VRBO & Booking.com: The Best Cancellation Policy Strategy

Get Paid For Your Pad
Published: November 24, 2025
Pricing & Profitability

Summary

This article discusses cancellation policy strategies for VRBO and Booking.com, emphasizing how the 'one size fits all' approach can hurt revenue. Hosts should analyze their booking windows and market to create flexible and non-refundable rate strategies to improve Average Daily Rate (ADR) and occupancy.

Key Insights

  • •Relying on a single, static cancellation policy for the entire year rarely makes sense.
  • •Offering both flexible and non-refundable rates boosts conversions.

Action Items

  • ✓
    Consider building multiple cancellation policies and pricing them separately, particularly on Booking.com.
    Effort: medium
    Impact: medium
  • ✓
    Analyze your booking windows to determine whether a strict or flexible cancellation policy is best for your situation.
    Effort: low
    Impact: medium

Tools & Resources

  • →
    Freewyld Foundry: Learn more about Freewyld Foundry(https://www.freewyldfoundry.com/)

Common Mistakes

  • ⚠Using the wrong cancellation rules for the wrong seasons can leave significant revenue on the table.

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