To not refund this £2k

Fr future, the cancellation periods should be before the date you have to confirm and pay for catering and other services, so that no-one is left out of pocket.

I was thinking the same! 😊

Yeah I was thinking she had an extra 2 days to cancel but I looked at it wrong. Not sure of the relevance of the booking date though

She booked 20 November last year.
Cancelled last Saturday (29 August)
Retreat starts 27 September.

If the retreat starts on the 27th - then she is out of luck

Very few months are 28 days. About 6% of them. A month is usually taken as 30 days if not otherwise specified.

So she is eligible for a refund then surely? A month on from 29th August is 29th September

edit: yeah I worked that out wrong 😅

Yanbu not to refund if you can't fill the place at short notice. Presumably part of the issue is that people also have to pay for their travel and that's a lot more expensive at short notice.

Probably it will only get filled if sold at a deep discount. Tell her she can either sell the place herself at whatever price she can get for it, and you will honour the transfer if she finds someone who will buy it from her, or if she don't want to do the work you'll offer it out to your mailing list at 50% discount and if anyone buys it you'll give her a 50% refund.

You should not be out of pocket for her flakiness.

Not the same situation, but we run a glamping site. Our cancellation policy is no refund under a month, and in any case they are going to lose their 25% deposit.

We do however try to sell on the holiday, and if that happens we offer them the 75% less an admin fee.

Would £500 off the price and an admin fee of say £100 make the place more likely to sell?

trying to find £1400 rather than £2K is probably easier, especially if you consider that some people might like an upgrade

Thus I got an upgrade on a Pilates retreat and sold my cheaper spot to an someone I vaguely knew. Try putting it out to everyone going as a cheap upgrade and ask them all to try and sell the spot. I think you have to refund Miss Uncongeniality but you can definitely mitigate the losses

I would generously try and resell her place but if not, I wouldn’t refund. If she had booked flights with airlines or a hotel room or villa that’s paid in advance with a no refund cancellation policy, then she wouldn’t be refunded either. Maybe she can recover costs through her travel insurance ?

If it’s a not for profit then of course she can’t have a refund. Try and do the swap thing for the lady who might pay more for an up grade, but unless you can then sell her place it still would leave a deficit so the answer is no. She didn’t cancel in time.

Someone must have at some time surely.

This is the grey area then. Could argue that a month is 28 days, if you haven’t specified a date then when was customer to know when was the last date to cancel with full refund

why did she cancel?

Explain it's not for profit and you will make a loss if you refund so unfortunately you can't. You have tried to find someone to take her place but that is all you can do and so far no takers. Surely she wouldn't want to put a not for profit org into debt because of her bad planning?

Ah no, I’m so sad to hear that. Such a great thread title and a bit of happiness amongst the many stories of asshole men.

Legally a calendar month would be the default, not a lunar month.

And lots of bottles of water to turn into wine.

You really need to iron clad it abit more. If you go by calendar month she's missed the deadline, if you go by lunar month, 28 days, she's made the deadline. I'm pretty sure legally unclear wording comes down on you, not them. And if you don't specify reasons for cancellation then you've really put yourself in a vulnerable position.

We deal in something else entirely but people pay for something and then month later they get it. We have been stung in the past, our cancellation policy is so specific now, even down to the exact time on the day because you can't risk it. And what reasons you can have to cancel and what reasons wouldn't cover you.

I think you're probably going to have to refund and try to recoup as much of the loss yourself.

You shouldn't, a full refund even 31 days before a holiday is insane, but that's what you agreed to in your contract so you have to honour it.

I would tell her that you have genuinely tried to find a replacement but cannot and this is why the policy is in place. Unfortunately you cannot offer a refund but she is welcome to find her own replacement. You are well within your rights to do this, she can moan but it’s nit your problem.

Maybe that's your solution.
Higher powers at work and all that!!

Presumably that is a calendar month then. So she could cancel up until 27th August. She cancelled on the 29th, so no refund.

Don't feel dreadful. You have the month notice policy for a reason and she knew at the time of booking.

If you fill the space then refund her, if you don't then you shouldn't.

You definitely need to address this and spell it out explicitly. Also, to be honest, I think a full refund with just a month to go is far too generous, especially if you're selling tickets 9 months or more before the event.

At best, it should be contingent on you finding somebody else to buy the ticket - and then there should be a deduction for all of your admin time.

Also, as PP said, although you're not after making a profit as such, I would definitely increase the prices a little to build in a contingency float, so the organisation doesn't risk ending up out of pocket.

She booked 20 November last year.
Cancelled last Saturday (29 August)
Retreat starts 27 September.

That's 30 days. So within a month I think. So she is not entitled to a refund.

Yes my example was wrong. Should have said cancellation and date of retreat not booking