changing from moderate to strict cancellation policy

[Cristina-And-Daniel0]

I am wondering what your experience has been if you changed your cancellation policy from Moderate to Strict? Did this impact your bookings?

Was there a decrease in guest interest / bookings?

Do you have more unbooked days in your calendar?

Any other info would be great

Thx!

[Linda108]

I am not sure if my experience is relevant to your listing, but I use strict cancellation until certain key dates are booked.  There are several events in my area that travelers seek a year in advance.  Once those dates are booked, I change to moderate.   I really don't know if guests booking under strict policy are deterred or not.  Most are just grateful to find some place to stay!

[Rachel177]

I changed my cancellation from moderate to strict (with grace period) in the middle of this year as I was fed up with guests booking with me then cancelling as close to the check in date as they could without penalty because they had found cheaper accomodation elsewhere.

I was worried that a strict policy would cause a drop in bookings (especially as I changed it in the middle of winter) but that hasn't been the case. Also the quality of my guests has generally been better than when I had a moderate cancellation policy.

I've only had one guest cancel a booking since I've had the strict cancellation policy & I let him know that if I could fill the booking he had cancelled then I would issue a refund. Lucky for him it was a popular date, I filled the vacancy and sent him a refund.