Help me understand this cancellation policy!

[BalancingStick]

What does this mean in plain English?

Any cancellation received within 242 days prior to the arrival date will incur a charge of 0% of the booking value. Any cancellation received within 31 days prior to the arrival date will be charged for the entire stay.

I'm well educated in senior role in a large corporate organisation (evidently not in legal or finance) but my brain just can't decipher this!

I read it as - no charge at all for the 242 days before the booking

But

Full charge due it you cancel anywhere from 31 days to the actual booking date

Sounds like a very strange way of saying there’s no cancellation fee up to within 31 days of the booking

As they both said above ^^ It's very badly written.

OK - that is how I think I read it too. But why not just say that?! Why make it so confusing. I'm too stressed to actually make the booking in fear of needing to cancel something (that I don;t want to cancel but sometimes plans change etc) and losing lots of money.

I mean why 242 days? What a random number of days to choose if they are actually irrelevant and don't incur any cancellation fee?!

242 days is eight months I think?

Just call the company and confirm. I've had ones where:

Canceling six months out - no fee
Canceling one month to six months out - 50% fee
Canceling one month or less out - 100% fee

They may just be missing what happens between 1 month and 8 months. Just call and ask.