Should I retain the deposit if a guest cancels if they have clearly not read the entire listing?

[Donna243]

I have only been doing this 4 months with pretty good success but am getting a little frustrated with some people's lack of thoroughly reading the listing.  I have a moderate cancellation policy.  However, I have had two people cancel due to reasons that are clearly described in my listing (i.e. I indicate I have no kitchen).  The last person who cancelled said she didn;t realize that.  She was booked for three nights.  It was under the 5 days therefore I was eligible for a substantial deposit.  I declined it but did not recover any bookings.  The second group was booked for 3 days, checked in and stayed one night, but requested to leave after a night saying that they didn't understand the bedroom situation and that it wasnt going to work.  I also declined the money but was unable to get guests at the last minute.  I detail the bedroom situation and have pics of every room.  My thoughts on declining the money is I don't want angry people staying or people coming in if they've asked for a refund and I didn't give it to them.  But it has only happened twice but I need to decide how I am going to manage this moving forward because clearly I lost money.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

[Cormac0]

@Donna243

You have clearly not read how the deposit system works, back to study...

Regards

Cormac

The Explorer's Club Krakow III

[Branka-and-Silvia0 · Accepted solution]

@Donna243

That is why cancellation policies are for. You can set yours to "strict" if you often have cancellations and if they cancel they will get money back according to your cancelation policy.

Guests do not read carefully, we all know that, but just to prevent such misunderstandings you can repeat it in your first message immediately after booking.