Has anybody ever cancelled a vacation home rental last minute??UPDATE:Lost my job....

[debden]

We booked this vacation home last fall for mid-October.Well I just got a call last week and a new full-time position with a local Doctors office.I already started yesterday.
The rental starts in less than 3 weeks and I did write the owner a few days ago explaining my situation.Asking if we could rebook for another time.
Do you think that will be OK? I would never do this if there was anyway to get the time off but it's not possible right now.
I have not heard back yet but I sure hope they agree to a different date or
l'll lose over $500.
Debbie

 

[deejay-55]

Check out the homeowner's terms and conditions. Also, if you have travel insurance that might cover you?

 

[isla bonita]

Check out the homeowner's terms and conditions. Also, if you have travel insurance that might cover you?

Best advice but

Life happens and I would think that if you are going to rebook it should be ok.

Good luck with it

 

[swilshire]

There will likely be a cancellation penalty. It should be listed on your rental agreement. I was on the other side of the situation as I rent out a couple of my timeshares. One of the people I had rented to had to cancel last minute and I was unable to rent the week. Had I been able to rent it, I would have returned her deposit even though the agreement said I wouldn't, but since I couldn't, it cost her $100. I felt badly for her, but it cost me quite a bit more than that.

Sheila

 

[5mins2disney]

Just had a guest with a similar situation cancel and rebook on us. The problem is, the owner is most likely not going to be able to rebook and will lose their income for the week. Unfortunately, the mortgage companies and other people don't really take excuses for not making our payments on the property, which is expensive as you can understand!

I have had this happen before as well, and we worked hard to find them a replacement booking. We credited whatever money we got back on the replacement booking as either a refund or money towards their different dates, otherwise we would have no choice except to stick by the cancellation policy (which is typically a full forfeiture within a few weeks of arrival). In both cases we were able to find someone else to stay there though, so the guests got lucky!

Trip insurance is your friend, but it won't help you for something like a last minute change of heart (which a new job wouldn't be covered under trip insurance).

You might lose over $500, yes, but consider the owner's position too, they will lose over $500 and they need that money to pay the bills! It's never a good situation for anyone when this kind of thing comes up.

Another thing to consider, if you book a home in a remote, non-popular resort, chances are the home will never rebook, if it's in a very popular place there's a lot more traffic and inquiries, hence much more liklihood of them being able to do this. These aren't hotels, it's not like there are 100s of empty rooms just sitting there, typically, it's 1 home owned by 1 person, and they're expensive, imagine if you couldn't pay your rent or mortgage all of a sudden if your employer didn't pay your paycheck unexpectedly. This is why cancellation policies exist actually, to protect the homeowner, and to make sure that guests don't suddenly just decide not to come on a whim, since within a certain time period the odds of re-renting it become very slim.

Best of luck, I would ask the owner to try and put it on sale or something and hope they can rebook it.

 

[snowbunny]

George is right, the homeowner is going to be stuck with an unrentable week unless they can find someone on short notice, which is unlikely especially in a non-peak season. So I think you are going to lose something. Regardless of the validity of the reason, you did change your mind at close to the last minute, and the owner is sitting with an empty house during the week you reserved. Good luck, all you can do is ask.

 

[JANNYANS]

If you were my guest and wanted to rebook then you wouldn't lose anything as the deposit will be carried forward to the new dates .
If you then cannot find a time when you can go and the home is open you would lose the deposit.
This has happened with my Christmas guests who canceled early on in the year because of ill health but wanted to transfer to 2008 but now the time they want to go I am booked so they have lost their deposit as they cannot go any other time .

 

[debden]

Thanks for all the great replies.I realize all the problems people who rent their homes go through with renters.And I know they probably will not be able to re-rent their home this late in the game.I can only wait for the reply from the homeowner and see what they say about re-booking another date.Hopefully that is an option.If not I'll just have to cancel and lose the money.
This is a new job and If I need to decide between a full time job and losing some money then the job wins.I've been looking for a long time for a position like this and I don't want to let it slip through my fingers.And I also don't want to ask for time off right away either.
As soon as I get a reply from the owner I'll let you all know what happened.
Thanks again.
Debbie

 

[5mins2disney]

Thanks for all the great replies.I realize all the problems people who rent their homes go through with renters.And I know they probably will not be able to re-rent their home this late in the game.I can only wait for the reply from the homeowner and see what they say about re-booking another date.Hopefully that is an option.If not I'll just have to cancel and lose the money.
This is a new job and If I need to decide between a full time job and losing some money then the job wins.I've been looking for a long time for a position like this and I don't want to let it slip through my fingers.And I also don't want to ask for time off right away either.
As soon as I get a reply from the owner I'll let you all know what happened.
Thanks again.
Debbie

Sometimes you can negotiate things like this when starting a new job. You can always ask, nicely, and let them know you had a vacation planned already you stand to lose $$ on and see if it would be a problem. I just started a new job myself actually last month! I asked my employer the same thing, I was going to go to Europe and start the job 1-2 weeks later (hey why not, it's a once in a lifetime chance to escape we figured!). I also told them no problem, if they really needed me the job was far more important to me than any vacation. They came back and asked that I start right away since I was needed, but instead offered me an extra week's vacation to take any other time this year instead! Pretty cool, so now we're going....where else... (drum roll please!)... DISNEY! Last week of Nov!

Point is though, maybe you can ask? Just be sure to tell them if it's any problem at all you're 100% committed to the job and it's no problem if they say no, it worked for me!

 

[debden]

Sometimes you can negotiate things like this when starting a new job. You can always ask, nicely, and let them know you had a vacation planned already you stand to lose $$ on and see if it would be a problem. I just started a new job myself actually last month! I asked my employer the same thing, I was going to go to Europe and start the job 1-2 weeks later (hey why not, it's a once in a lifetime chance to escape we figured!). I also told them no problem, if they really needed me the job was far more important to me than any vacation. They came back and asked that I start right away since I was needed, but instead offered me an extra week's vacation to take any other time this year instead! Pretty cool, so now we're going....where else... (drum roll please!)... DISNEY! Last week of Nov!

Point is though, maybe you can ask? Just be sure to tell them if it's any problem at all you're 100% committed to the job and it's no problem if they say no, it worked for me!

Actually I was thinking about asking for the time off but this job is only a 4 week 'temporary' position that turns into a 'permanant' position based on my 4 week performance.
So you can understand why I do not think it's a good idea to ask for the time off right now.
Thanks for the suggestion though..
Debbie

 

[Brian Noble]

Check the terms & conditions, but you are probably out of luck. Worse, even if you have trip insurance, this is typically not a covered event.

 

[debden]

After the cancellation fees and penalties it states:

'We will make every attempt to altering dates to suit'

Maybe I have a chance of rebooking different dates
Debbie

 

[debden]

The owner just contacted me today and they are willing to let us rebook without a charge or fee.
Whew.I'm so glad.We were very grateful to the home owner.Now we have to let them know our new dates asap.
We also cancelled our airfare and car rental.
Just wanted to let everyone know what happened.
Debbie

 

[sympatico]

Good for you ! Glad that worked out for you.

 

[debden]

Thanks Sympatico.Were glad the home owner was so understanding and willing to work with us for new dates.
Whew.
Debbie

 

[isla bonita]

-That just goes to show you how great these rental homeowners are. LOL

 

[theparsons]

The owner just contacted me today and they are willing to let us rebook without a charge or fee.
Whew.I'm so glad.We were very grateful to the home owner.Now we have to let them know our new dates asap.
We also cancelled our airfare and car rental.
Just wanted to let everyone know what happened.
Debbie

Maybe you could post a new thread telling people that this owner has an opening and someone looking ofr a last minute booking could contact them. It's great that the owner was willing to help you....now is your chance to help them!

Good luck on the new job. My advice: during those 4 weeks where they are watching you.....stay off the DIS ....after that, hey, come on back!

 

[snowbunny]

The owner just contacted me today and they are willing to let us rebook without a charge or fee.

That's awesome Good luck in the job~

 

[debden]

-That just goes to show you how great these rental homeowners are. LOL

Hey Deb,
Yeah they really are great.We have rented many vacation homes in Orlando and this is the first time we've had to cancel.So I'm glad it was with someone who's willing to go that extra mile for us.And I'm sure there are many other vacation homeowners willing to do the same.
Debbie

 

[debden]

Maybe you could post a new thread telling people that this owner has an opening and someone looking ofr a last minute booking could contact them. It's great that the owner was willing to help you....now is your chance to help them!

Good luck on the new job. My advice: during those 4 weeks where they are watching you.....stay off the DIS ....after that, hey, come on back!

Thanks for the suggestion.That's a good idea.Maybe I'll do just that.
I'll certainly try to stay off the DIS boards while on my 4 week trial period.
It won't be easy!
Debbie