Why Cancellations Are Bad for Your Rental Business
Cancellations are not only a huge problem for disappointed guests, they are usually a huge problem for owners, too. While some cancellations can’t be helped, unfortunately many are unnecessary and can easily be avoided.
#1 It’s expensive
If you cancel a booking through our platform, you’ll have to pay a substantial fee. This is to cover both the administration costs of processing the cancellation and helping the guest find somewhere else to stay. Your guest is likely to lose money too, as they may have already booked travel, such as flights, and made arrangements, such as taking time off work and booking kennels, for example.
#2 It’s a waste of everyone’s time
And time is money! When you cancel a booking, you’ll have to spend time trying to get another booking for those weeks, rather concentrating on other weeks you might have been trying to fill. Your guest will also have their time wasted, as they’ll have to start again and make new travel plans.
“Often, guests tell us they’ll never consider booking a vacation rental again after a property manager cancels.”
#3 It can affect your listing’s position in searches
If you cancel a booking through our platform, you’ll have to pay a substantial fee. This is to cover both the administration costs of processing the cancellation and helping the guest find somewhere else to stay. Your guest is likely to lose money too, as they may have already booked travel, such as flights, and made arrangements, such as taking time off work and booking kennels, for example.
#4 It’s bad for your brand (and ours)
Not only will you miss out on qualifying for marketing extras and awards, such as Instant Book and the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, it’s likely people will talk about their negative experience on social media. This will reflect badly on your rental, but also the vacation rentals industry as a whole.
#5 It could mean the end of your listing on TripAdvisor sites
We want to provide the best possible experience for guests using our site so if there are repeated cancellations, we’ll have no choice but to remove the listing. No one wants that, especially when it’s so easy to avoid cancellations in the first place.
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