We receive message of a cancellation today. The guest was due to arrive later this week and stay for ten days so it is quite a blow. She phones us from the UK to say that she cancelled weeks ago and doesn't know why this is not reflected on booking.com. It was only when she received a reminder that her booking was coming up that she realised it had not been cancelled. When she tried to cancel, she was told that she would be charged half of the total price as she had left it so late. As we are nice people(!) we believe her story and waive the cancellation fee.
We have been a bit lax about asking people for deposits if they are staying for long periods of time or over busy times such as Christmas and Trade Fair. We have been let down on a number of occasions by people who book for up to two weeks and then never show up. Generally, we know if people are going to come or not because those who are tend to write to us and ask lots of questions about money, fuel and details such as how far Matopos is. A couple of days before someone is due to arrive, I send them a message saying we are looking forward to meeting them and what time do they expect to arrive. Some bookings I feel are totally bogus, Someone on a business trip books with us, shows proof of the booking to their boss who gives them money to cover accommodation and then they go and stay with a cousin somewhere or in a backpackers and keep the money.
Mid-morning, we go to Tredgold House to see if we can sort out Ellie's external Zimbabwean birth certificate, but the queue is so long we turn around and leave.
The water and the electricity are off the entire day.
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