Few questions/comments regarding people rescheduling.
We have roughly 5-12 bookings a week so it’s fairly common that we have some guests updating their booking times and dates which we understand and always help work with.
But for some reason just this week we had 5 out of 7 bookings reschedule, within 24hrs of their original booking time. It did mean we lost a lot of booking hours this week. I’m not complaining, just an odd week for business!
But I was curious if any hosts have ever declined a guest’s booking update request? If you decline then that means you’re basically forcing them to cancel without being refunded (depending on your refund flexibility)
Another question, how many times is too many time for someone to reschedule? We’ve had people reschedule up to 3 times before, it’s annoying and obviously a red flag but so far hasn’t been a problem since they are often short bookings that we can manage. But what is your cut off for how many times someone can postpone and essentially continue to escape the non-refundable period?
We have declined a number of guest updates, largely because they either conflict with an internal booking or are too last-second to accommodate for some reason. We try to avoid it, but it happens.
As far as how many times is too many? Really depends on the situation. I had one booking last week that had been rescheduled 7 times, but the room was always open for when they wanted to reschedule, and since the request was so last second we’d already been paid, it didn’t make a difference to me to say yes each time.
I might not be as flexible with a larger booking with more moving parts, and definitely less flexible with one in which incidentals or labor was scheduled.
Although it hasn’t happened often, I had one guest who rescheduled time after time. Once, she hadn’t even managed to let me know she wasn’t coming. Each time, I got everything extra clean and prepped for her, only to have her no-show. I finally told her this was her last. She nearly tried to reschedule once more, last minute, so I told her that this was her last chance and she kept the booking, albeit, came 2 hours late for a 4 hour booking. I still let her have the full time. However, since my cleaning fee is really a prep fee, I have vowed that in the future bookings postponed less than a day in advance, would be charged an additional cleaning fee.
We charge a rescheduling fee, but if the guests wants to reschedule and there is less than 2 hours before their booking I only offer a credit for a future date. I only allow that one time credit with no option to reschedule if they miss that booking. If there is time to update the booking I allow it but will charge each time they reschedule. If the booking falls on prime days like the weekend and only updates a day or two prior to their original booking date then I charge a higher rescheduling fee. You are able to customize this in the add on feature.
Now with the credit I do inform Peerspace of this in order to keep us protected in case this guest causes any damage to our studios. Peerspace will note the original booking with this information and have your back if something happens.
We have not had many reschedules since we changed our refund policy as well a few months ago with the standard 30 day. We had a lot more issues when we had it as Flexible.
We adhere to Peerspace’s 30-day cancelation policy. It would be great to be “nice” to people and allow changes at their whim, but not when it impacts my bottom line.
I actually had this situation this past week with an event. If a reschedule is requested within 2 weeks of the original booking I treat it like a cancellation. If it’s within 3-4 weeks I’ll charge a reschedule fee and they can’t reschedule again.
I’m a homeowner as opposed to a studio/warehouse space so maybe that has something to do with the different approach but the way I see it… the guest has blocked off that time and prevented another booking from happening so they are accountable for those charges.
I’m blown away that some of you allow a guest to reschedule hours before or a no-show reschedule with no charge. I feel like that sets a bad precedent for future guest expectations and you’re devaluing your time and subsequently your fellow hosts’ time.
Definitely depends on space type, almost all of our bookings come in less then a week of the booking date. We’ve only ever had fast turnarounds and very rarely have bookings that far in advance!