Introduction
Dear Tappen Hill Client,
This is an open letter to all of our wonderful clients explaining why it is necessary to institute a much more stringent holiday reservation policy, starting with impacted summer dates of 2023.
Since the end of the global Covid travel ban, the demand for dog boarding has increased so much that we have had to stop taking on new clients for months at a time. And as you can imagine, the demand for boarding at the holidays is higher than it has ever been.
In 2022, much of the summer, and all of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s was sold out many months in advance of each holiday. Understandably, this increasing demand has prompted our clients to make their holiday boarding reservations earlier and earlier each year.
Unfortunately, but again very understandably, many clients have resorted to making holiday reservations for dog boarding even before they have made any holiday travel plans. Last year, many clients reserved big chunks of holiday time and were very reluctant to confirm or cancel these reservations, preferring instead to keep all of their options open, just in case they might decide to travel.
Booking and holding weeks of holiday space at Tappen Hill without plans to travel, makes it impossible for our other clients who are actually traveling, to board their dogs. This is seriously problematic for those clients who consequently get put on waiting lists and many times fail to ever get in.
Not only is this unfair and beyond frustrating for these clients, but this whole situation has become totally unmanageable for us as well. Our efforts to manage and coordinate the 2022 holiday season required literally hundreds of hours of staff time to deal with all of the consequences of clients holding on to reservations that they ultimately did not use.
In order to discourage clients from blocking out dates way in advance, before they know their holiday plans, we are implementing a very stringent holiday reservation policy.
All fees will be charged in accordance with this new policy and the terms of the policy will be adhered to without exception. The only way to treat everyone fairly is to treat everyone exactly the same. Therefore, there will be no exceptions.
As you are aware, Annie and I founded Tappen Hill over 22 years ago and we have never had to even consider doing anything like this before now. Unfortunately, our experience with last year’s holidays made it very clear that we need to make an effort to create a more manageable and more fair holiday booking policy.
Thank you for your understanding!
2023 Holiday/Summer Reservation Policy
Holiday Booking Fee:
Fee:
In order to reserve boarding dates during certain holidays, a non-refundable booking fee of $350 will be charged at the time of booking. Please note that this is a separate booking fee and not a cancellation fee.
Holidays:
Summer – Thanksgiving – Christmas – New Years
Grace Period:
A one week grace period is being given to allow time for travel plans to be confirmed. If the reservation is canceled within 7 days or less, from the date the reservation was made, the entire Booking Fee will be refunded.
Non-refundable:
This Holiday Booking Fee is 100% non-refundable after 7 days.
Cancellations:
If the reservation is canceled anytime after the 7 day grace period, the entire $350 booking fee will be forfeited.
Portion of Booking Fee Credited to Reservation:
Providing the reservation is not canceled or shortened, a portion of the booking fee ($250) will be applied to the reservation. If a reservation is shortened within the timeframe affected by the cancellation policy, the Booking Fee Credit will not be available and will not be applied to the reservation.
Note:
The Holiday Booking Fee is a non-refundable administrative fee. In the event a reservation is canceled, the Booking Fee will be forfeited in addition to and separate from, any cancellation fees that will be charged according to the holiday cancellation policy. The portion of the Booking Fee not credited to a reservation is a non-refundable fee.
Please also note that all summer and holiday reservations will be subject to high-season minimums. Scroll down on our “About” page to see our holiday minimums.
Cancellation Policy:
The following percentages will be applied to the entire holiday booking, as reserved, in order to calculate the cancellation fee.
Summer reservations – June 15 through August 21st:
Bookings can be canceled prior to 45 days before the first day of the reservation with no cancellation fee.
From 45 days through 30 days prior there is a 25% cancellation fee.
From 29 days through 22 days prior there is a 50% cancellation fee.
From 21 days through 14 days prior there is a 75% cancellation fee.
Less than 14 days prior to the reservation there is a 100% cancellation fee.
Thanksgiving:
Bookings can be canceled prior to October 1st with no cancellation fee.
From Oct. 1st through Oct. 15th there is a 25% cancellation fee.
From Oct. 15th a through Oct. 31st there is a 50% cancellation fee.
From Nov. 1st through Nov. 7th there is a 75% cancellation fee.
After November 7th there is a 100% cancellation fee.
Christmas/New Years:
Bookings can be canceled prior to November 15 with no cancellation fee.
From Nov. 15th through Nov. 30th there is a 25% cancellation fee.
From Dec. 1st through Dec. 7th there is a 50% cancellation fee.
From Dec. 8th and Dec. 15th there is a 75% cancellation fee.
After December 15th there is a 100% cancellation fee.
Cancellations:
For all holiday reservation cancellations, 100% of the Holiday Booking Fee will be forfeited in addition to the appropriate cancellation fee (if any).
Reservation Changes:
Changes to high-season, holiday reservations may or may not be able to be accommodated. We will make every effort to accommodate change requests, however, because of the high occupancy at the holidays, we may not have the availability necessary to accommodate certain changes. If a holiday reservation is shortened within the timeframe affected by cancellation policy, the appropriate cancellation fee will be applied to the canceled portion of the reservation.
