Playbook, holiday rental
How many weeks before arrival, and who took the booking
A holiday let cancellation is a question with two variables in it. The first is time: most owners run a scale where a cancellation twelve weeks out is treated very differently from one made ten days before arrival. The second is channel: a booking taken through a listing platform may sit under that platform's own policy rather than the terms on your site. Answer either variable alone and the answer is wrong half the time.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for cancellations holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- This is a scale rather than a switch, so the reply has to establish how far out the guest is before it can say anything useful, which is the opposite of a hotel rate question with a single deadline.
- The rent and the damage deposit behave differently on a cancellation, and guests who read one clause assume it governs both.
- Accommodation booked for specific dates is commonly carved out of the general right to change your mind about a distance purchase in many markets, so the published terms genuinely decide the outcome and vagueness in them is expensive.
- Travel insurance is part of the honest answer here in a way it is not elsewhere, because the reason for the cancellation often decides whether the guest recovers anything at all, and the owner is not the one who decides that.
How it arrives
- what is your cancellation policy
- we booked for august can we cancel and get a refund
- what happens if we cancel 2 weeks before
- can we move our dates instead of cancelling
- we booked through a listing site who do we cancel with
- what if you have to cancel on us
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The scale written as bands with dates in them | What is refunded at each distance from arrival, expressed in days or weeks rather than in vague phrases, and whether the balance payment date sits inside the scale. Guests count backwards from their arrival, so write it the way they will read it. |
|---|---|
| Your position on bookings taken elsewhere | A plain statement that a booking made through a listing platform is governed by the policy shown at the time of that booking, that the owner cannot override it, and where the guest should cancel instead. Without this the assistant will quote your direct terms to somebody they do not apply to. |
| Date moves as an alternative to cancelling | Whether dates can be moved, within what window, whether a rate difference is payable and whether a move can be made only once. Many cancellations are really a request to move, and an owner who says yes to a move keeps revenue that would otherwise leave. |
| What happens if the property becomes unavailable | A burst pipe, a failed boiler, a sale. What you refund, whether you help find an alternative, and how much notice you would give. Guests ask this more often than owners expect and a clear answer is a strong reason to book direct. |
The reply
Our direct booking terms work on a scale counted back from your arrival date, with a larger share refunded the further out you cancel and the balance payment date falling inside that scale, so the exact position depends on how many weeks away your stay is. The security deposit is separate and is released regardless of a cancellation, since it is only ever held against damage. If the booking was made through a listing site, their cancellation policy applies rather than ours and you would need to cancel through them.
It names the shape of the answer before the detail, so a guest who has not said their dates still learns what determines their outcome. It separates the deposit immediately, because that misunderstanding is the most common follow up. The platform paragraph is included every time, since the guest often does not think of the channel as relevant and it changes everything.
Where it stops
The trigger. Any guest who wants to actually cancel or move a booking, describe a reason for cancelling, or ask whether an exception can be made in their circumstances.
I cannot see bookings or make a change to one, so I do not want to tell you where you stand. Leave your name, the email you booked with and your dates, and the owner will look at your booking and come back to you. If you booked through a listing site, the cancellation has to be made through them.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- A refund amount for a specific booking, which depends on dates and the channel it came through.
- That an exception will be made for illness, weather or a change of plan.
- That a platform booking can be cancelled or refunded by the owner.
- That travel insurance will cover a described reason, which is the insurer's decision.
Questions
- Should it mention travel insurance?
- It can say whether you require or recommend it, because that is your published position. What it must not do is say whether a particular reason would be covered, since that belongs to the insurer and a wrong reassurance here costs the guest their claim.
- Guests always ask about a specific booking. Does that make this useless?
- No, because the question that arrives before booking is the valuable one. Somebody deciding between two properties in November wants to know what happens if plans change, and a clear scale published on your own site is a reason to book direct rather than through a platform.
- How does it handle a guest who does not say how far out they are?
- Answer with the shape of the scale rather than picking a band, and set the caution level so it does not guess. A reply that explains what determines the outcome invites the guest to give the dates, which is exactly the exchange you want.
Keep reading
- Everything for a holiday rentalWhat is provided, deposits and cancellation terms answer well. The exact address and the door code stay back until a booking exists.
- Handling cancellations in generalCancellation content is hard to find on purpose. What it costs to answer plainly, how notice periods work, and what happens to data on the way out.
- Towels, travel cots and the drive to the nearest shopTowels, cots, parking and the nearest shop. Evening messages that decide whether a guest arrives relaxed or already annoyed.
- The reply that decides the reviewThe review is written from the reply, not the problem. State only the published terms, take the details, and get an owner on it today.
- Somebody is already inside and something is brokenNo hot water at ten at night is not a documents question. The first reply needs a phone number, not a page from the welcome guide.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.