Barnutopia’s cancellation and change policy is included in our terms and conditions. The policy is a formal arrangement that protects you and us and ensures there are no surprises. Generally, the principles relating to cancellation and changes to any reservation are:
- If we cancel your reservation we refund in full.
- If you cancel your reservation or change dates you pay a penalty.
- If external circumstances beyond our control dictate that your reservation cannot for practical purposes go ahead, our terms and conditions apply. However, we may attempt to find a mutually agreeable solution that does not bankrupt you or us. This is the reasonable thing to do. This could include a free date change within a defined period and/or a paid date change outside that period.
Travel, Wedding and Event Insurance
In our booking confirmation email, we advise guests to take out insurance for their glamping holiday, wedding or event at Barnutopia. The relatively small cost of insurance is peace of mind for guests if they have to cancel unexpectedly. We cannot recommend insurers, but have a list of wedding insurers that couples tell us they have used. Make sure you read carefully through the details of any insurance before you buy it. Please also pursue your insurance to cover the cost of your cancellation or changes to your reservation. We can provide documentation to prove your reservation and any payments made.
Cancellation and Change Policy Rationale
We do not enjoy charging guests if they have to cancel or change dates. It is standard industry practice because:
- Allowing cancellations, amendments or date changes free of charge puts businesses (especially small businesses) in a very precarious position.
- If venue hire reservations are changed to new dates for free and businesses cannot re-sell your old dates, their income is halved for the period. For example, you change your 2-night April venue hire weekend to June and we cannot re-sell your original weekend. We now have 1 weekend of income for both weekends.
- Businesses incur expenses all year round on infrastructure, improvements and marketing to secure reservations. Our glamping units, barns, pastures, garden, animals, directory listings, social media and website have to be paid for, built, maintained, fed and cared for every day of the year.
- Seasonal businesses earn income Mar/Apr through Sep/Oct that has to cover expenses for the entire year. Barnutopia’s cash-flow Sep through Mar is significantly reduced. Other than a small number of payment installments and our New Year package, we rely on income received Apr through Aug to sustain us year-round.
- Notwithstanding these considerations, some businesses work with guests to come to a solution that works for both parties. We fall into this category. Asking us to bear the entire financial burden of a cancellation or date change to prime dates in our season (when there is no chance of re-selling your original dates) is not a workable solution for us. We don’t mind reducing our profit margin, but we cannot do away with it completely. “Profit” for self-employed individuals or small businesses is a moot point. It is what we live on.
Special Circumstances
Since opening in 2015, Barnutopia has had very few cancellations or date changes for glamping holidays, weddings or events. Without exception, every venue hire cancellation or date change has been for a good and sometimes tragic reason.
It is not feasible for us to make exceptions to our policy and offer full refunds or free date changes to some guests and not others.
We believe the Barnutopia cancellation and change policy is as fair as it can be to guests and Barnutopia. In the event of cancellation, we retain the cancellation fee and refund any portion due promptly. For changes, we spread the change fee over future instalments. Our cancellation/change penalty does not make up for dates that cannot be re-sold. We do not make a profit from it. Rather, we reduce our losses by a small amount. On a personal level, know also that we have continued to provide a service through personal tragedies and huge unexpected expenses. If we were unable to fulfill our service to you even for reasons such as this, you would expect a refund (and we would expect to give one). Please take this into consideration when the situation is reversed.
