A short YouTube video transcript (Donna Bordeaux, campgroundaccounting.com) advising campgrounds on handling cancellation fees to maximize future revenue and customer satisfaction. Donna argues that instead of simply keeping money, campgrounds should incentivize guests to notify cancellations (or offer credits) so the vacated site can be resold, preserving goodwill and creating repeat business.
Foreign hi, I'm Donna Bordeaux with campgroundaccounting.com I wanted to talk to you today about cancellation fees. I hear a lot of talk in the industry about should you refund anything, should you not, how should this be handled? And I think there's a different process and procedure for every campground. But the things I would suggest to you to consider are if someone is not coming and they've already paid you, yes, you have their money. However, what should you do so that you have the best opportunity to utilize that occupancy, that open space, to sell it to somebody else? It's around July 4th today, and I'm sure this campground would love to know if they've sold out a spot and somebody's not coming, they can resell that spot. That allows them additional opportunity to book that site and get another guest in here who may be a consistent visitor for them in the future or give them some great ratings. And it also allows them to satisfy an additional guest, which is great. So consider on cancellation fees, not just how much money can you extract from your guest, but what can you do to get your guest to tell you if they're not going to come or if they're leaving early a day, you may have the opportunity to resell that site again. So some things to consider. I think it's probably best from a customer satisfaction standpoint if you could give them some sort of a credit. Maybe they've already paid you for that day and that's great, but maybe you give them some sort of a credit on a future reservation or if they book another day within a year that you'll give them some sort of credit. There are a lot of things that happen in life that cause people not to be able to make it. Their rig may break down. They've got family issues that come up at the last moment. I know a lot of people cancel, and that's not always great for your business. But let's see what we can do to make sure that those will be great guests in the future for you. They'll come back and spend even more money, and you'll have the opportunity to please another guest who may need that spot. And you want to know if they're coming or not. So take a moment to look at your cancellation policy and make sure that it meets those needs and gives you and your customers some kind of incentive to let you know if there are changes to their plans. So I'm Donna Bordeaux with campgroundaccounting.com have a great day.
