A guide who cancels loses a day; a guest who cancels costs the guide a day they cannot sell again. A written policy is how both sides know what happens before anyone is upset. Here is how operators structure one, three templates you can paste, and how to make the policy enforce itself.
Updated 7 min read
Book a demoStart free, 30 daysGuided trips are perishable inventory. A Saturday float with two seats that cancels on Friday night is a Saturday float you ran half empty, or did not run at all, while the guide still showed up. Guests understand this once it is written down; what they do not accept is a rule invented at the moment it is applied. A policy that is on your website, shown at checkout, repeated in the confirmation and attached to the deposit is a policy nobody argues with.
The second thing a policy does is protect the guest. It tells them what happens when the river blows out, when the guide is sick, or when the minimum group does not fill. Operators who write only the guest-cancels half of the policy end up improvising the other half in front of a disappointed family.
Almost every policy that works reduces to three windows measured from the trip date. The numbers change with the trip; the shape does not.
| Window | What the guest gets back | Typical range by trip |
|---|---|---|
| Full refund | Everything paid, or the deposit held as credit if you prefer | 14 days out for half and full days; 30 to 60 days for multi-day and lodge trips |
| Partial | The balance refunded, the deposit kept, or a percentage | Between the full-refund cutoff and 48 to 72 hours before a day trip; 14 to 30 days for multi-day |
| No refund | Nothing, or a credit at your discretion | Inside 48 hours for day trips; inside 14 days for multi-day, where a replacement booking is unlikely |
Pick the windows from how long it takes you to resell the date, not from what feels generous. A popular Saturday in July resells with a week's notice; a Tuesday in October may not resell at all, which is an argument for a longer no-refund window in the shoulder season rather than a shorter one.
Keep the two halves apart in the text. Guests cancel for their own reasons and the windows above apply. You cancel for weather, water, fire closures, a guide who cannot work, or a minimum group that did not fill, and in every one of those cases the guest should get a full refund or a free reschedule, their choice. Say which weather calls are yours alone: a guide who cancels for lightning does not take a vote.
Weather is your call, not the guest's
Rain is not a cancellation. Lightning, unsafe flows, a closed road or a fire closure is. Write it that way, or you will refund every grey forecast while running the trips that actually matter in worse conditions.
A reschedule is almost always better for you than a refund: the money stays, the guest stays, and a date you would have lost becomes a date you fill later. Offer one free date change outside the no-refund window and treat a second change as a new booking. Credits should carry an expiry long enough to be used (twelve months is common, through the next season) and should be transferable so a guest who cannot come can hand the trip to a friend.
A no-show is a late cancellation and is charged as one: the full price if the balance has been collected, the deposit forfeited if not. Say it in one sentence so there is nothing to interpret. Minimums are the mirror image. If a shared departure needs four to run and two are booked, state when you make the call (72 hours is usual), what the guest can choose (full refund, reschedule, or pay the private rate), and that you will not cancel inside that window for numbers alone.
Replace the bracketed values with your own and keep the structure. The wording is deliberately plain; a policy a guest can read in thirty seconds is a policy they remember.
Relaxed (day trips, easy to resell)
Cancel 7 or more days before your trip for a full refund. Cancel 2 to 6 days before and we keep the deposit; the balance is refunded or your deposit becomes a credit good for 12 months, your choice. Inside 48 hours, and for no-shows, the full trip price is due. One free date change is included with 48 hours' notice. If we cancel for weather, water conditions, closures or a guide's illness, you choose a full refund or a new date.
Standard (most guide services)
A [25]% deposit holds your date; the balance is charged [14] days before the trip. Cancel 14 or more days out for a full refund of everything paid. Cancel 3 to 13 days out and the deposit is kept as a credit good for 12 months; the balance is refunded. Inside 72 hours, and for no-shows, no refund is given. One date change is free with 72 hours' notice. Weather and safety calls are made by your guide; if we cancel, you get a full refund or a new date.
Strict (multi-day, lodge, limited-draw trips)
A [50]% deposit is due at booking and is non-refundable but transferable to another guest. The balance is due [60] days before the trip. Cancel 60 or more days out and the balance is refunded in full. Cancel 30 to 59 days out and 50% of the balance is refunded. Inside 30 days no refund is given unless we can resell your place, in which case the balance less a [$200] rebooking fee is returned. We strongly recommend trip insurance. If we cancel, everything paid is refunded in full.
A policy only in a PDF is a negotiation. A policy wired into the booking is a fact. Four things make the difference.
The deposit is the policy's teeth. A guest with money down reads the terms; a guest with nothing down treats the date as a maybe. See the companion post on how much deposit to take.
If the balance is due 14 days out, charge it 14 days out. Chasing it by phone turns your cutoff into a suggestion. In Treka, each trip carries a deposit (a percentage or a fixed amount) and a balance that is charged automatically a set number of days before the trip, with reminders sent before the charge.
The guest agrees to the policy when they pay, and the confirmation email repeats it. Treka shows each trip's cancellation policy on the booking page and in the confirmation, so nobody can say they did not see it.
When you refund, credit or move a booking, do it from the booking itself so the record shows the date, the amount and who decided. A dispute six weeks later is settled by the record, not by memory.
Prefer to start from a form? The free policy generator asks the questions above and writes the paragraph for your website and checkout.
FAQ
Something else? Ask the people who build it.
Outside your full-refund window, yes: a guest who cancels a month before a day trip should get everything back, deposit included, because you will resell the date. Inside the window, keep it as a credit rather than refunding it. A credit keeps the relationship and the money; a forfeited deposit keeps only the money.
Your policy still applies to the trip, but the booking channel may have its own refund rules that sit on top. Make sure whoever takes the booking shows your terms, and settle refunds through the same channel the payment came through so the records match.
Usually the same windows with a larger deposit, because a private trip ties up a whole guide and boat and is harder to resell. Many operators take 50% on private bookings and 25% on shared departures with otherwise identical terms.
You can, but it is harder to collect: a fee is money you have to take after the guest has decided not to come. Keeping a deposit you already hold is cleaner, and converting it to a credit is cleaner still.
With evidence: the policy they agreed to at checkout, the confirmation that repeated it, the date they cancelled and the refund they were offered. Keep all of that on the booking. Operators who can produce that trail win most disputes; operators who cannot refund by default.
No. It is a working summary of how guide services and outfitters commonly handle this, written to help you ask better questions. Rules differ by state and country and by the land you operate on. Check anything that carries legal weight with your lawyer, broker or accountant before you rely on it.
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Treka takes the deposit, charges the balance on the day your policy names, shows the terms at checkout and in the confirmation, and keeps the record when a booking changes. See it on your own trips.
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