The devastating spread of the terrible Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for property owners to have in place a clear, concise and fair cancellation policy. An integral part of your Terms and Conditions of booking, this policy should both be competitive and have the ability to attract those essential enquiries, and convert them into bookings. It’s essential to provide a set of T’s and C’s to all of your guests, from wherever their booking comes; you must protect your investment!
First of all. the deposit; the down payment required to reserve your property. You may consider reducing this, temporarily, to offer the opportunity to book now with a much reduced deposit. This may boost bookings without reducing your total income; the risk being that you keep less money should the guest cancel outside your cancellation window.
The cancellation window is the period the guest has to cancel with little or no loss of deposit. You may decide to offer full refund 180, 90 or fewer days prior to arrival, offering guests some peace of mind that they will not lose out when booking. You should avoid dates too close to arrival so you have time to rebook the dates. Your payment schedule may also be adjusted.
Your payment schedule is the timeframe in which your guests have to settle the balance, following their initial deposit. Obviously, reservations made at the last minute must be paid in full at booking. Allowing some leeway on these dates may make guests feel more comfortable in booking during these times of great uncertainty; you should judge this based on season, length of stay and your property’s average lead time and cancellation fee.
A property’s cancellation fee is the amount charged in the event of cancellation; it can be done in time increments, increasing the closer it gets to arrival date, or a set amounts across the board. Flexibility and fairness is the key: your guests should always feel you’re doing right by them.
Attracting new guests in this challenging time for business is vitally important; your cancellation policy, and how you adapt and manage it to your guests’ requirements can be a vital tool in overcoming any concerns/objections they may have.
We at White Rose Villas are committed to offering our owners, new and old, a bespoke service to enable you to enhance your online presence and maximise bookings. To that end, we will provide a template set of Terms and Conditions, fully customisable, to each of our owners, on demand. These T’s and C’s can be uploaded to each online platform you use, and can be altered/tweaked to stay on top of your demand curve.
Please get in touch to use this unique service, we are available online or over the telephone to talk to each of you through what is required, and answer any questions you may have.
