Booking 2 holidays for the same dates, one abroad one in uk. Is it fair?

[Watermelon221]

As above.

Two families I know have booked a 2 week cottage break in the uk (school summer holidays) with Airbnb and also a holiday abroad (Airbnb) for the same dates.

They plan to cancel the uk holiday if restrictions change to make going abroad easier.

Apparently they can cancel for free up to 1 week before so plan to decide then based on guidelines / rules at the time.

Although I’m sure they are right in what they say- that they can cancel and get a full refund- is this morally right?

If they are allowed to cancel for free up to 1 week before, then I see no problem.

Personally I do not think so. It means that others cannot book what may be their only option. And it screws the vendors around. I was out last night with two people who have holiday cottages and they are desperately worried about people doing this. The discussion was about putting in a wacking great non-refundable deposit and how feasible that would be.

In short, I think this practice ruins it for everyone. Vendors are accepting bookings in good faith, They should be made in good faith.

Driving up prices and then possibly not even paying them? Not right.

I think this goes for a lot of things, you have to book National Trust in advance to secure a place however if you just turn up (which we have done on a whim if driving past somewhere) they have lots of availability because people have booked and haven't turned up...it definitely ruins it for others and other than what a pp mentioned about having to take a non-refundable deposit for a holiday or restaurant booking, you can't stop people from doing it...I also think that some people are happy to pay a non refundable deposit and lose it as long as it means that they have options. DH is 40 next month, and so many places are fully booked and have been for a while, I am pretty sure had this been pre-covid there wouldn't have been this unprecedented demand selfishness

They could still find themselves screwed as the travel list is subject to change at shorter than a week's notice.. Like when they changed Portugal from green to amber, only a few days notice was given of that.

We have membership for a local attraction. Spaces are limited. I can book for free as many times as I want, as long as there is a members space free.

There is no easy way for a member to cancel their slot. Apparently the park can do it manually if you call or email, but thats not on the website. So some members can't get tickets, while others have them they can't use.

I'm booking a couple of UK hotels for a break if another UK event we're due to go to is cancelled. I feel a bit uncomfortable about it but actually they'll still easily fill the rooms if we cancel. We booked a holiday two days before we went at the end

... end of last summer.

It seems a bit sneaky to me and unfair on others/UK providers, although I guess most UK suppliers will be able to fill places easily enough.

We use Airbnb and I've never had any accommodation that has such a cancellation policy? It's always 50% if you cancel by X date and you'd lose the lot if you cancelled a week before your booking?

The property has opted to allow free cancellation so I'm struggling to see why its unfair?

UK holiday lets are charging well over usual rates to take advantage of a captive market. I'm not too worried about them right now.

I thought cancelling with airbandb, even if the property owner allows it, comes with some sort of cost, either still have to pay their charges or get a black mark on your status. I might be wrong but there was something airbandb suspended during covid which is back now.

We have a holiday rental apartment on airbnb. You are allowed to set your own rules regarding cancellation depending on how strict you want to be. Our policy is quite strict to hopefully exclude timewasters but we will relax it ie with proof of having Covid. It's probably cost us some customers but it works best for us.

We also used to use booking.com, who are biased towards offering free cancellation. We had several bookings through them of which only one turned up and the rest cancelled. It was obvious theyd booked several places with the intention of deciding later and cancelling the rest. So we've stopped using booking.com.

In answer to your original question of course it's wrong to book more than one place and then cancel. These are actual people that are being messed about not huge faceless corporations. Obviously with covid restrictions it's easier this year to fill it but under normal circumstances people shouldn't just assume that you'll automatically be able to get another customer. Even if you do it would usually be at a reduced rate. People also shouldn't assume that hosts are all rolling in money renting out numerous properties and therefore it doesn't matter. After covid redundancies this is currently our only income.

Is it fair? Well yes, if the vendors allow this in their booking terms they can't complain when people make use of the terms they've chosen! If they wanted to avoid this situation then there are more stringent booking terms they could insist upon.

Plus, this year a) most holiday cottage owners have bumped up their weekly rates considerably, so they're unlikely to end up out of pocket and b) I suspect any stray weeks will quickly be snapped up, as most people don't seem keen to travel abroad, what with green/amber list changes happening quickly and randomly + numerous tests to organise, pay for and have and odious passenger locator forms to fill out, even for green list holidays.

Silly of firms to offer free cancellations as I suspect many will be doing this. They should want to guarantee income surely in these times.

On the one hand it's a bit dickish. On the other hand there are so many stories of hosts cancelling then relisting at double the price, so I'm not sure I'll be shedding any tears.

We have already been away this summer (nursery age child) but still have some holiday to take in July/August if we can book somewhere last minute (otherwise we'll do a few days out and roll the holiday over). There may be others like us who will also be looking so they may manage to re-let it. What we're not prepared to do is pay the inflated prices that some property owners are charging this year.

I know lots who have done this, so have I. Hedging bets and all that. If they are offering the cancellation policy then I am within my rights to do it.

This is one of the reasons why many holiday let's will either go out of business or stop using Airbnb. Ultimately we will all pay as prices will go up to allow for it.

I thought this was commonplace before Covid.
I start to research hotels around September and often book several for the same dates when the advance prices are good. Then decide which to go with.
Tbh, when I'm planning my holiday I'm not really taking into account Jim and Mavis who might not be able to book theirs because I've blocked the room.
Everyone by now surely knows there's the possibility to do this, so anyone not taking advantage of it makes their own decision.

(Just seen OP is specifically talking about Airbnb but the principle is the same) and

Life isn’t fair.

I wouldn't do it, I'm surprised others do.

Not common at all in my social circle to actively book multiple holidays, hotels or restaurants and then decide closer to the time.
Messes people and companies about. Doesn't sit right with me

I'm sure lots of people have done this this year. I've booked a hotel on Booking.com and chose the free cancellation option (which is more expensive). This means on the off chance the situation changes then I'm not losing money.
If AirB&B are offering this option they have to expect people to take it, especially at the moment.