Non-Refundable fee while Reservation

[Kenneth367]

Hi there. I am new hosting and hope you could help me. I have a "floating" property into a resort, that means I can choose any 7-nights period within the year to reserve my week however I have to pay a $159 fee for each reservation. I listed my property on airbnb however I do not know how to setup this on the price as a non-refundable item even though the guest cancels 30 days in advance since otherwise I will be paying $159 for each reservation made and no way to received it back from the cancelling guest. Thanks! Kenneth

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kenneth367 even with their strictest cancellation policy (which is 'Strict') guests can apply for an extenuating circumstances cancellation and get a full refund right up to the day before their stay. I would find another method of listing your property if I were you.

[Kenneth367]

Thanks Mike! I will also look for at booking.com conditions. There should be some kind of protection for host, at least this minimum condition.

[Pat271]

Curious how this works with a timeshare. Do you just open 1 particular fixed week on the calendar?

[Kenneth367]

Hi Pat. Mine is a timeshare. I have fixed/floating week therefore I setup all my calendar as available and confirmation required by me prior to confirm the booking and requested 7-night minimum/maximum stay. If a guest need a different week I just call to my timeshare to deposit my week and I could use it anytime within the year (1st reservation is free but if I cancel, the next reservations I should pay $159 fee). That is how I am listing my property. best!

[Kenneth367]

I have also setup higher price nightly for special dates such Christmas, Thanksgiving and so on.

[Pat271]

@Kenneth367  Your timeshare must work differently than mine.

First of all, my timeshare’s check-in date is only on Saturday. I notice with yours, you can check in any day of the week. I tried a Tuesday to a Tuesday, and it told me it was available and showed me the Summary page.

Second of all, although I have a floating week, I wouldn’t be able to accept any booking and then deposit the booked week with the resort. I would have to do the reverse - call the resort first to see if that week was available, as that week might be sold out at the resort.

[Kenneth367]

Hi @Pat271 

Yes, I setup to choose starting booking any date since my resort let me start my booking any day if this is a deposit. My fixed week is April 8th-April 15th (Friday to Friday) however if I deposit it I could use my week starting anytime 7-days (I have also the choice to split into 4/3 nights but do not complicated yet).

Regarding the deposit. What I does is to deposit my week in advance since It is very complicated I found a group to stay in my property exactly from April 8th to April 15th. Then when somebody through Airbnb need a reservation with my property what I did is to setup a confirmation from me on Airbnb and I get a 48hr-window. I will have 48 hours to have a chance to call my resort and validate if those dates are available, and if not available I should not confirm the booking and that's it. No worry on that. My concern is once I confirm availability with the resort and I confirm the booking with the guest.... if they cancel I will have troubles with next Resort confirmation since this would have a fee ($159). If you have any question I would be glad to help you... I was also having hard time figured out how to use my timeshare for this proposes :D. 

[Pat271]

@Kenneth367  Ah, I see, I think. 🙂

A couple of ideas:

- Raise your price by $22.71 per night ($159 divided by 7). That way you are always covered.

- Set your cancellation policy to Strict. Barring any extenuating circumstances, the guest will lose 50% of the entire amount if they cancel after 48 hours of booking, and 100% if they cancel within 1 week of check-in, no matter how far in advance the booking is made. Just make sure you don’t book this with your resort until after the initial 48-hour free cancellation period, in order to avoid incurring the $159 fee while the guest can still cancel for free.