Contents
The three policies
Each host chooses their own. It appears on the listing, in plain words, and it is the one that applies.
Flexible — cancel freely up to the day before arrival. This is the policy we recommend to hosts, and the one we put forward.
Moderate — cancel freely up to five days before arrival. Beyond that, the terms agreed with the host apply.
Strict — a deposit is asked for and is not returned. Some small places, with only three or four rooms, cannot absorb a late cancellation.
What we cannot do
We do not hold your money. We cannot refund you, therefore, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Any platform that promises a refund has taken the money first — and paid itself along the way, out of you or out of the host. We chose the opposite: you pay the host directly, and you agree with them what happens if you cancel.
What we do, on the other hand
If a host does not honour the policy they announced themselves, write to us. We are not a party to the contract, but that does not make us absent.
We take it up with them, we correct the listing, and we remove them from the catalogue if it happens again. That is our only lever — it is a real one, and it is usually enough.
A word of advice, before you write
Ask the host, in your very first message, where things stand on the deposit and on cancellation. An answer in writing, in an e-mail, is worth more than a box ticked on a platform.
That is the other advantage of direct contact: you are talking to someone, and plenty of hosts will come to an arrangement when the reason is a good one.
A cancellation going badly?
Write to us. A person will reply, and we will go and see the host.