Whitewater rafting trips are happening all over California and the western USA. W.E.T. is booking many paddling enthusiasts as this is shaping up to be a historical year for water and rafting in California.A big snow pack and late storms are proving to be godsend for Northern California's spring rivers. A long season of spring flows until probably end of June? For real!
But, I digress, as I usually do when writing about the insignificant minutiae of the reservation office as we all sit here talking to guests, booking reservations and overseeing the online store for rafting trips.
What I do know is that guests are reserving later and waiting until the last minute to book a trip. We know one of the reasons is because of cancellation policies. It's a dilemma for both the company and the guest.
We have to have a cancellation policy or people won't show up. Any excuse could prevent
them from showing up! So the guests wait... until the last minute to book.
The entertainment for those of us in the office this month has been the excuses for canceling trips. You would think it would be about the weather which is a reasonable excuse given that May's weather was quite unpredictable. Some people do not like to do anything outdoors in the rain. Ok. That's cool, we understand.
Some of the best reasons for the dreaded "no-shows" have been unreal. We hope you understand, if your reason was real and it is listed here... it was just hard for us to believe!
TOP 10 REASONS (Excuses) for Canceling a Rafting Trip
10) I lost my driving directions, so I missed the trip.
uuuhhh... driving directions were sent w/ confirmation... they even called the day before to confirm directions again...
9) My boyfriend made dinner last night and it made me sick.
hmmm... we all wondered what he made...
8) We followed a truck with a raft on it and ended up in Tahoe.
we had a serious good laugh over this one... giggling still... lemmings are alive in California!
7) My friend organized this trip w/ my credit card, but he didn't give me any info.
right. someone uses your credit card & you don't have any info over a thousand dollar charge... sure.
6) I put the wrong date on my calendar.
this is actually a common error... double check peeps!
5) I got up too late, realized it was too late; so I went back to sleep.
WHA? this one was amazingly arrogant... couldn't they at least call us...
4) We got drunk last night and we were hung-over.
our fav excuse of all time! so honest and candid... we rescheduled them.
3) My grandmother is dying in the hospital.
this same guest used this excuse 4 years in a row... hmmm...
2) My grandmother died.
and the same guest used this excuse in between those years... 2nd or 3rd year...
and... TA DA-A-A-A... the top #1 excuse in the last few years...
1) I have to go to my grandmother's funeral.
and finally, the same guest used this one for a reschedule in another year... when we could not reschedule him due to a sold out date; he kept his original date and told us his grandmother was dead anyway and probably would not want him to miss his trip... hmmm... she probably would also wish he didn't use her as an excuse! Poor grandma...
Ok. For those who really did have the grandmother excuse, our prayers are with you. For those who used their grandparent for an excuse... well, I hope nothing ever happens to grandma. She deserves better respect than that!
We discussed this phenomenon and we all agree. The best excuse is this, "We have to cancel due to personal/work reasons." It really is none of our business why you didn't show up. It is only our business if you demand a reschedule.
Memorial Day weekend is coming up next. Saturday is packed and there is still some room on Sunday. Do us a favor and try... oh please, try... to book your reservations early next week. We want to make sure everyone is reserved in a timely fashion!
See you on the river,
WET Reservations
W.E.T. River Trips
RAFTWET.com
raftwet-store.com
Note from the editor: ...sounds like the office staff needs to go on a whitewater rafting trip...
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