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?

Agree with this. People think you can fill the place or that they can get a refund from you. Unless she has had a family disaster/broken a limb etc (in which case travel insurance or her credit card might actually cover it anyway), then she will have to suck this up… or come.

And a randy Vicar if you have a kitchen sofa!

Non-for-profit orgs can pay multi-million compensation packages to their employees, all 'non-for-profit' means is that they don't have to make a profit, that is all.

@RefundOrNot : month will be understood as calendar month, not lunar month (litigation solicitor here). The alternative would be to say 28 days. She is out of time. I agree with PPs that you may want to taper your cancellation repayments.

I'd tell her she's missed deadline for full refund but you can offer her the cost of her food £100. Tell her if she can sell her place on you will accept a new person. In future you need to build in a small margin and be specific x number of days.

how could it be interpreted as 28 days?

are you the letting agent of my first home who said monthly rent would be "4 times what we said the weekly rent would be"?

Did the contract say which month? Maybe she wanted to give a February in a leap year’s notice ;)

Yes, good point. But OP says that SHE organises them - not that she works for a big company that does this - so I inferred from that that it was a one-woman effort and not a huge concern that has a massive turnover but just doesn't actually officially make a profit. I may have got that wrong, of course.

If she cancelled before the deadline then you need to refund it. If she hasn’t then you don’t. It’s really simple. She should be given the opportunity to change the name in the reservation to someone else though if within your policy.

I have had to cancel a few things this summer due to a flare in a fluctuating illness. On one of them I lost all my money, which was around £1000. Yes it hurts, but as long as the Ts&Cs were made clear at the time of booking I don’t begrudge the organisations at all for following them.

YANBU for holding firm.

Sorry, there is one lady, famous on Instagram, who is also running a non-for-profit horse-riding holidays to Asia. It is a one-woman effort. Not a massive turnover, does not officially make a profit. Just paying a huge salary to herself, huge (compared to locals) salaries to her Asian staff in Asia, everybody loves her, they are all rolling in it, thanks for this non-profit wellbeing organisation. Occasionally she runs women-only holidays too. All I was saying is that 'not for profit' means nothing.

I’ve had some great advice on this thread - thank you! I am going to try and sell the remaining place for 50% discount and give the woman a partial refund. That feels fair.

To answer a few questions (this is outing but never mind) the women’s org is a Community Interest Company called Sisters Heal. I’m a volunteer. All the Directors are volunteers - nobody gets paid apart from the therapists.

I volunteer because I feel really strongly that women who have survived trauma or who are struggling with emotional distress should have access to single sex support. We subsidise 1:1 counselling and offer lots of free and low cost therapies. The retreats give women the opportunity to get away and access professional support.

I’ve had lots of DM’s from this thread which I wasn’t expecting! But I have sent everyone the booking link and a code to get a 50% discount. If the place hasn’t been filled by tomorrow I will post the discount code on the thread.

Hoping some divine intervention will help the right woman find this retreat ✨

@RefundOrNot - sorry: my initial message was perhaps a bit unclear.

Dery · Today 14:42
“month” will be understood as calendar month, not lunar month (litigation solicitor here). The alternative would be to say expressly 28 days. The word month will not be interpreted as 28 days; it will be interpreted as calendar month. On any reckoning she is out of time.

She is out of time. I agree with PPs that you may want to taper your cancellation repayments.

To be honest, i think the best thing of all would be to state a specific time and date by which any cancellation must be received. So for a trip starting on, say, 1 March 2027, you would say that notice of cancellation must be given by no later than 11.59 pm on 1 February 2027.

This retreat is in the med thus U.K. law may not be relevant.

I have updated the cancellation policy so it says 30 days https://sistersheal.co.uk/cancellation-policy/

Does the contract say calendar month or 4 weeks? Unless it says calendar month, she is with the time limit.

See if you can resell/auction her place at a heavy discount. You could then refund her the reduced amount.

Surely if you've updated terms then you agree that "a month" is ambiguous and therefore she should be refunded

Good luck OP. This woman is chancing it, with no refund she may decide to come anyway.

I do agree - which is why I started the AIBU. I think a 50% refund is the fairest solution if I can sell the room at a 50% discount 🤞

Best of luck!

Wow, looks like you are sold out! That’s great news.

Was it an anonymous MNer who signed up? That’s so cool, I hope they have a great time (and everyone else of course).

Not sold out @nomas! The private en-suite studio (Virtue) is the room available

Oh sorry my bad, I see it now. Sounds like a very good deal.