How to batch cancel reservations without being penalized

[Leon Lee]

Hi, BPers

We recently purchased a rundown motel that had extremely poor management from the previous owner. It is a beachfront motel but let guests book for free. There are hundreds of bookings extending to the end of 2023. What's worse, they significantly undersold their dates, but allowing one night stay, and charges only $100/night. Now, the new cleaning team wants to charge us $100 per room per clean. Anyway, you got the idea :)

We have a big budget to renovate this place, but with so many (and undersold and possibly malicious) reservations, what will be a great way to cancel these bookings without being penalized by the booking channels. They are mainly from booking.com and Expedia.com.

We really wanted to re-list the motel from all platforms, as any ads and reviews online about the motel is a liability to us. Search from Google Map about the motel, you will see reviews containing keywords like "BED BUGS", "horrible", "bad business", etc..

We are truly determined to turn this rundown motel into a beautiful beachfront boutique motel/airbnb. So, any inputs will be greatly appreciated!

Lee