To not refund this £2k

[RefundOrNot]

NC for this as it’s identifying.

I organise women’s retreats. The next one is abroad at the end of September (Mediterranean).

The retreat sold out 6 months ago and I had a big waiting list with lots of women contacting me saying to get in touch if there is a cancellation.

One of the guests has cancelled - she had one of the biggest private en-suite rooms so her place was expensive (£2k). Her reason for cancelling isn’t an emergency and something she will have known about for a while.

I thought I’d be able to fill her place quite easily and have contacted everyone on the waiting list but nobody can make it now.

The cancellation policy is no refund within a month of the retreat. She cancelled 29 days before the retreat starts.

She wants a full refund but I am going to really struggle to fill her place at such short notice.

The retreat is organised by a not-for-profit women’s org. Everything is priced to break even so the org will have to make a £2k loss. It is a tiny org funded by donations and run by volunteers so this is a huge loss for the org.

On the other hand I feel dreadful not offering a refund.

AIBU not to refund it?

Someone must have at some time surely.

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.

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 ?

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

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

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.

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 😅

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

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

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

I was thinking the same! 😊

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.

Given months have different lengths this is a tricky one or does it mean by same date in previous month prior to retreat starting ? ,

She’s messed her dates up I imagine and left it to the last point in her mind for a refund. Expensive lesson but I agree no refund if you can’t fill the place.

As she isn't within the cancellation period, I would offer her a partial refund of maybe £1k as a goodwill gesture. You will have more chance of selling the package at £1k and you wont be out of pocket. The new person will be super impressed with their great deal and hopefully the partial refund will keep the original customer happy!

Not-for-profit women’s org - how is this relevant?

There’s only one month in the year that is 28 days and it’s not this one.

if that's the case - you've paid out for suppliers well before your free cancellation period ends, and you arent confident of reselling the room - then you probably need to look again at your supplier payment terms and your cancellation terms.

i would absolutely not refund her at this point. I would keep marketing the room - and consider at what point i would offer an existing guest (maybe a repeat booker?) a free or discounted upgrade especially if it is easier to resell one of the cheaper rooms.

tbh i would be optimistic that you could resell if you get it share widely - promote it to your existing booked guests and mailing list/socials and ask them to share.

in my experience there's always a woman who has decided to make a life change who's up for somethign like this at short notice.

i would consider refund in part after all my costs had been met including time and effort /admin to rebook.

No but 4 weeks is 28 days.

So OP really needs to tighten up this bit of the contract.

I use 30/60 days as it’s more specific.

Rather than offer a free upgrade, and then sell a cheaper room, id offer the person who would have booked the en-suite room an upgrade if the difference is paid. Then offer anyone else the same followed by offering what’s left to the waiting list.

if noone takes the room, I’d be inclined to pay the upgrade fee into general funds. I’d also take a leaf out of the hotel or Airbnb bookings where they spell out the exact date/time for refunds to be available. And as PP suggested refund schedule tied to when you commit to costs.

I can absolutely see myself doing this and thinking I was within, just, 28 days so it would be okay. Incidentally, whenever I have done something similar, where I have asked for a refund after 29 days instead of 28 or some such, I've always been politely refused. That's what businesses tend to do.

Have you explained that you’ve already incurred costs on the basis she’s coming and that the organisation will make a loss on the whole event if you refund her.
Could she pay for costs already incurred only so you don’t make a loss?

And if you’re running that lean (not a criticism), and incurring costs that far in advance, perhaps you need to rethink your refund policy.
Finally, do you have insurance to cover this kind of situation? Or does she?

Most travel companies offer a sliding scale of refund- so close to the retreat she would only get about 25% back- this way you can offer the room at a more reasonable rate and not lose any money.

Try contacting the list again offering her place for 1000 or even 750. Charge her for the hours spent on administration and refund her with the amount that you sold her place for.

Added to wrong post