few times in my five year’s hosting and at this point there should be a box checked for guests that they understand if they alter their reservation then automatically a percentage of their stay is guaranteed to the host..... now I don’t want to approve reservation alterations:(

[Cristina234]

Hello Paris, as a host you can decline an alteration request to keep a reservation as-is.  If you accept the alteration, changes to the confirmed reservation will be reflected immediately. If you decline, the previous reservation details will stay confirmed. There are no penalties for declining an alteration request. I may accept ONE small alteration and in my conversation I will say that we usually DO NOT accept alterations but that I have made ONE exemption. Best, Cristina

[Sarah977]

@Paris0  Yes, this has become known as a way that savvy guests try to get out of cancelling and losing money. As @Cristina234  said, just decline the alteration, you don't have to cancel the reservation. Not all alterations are bogus, though. It depends on whether doing so would exempt them from the cancellation policy or not. For instance, I have a moderate policy, so if a guest books 3 weeks ahead and wanted to alter the dates to ones a week after that, they would get a full refund if they just cancelled anyway, so they are obviously not scamming.

[Brian1617]

@Paris0there are quite a few guests who have started using this as a means to cancel a booking when they are within the period that there will be no refund for them based on the existing dates. As soon as they get the dates changed, they can’t cancel the booking fast enough and the host gets left with no income for the booking and little or no chance of rebooking. 

Unless the guest meets to exceptional circumstances policy or we can’t host because of a natural disaster event, we are now declining these requests.  We encourage guests to get travel insurance but the majority don’t and then expect we will simply wear the cancellation or their change to dates. 

btt try ian