Inclement weather and hosting

[Laura2592]

We have the first snowfall of the year in my area. Its a doozy for us Marylanders-- about 8 inches (okay New England and Canadian hosts don't laugh.) But as we don't get a lot of snow normally (last year we had maaayyybe two inches all winter) we are not always well equipped in terms of plowing roads. This is especially true in more rural areas like the one where our cottage is located.

We had a guest cancel this weekend in the wee hours of the morning today anticipating the weather. By the time I woke up I had one inquiry and one request to book for those dates. I watched the snow fall all day and contacted our cottage's neighbors and our cleaners. All confirmed that we might have a rough time doing turnover for an early Friday check in due to waiting time for disinfecting. We are both a little under the weather (not COVID!) so didn't relish traversing possibly unsafe roads to clean and disinfect. So we turned down the booking request. If the original guests had still planned to come, it would have been a real cluster.

So how do you handle bookings when the weather makes the roads impassable or strands your cleaning help? Any tips for dealing with this kind of situation? (My cardinal buddy hung out in our gingko tree all day!)

[Anthony223]

@Laura2592 

Love the bird. We get just sparrows and pigeons. Here in Lisbon we don't get snow or ice luckily but one time the ferry boat service to the city centre was halted for an hour due to gale force wind.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Laura2592 Don't be embarrassed by 8 inches of snow. When 2 inches falls here in the UK it causes chaos similar to 2 foot of snow in Connecticut.

[Liv]

Interesting topic, @Laura2592! I'm not at all used to dealing with snow, so I'm curious to hear what you guys have to say 👀

[Anonymous]

@Laura2592  I'm so happy to hear you finally got your 8 inches!  Wave to Hot Neighbor for me. 😉

[Laura2592]

@Anonymousyou are going to be on Santa's naughty list! Sadly my definition of "hot" does not apply to the neighbor. But you are welcome to stay with us and see for yourself 🙂

[Heather133]

@Laura2592 it's usually more trouble for us when there isn't snow this time of year! Leads to disappointed guests! We do a lot of communicating about snow tires or AWD. Ninety five percent of our winter guests have no problems. It's that 5 percent who arrive in a little Corolla with bald summer tires and have the mistaken impression that snow plows come on-demand that present a challenge. In those cases we remind them they came for the snow.

Loving the cardinal!

[Debra300]

@Mike-And-Jane0 ,

I know what you mean about a small amount of snow shutting stuff down.  We barely go two inches of snow a few years ago, knew that it was coming and it still was pure chaos.  People had abandoned their cars along the highway for miles due to gridlock and running out of fuel and patience, businesses, schools and the government were closed.

@Laura2592, you write such nice messages.  I suggest that you mention in your greeting or followup message the options you will provide if there is an event that will impair your ability to have the room ready for their arrival.  These are the ones that come to mind right now:

1. Reschedule
2. Push back check-in and checkout times
3. Provide a discount
4. Cancel for a full refund

[Katrina79]

@Laura2592 @We received 3 feet of snow one day early November, and it continued snowing every second day...it took a couple days just to shovel out my own driveway lol! I dealt with it by phoning all my guests to make sure they were all alive and not snowed in on the side of a road somewhere. In Canada we deal with it by driving big 4x4 trucks and SUV’s...everyone forgot about Covid for a good three days and instead made sure every neighbour was shovelled out. I would hope any guests that would be impacted by drastic weather would be understanding if the situation. If not, well you can always cancel I guess 🤔