Rental Advice - Spanish Homeowners

Cancellations

There are occasions when holidaymakers, for a variety of reasons, have to cancel their holiday. It makes sense, given that you are running your holiday rental as a business, that you should formulate a plan so that in the event of a cancellation you know what to do.

Once a holidaymaker has paid their deposit, the last thing they normally want to do is cancel their holiday so they must have a pretty good reason for doing so. If you can ascertain this reason you are in a better position to know what to do next. For example, you could offer to change their booking for a different week (if you have any suitable ones which are vacant). The thing to remember is that you should try to be as reasonable as you can be in order to (potentially) get repeat bookings next year.

Many holiday home owners in Spain set out a cancellation table in their booking contract so that there are some guidelines for refunds.

For example:

If they have had to cancel, your guests will more than likely have already looked at your cancellation policy in the booking contract, but if not you can simply refer them to it and refund what is appropriate. You can always refund a larger percentage to your guests if you manage to rebook the same week. This would of course be highly appreciated and could lead to them rebooking next year.

When trying to fill cancelled weeks you can use a number of tactics to drum up business such as contacting previous renters (you did keep their names and details didn't you?) to see if they would like to come back - at a reduced rate. Remember, it's often better having your property occupied rather than standing empty - even if it is at a lower price.

Important Note:

Before considering any amount of refund, ensure that the holidaymakers funds have FULLY cleared the banking system. If you accept foreign cheques, remember that these can take up to 8 weeks before the money is available for withdrawal, even though it shows in your bank account as received long before that. Check with your bank before you do anything to avoid being scammed.