cancellation notice

[Yvonne]

We state in our confirmation of booking letter (and again in the guest bedroom alongside tarifs etc) that any amendment / cancellation to a booking must be made with a minimum of 36 hours notice. Any shorter notice and the night(s) will be invoiced in full. ie; Gettting up at breakfast and deciding to cancel the same night. Obviously, where we possibly can, we do not enforce this rule but it is in place for those people who reserve rooms at the busiest times and then just decide to leave early because they dont like the weather or some great great aunty has just died.

Can anyone tell me where we stand legally with enforcing this matter? Can we presume (in a legal capacity)  the clients acceptance of our confirmation letter is their acceptance of this condition (as well as no smoking)?? Or must we state this somewhere.

Thanks

Abi 

[Quillan]

Below is the standard given by Clevacances and GDF as approved by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is accepted under French law and is accepted as 'resonable'. Its what we use and are told that in the unlikely event of ever having to take a client to court that by following these guidelines we are more likely to succeed in getting our money. We have a link to this on our resrvation page within our website in both English and French.

Cancellation of Reservation

Any cancellation must be notified by registered letter or telegram:

- If more than 90 days notice is given the deposit will be refunded in full within 30 days of receipt of the cancellation letter or telegram.

- If notice of cancellation is given between 60 and 90 days 75% of the deposit will be refunded within 30 days of receipt of the cancellation letter or telegram.

- If notice of cancellation is given between 30 and 60 days 50% of the deposit will be refunded within 30 days of receipt of the cancellation letter or telegram.

- No deposit will be returned if notice of cancellation is given less than 30 days prior to arrival.

The owner recommends that all guests take holiday cancellation insurance.

[Quillan]

[quote user="abim"]

...... or some great great aunty has just died.

Can anyone tell me where we stand legally with enforcing this matter? Can we presume (in a legal capacity)  the clients acceptance of our confirmation letter is their acceptance of this condition (as well as no smoking)?? Or must we state this somewhere.

Thanks

Abi 

[/quote]

I forgot to say that in the event of "force majeure" you can't charge. So if they cancel due to a the death of a family member you can't charge them for the days and services they have not had. We have only had one of these in eight years.

[Catalpa]

How do you ask them to prove force majeure? Do you actually ask for a copy of the death certificate - or whatever? Otherwise anyone with this knowledge and a desire to change their mind about accommodation will just phone up with the news of their mother's sudden death... sudden when it happened 10 years ago.

[Quillan]

Well the bottom line is thats its difficult to prove if its genuine. I guess at the end of the day you are relying on peoples honesty. Hopefully if it is seversal weeks (which it was in my case) you hope you can refill the slot which we did. In our case we are talking about only the deposit that had to be given back. Still hurts when it happens though.

[Yvonne]

Thanks for the info - this is all very logical prior to the clients arrival. The statement appeasr to refer only to cancelling before arriving or have I misread it?

What I'm a bit unclear about is if , as in this case, they have already stayed 2 nights and cancel the third? Presumably their deposit cheque is deducted from the 2 nights they pay for which, in effect leaves us with zero unless we enforce this 'rule'?

In this instance the client paid very reluctantly and departed without so much as a goodbye........no-one needs clients like that anyway when we all work as hard as we do! Apparentl a pressing meeting in Paris called them away (in ski gear)?!

Thanks for your advise

Abi

[cassis]

[quote user="abim"]What I'm a bit unclear about is if , as in this case, they have already stayed 2 nights and cancel the third? Presumably their deposit cheque is deducted from the 2 nights they pay for which, in effect leaves us with zero unless we enforce this 'rule'?[/quote]

You're entitled to the full amount if a stay is cut short just because the visitor changes his mind, Abim, and as long as there's no fault on your part and it's part of agreed terms and conditions.  The only tricky bit is proving that people have agreed to your terms - easy in the case of a signed contract for a gite, but a lot of B&B owners don't bother as there are so many bookings to handle, plus many stays are of such short duration that the formality of signed contracts isn't worth it.  I know I've never had a signed contract - the idea is bizarre, although nutcases at Gites de France write all their regs as if it's perfectly normal.

You could, as a sort of proof, have a tick box on your website enquiry form that indicates the sender has read and agreed to your T&Cs and block any request if they don't tick it (redirect them to tick the box).

Better than nothing.

[Quillan]

Absolutely, once they arrive they pay for the nights they have booked irregardless of them staying for all those nights. Don't feel sorry for them, give them an invoice for the lot and insist they pay, your not a charity. They may not be happy but tell them if they want that sort of flexibility to use a hotel next time.

I have stack loads of contracts but have never used one, I don't know of anyone ever using one either. I think the idea of a tick box on your website is a good idea if you allow people to book direct. We always send a confirmation letter by email or snail mail and attach a copy of our terms and conditions. If they can't be bothered to read them that's their problem.