What part of no don't you understand?

Question

Yeah, the old Lorrie Morgan song.

Several years ago, we had a party renting a very large cabin that wanted to cancel 5 days prior to arrival and get a refund.  Of course, we declined.

So I then get a follow-up call. This time from "Suzy", who tells me she is the agent for a certain Lorrie Morgan, and Lorrie and her family were to be staying at the cabin.  "I knew that you probably didn't realize this was Lorrie Morgan, so can we go ahead and get a refund?"  I replied "no."  So she pressed and pressed, getting very ugly over the phone. She finally hung up in disgust.

Ten minutes later, I guet a call from Lorrie Morgan. She kindly introduced herself, gave me the same song and dance, and asked for a refund.  Again, I politely declined.  She replied "You do realize who I am, don't you"?  To which I said "yes, Lorrie Morgan, and the answer is  the same."

I wanted to bad to bust out in her hit "What part of no don't you understand.". The next time someone is giving you grief about their cancellation policy, send them this helpful link:

What Part of No

Carolyn Fuller · Answer

I'm not sure why this is happening, but I seem to be getting a lot more people who want to cancel and get full refunds in the 11th, 12th or 13th hour than ever before.

I found the hard "no" led to headaches so I switched to, "if it is rebooked, I will give you a refund." That has worked out much better.

Some of my 11th hour cancellations end up deciding to come after all.

My 13th hour cancellation was someone who had booked for 3 weeks and after a week announced that her plans had changed and she was leaving the following morning. She wanted a full refund on the 2 weeks she was cancelling.

She finally accepted that she wasn't getting a refund if the unit wasn't rebooked. She monitored the bookings and asked me to slash my prices in hopes of getting bookings. I did as she asked and managed to book 6 of the 14 nights she had cancelled. And that was at bargain basement prices! After removing the expenses involved with turnovers, she is getting back a 1/4 of what she lost in that cancellation.

It was slightly more work on my part but a ton fewer headaches. She isn't thrilled that her refund is so low but I was able to give her an exact account of the revenue minus expenses and she thanked me.

Far fewer phone calls. Far less of a headache. I'm happy and the guests are reasonably ok. The ones who decided to come, after all, left 5 star reviews.

Michael Baum · Answer

Hilarious. I didn't know who she was either.

Like @Patricia Andriolo-Bull, I hate the do you know who I am.

That has happened once. It was some kind of minor fund manager. Like the world knows who the fund manager is for Bumblenard Financial is...

Chris Seveney · Answer

No clue who that is. But if it's someone famous it makes it even a harder no because you clearly can afford it.

Patricia Andriolo-Bull · Answer

There’s not much I dislike more than, “Don’t you know who I am?”  For those words alone, I’d say no, even if I was so inclined to otherwise. Why do some people think that their infamy make them more important than any other human?

Carolyn Fuller · Answer

Heads up, South Korea is now forcing Airbnb to offer full refunds to South Korean guests all the way up to the final day of the reservation. Airbnb gives hosts the opportunity to decline the reservation. If the reservation is just for a couple of days, I accept it. Longer and I would reject it.

A lot of my guests expecting full refunds are coming from East Asia. I'm now wondering if that isn't a cultural difference. Perhaps the East Asian hospitality industry provides full refunds no questions asked.

I worked for a US retail company that had a policy of accepting returns no questions asked and even when I accidentally uncovered someone seriously abusing the policy, my bosses wouldn't pursue the matter.

As a host, when I treat the expectation as a cultural misunderstanding, as opposed to spoiled guest syndrome, the whole experience goes much more smoothly.

Andrew Steffens · Answer

I have no idea who that is haha

I have seen an increase in this (like everyone else) because Airbnb spoils guests.  Even if the specific booking is not from Airbnb, the entitlement is permeating the market in general.

I do like how pretty much all of the OTA's offer trip insurance.  We also partnered with Generali and offer trip insurance the guest can buy after booking on Airbnb/VRBO, etc.

Now when they ask "please my grandpop died, have you no heart!" I refer them to call their travel insurance.  They then say well we did not get the trip insurance.  I ask why and they say "well I did not know my grandpop was going to die" and right when they say that usually they start to understand.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

I agree that Lorrie was not the natural talent that Patty was (best ever, IMHO), but she did have a pretty serious voice.....helps to have a famous and successful Dad and go on the Grand Ole Opry at age 13 !!

And dang, her husband was a freaking talent, right? Too bad about him, I loved his stuff! RIP Keith.....

NA NA · Answer

I used to have a two bedroom apartment that I lived in and I would rent out the second room on Airbnb and one time I got a guest and she would leave her windows open. She booked for like one month and a half. I have cat and a dog back then and it was listed on my post I asked her to either close the window or contribute a little bit with the light bill and she ignored my messages even though I asked her like three times so I gave her a three day notice. Hey I need you to move out since you're not being responsive or working with me. So she got Airbnb to refund her for almost 3 weeks of the pay that she gave me And she stole a chair from my room that was crazy

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Great story, Collin! That was such a good song, and by a lovely lady as well.

JD Martin · Answer

Hahaha that is a great story! Besides, Lorrie Morgan was no Patty Loveless or even Pam Tillis :P  And I liked her husband better anyway; frankly, if he hadn't died I don't think anyone would even know who Lorrie Morgan is.

What part of no don't you understand?

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