Cancellation
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What if we have
to cancel?
If you have to cancel, and we
are able to re-rent the property, we will give you a
full refund less a nominal fee for our time and costs.
If we are not able to re-rent
the property, we will not give you a refund. Why? The
owner in the meantime has counted on your booking. On
that reliance, he (and we) have not offered the house
to other prospective renters. If you have paid your
50% deposit, you will forfeit it in the event of cancellation.
If you have paid in full, you will forfeit the entire
amount.
How can you protect yourself
against cancellation? Well, if your reason for cancellation
is that you’ve changed your mind and want to go
to Montana instead, you can’t protect yourself.
You just take the loss.
For a legitimate reason like
illness or death or otherwise, you can and should protect
yourself by purchasing trip cancellation insurance.
Forms to apply for such policies are readily available
through travel agencies, and we will supply you with the names of a couple of examples of trip cancellation insurance companies with the confirmation documents.
We make no money on this; we supply the names of these companies just as
a courtesy to you; we are not in the insurance business.
We didn’t
follow your advice. We didn’t take out trip cancellation
insurance, and we have to cancel unexpectedly. How can
we work together on this?
We can’t, I’m afraid.
It’s like going to your insurance broker and saying,
“Fred, I know you tried to sell us that life insurance
policy on Grandad, but we didn’t buy it and now
Grandad’s gone and died on us. How can we work
together on this?” The answer is: You must be responsible
for your own actions or failure to take action. In this
case, there is no “working together”.
How about the
possibility of rescheduling in the case of cancellation?
Can we apply the rent we paid on the original booking
to a future reservation?
No. Once you make a booking,
the property in question is taken off the market. If
you cancel and want to rebook, the owner is penalized
a second time by reserving another period for you. We’d
love it if you rebooked, but you must pay a new deposit.
Sometimes, it is possible that
the rental amount you paid can be applied to a rental
in the off season. And by off season, we don’t
mean Christmas or Easter or April or October; those
are heavily booked periods It means winter and, in some
cases, August. And sometimes, we’re able to make
an arrangement whereby the amount you paid can be applied
to a future rental, even in high season, if that second
booking occurs no more than 6 or 8 weeks in advance.
We’re willing to discuss the possibilities. But
there are no guarantees. The decision on this is entirely
up to the owner. You should have taken out trip cancellation
insurance, and your failure to do so is your own responsibility
and no one else’s. That’s the bottom line.
Any accommodation made to you in the event of cancellation
without your having purchased trip cancellation insurance
is simply a favor to you and is not yours by right.
There’s
been a terrorist act in the US or Europe. We’re
too afraid to travel. Will you give us our money back?
Can we reschedule?
No, we will not, and no, you
cannot.
First let us say this: We believe
in fear. We are ourselves not foolishly courageous.
If you’re terrified, we have no intention of making
you feel badly about your feelings.
But we won’t pay for your
fear. On September 11, 2001, our world changed forever.
Fear and risk are now part of life. You can choose not
to rent and to stay in hotels which often give full
refunds for cancelled reservations (though more and
more of them insist on receiving notice of cancellation
days or even weeks in advance). Your choice to stay
in a privately owned villa is your responsibility.
If commercial airlines are flying,
we expect you to honor your commitment or forfeit the
rental amount you’ve paid. You can protect yourself
by purchasing a trip cancellation policy, making sure
that the policy covers any events which might cause
you fear.
Airplanes aren’t
flying – what are we supposed to do?
Call us, and we’ll discuss
it.
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