I have always had a Moderate cancellation policy, but this week I had two separate bookings cancelled right before the five day period kicked in, and I mean one of them cancelled only two hours before this, so they both got full refunds.
This is annoying for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's high season and I could have booked those rooms several times over, but I doubt they'll get booked now at such short notice.
Secondly, if the guests had given me good reason to cancel, that would have been okay, but they didn't. One cancelled because he wanted to leave his bags here for a day after check out and I couldn't accommodate this becuse I will be at work. I had not promised to store his bags, quite the opposite. I had refused to accept the booking until he confirmed he understood that I couldn't guarantee to do so.
Now I am thinking of changing to a Strict cancellation policy, but I wonder if this is going to put guests off booking. If there was something inbetween Moderate and Strict, e.g. giving guests a full refund up to 10 days before check in, I would, but there isn't.
I'd love to hear from hosts who use the Strict policy and how it works for them. Do you think you get less bookings as a result? Is it generally problem free, or do you get a lot of guests trying to use the Resolution Centre/Extenuating Circumstances etc. to get refunds?
Many thanks!
