Cancellation Policy
The cancellation policy that governs your stay is the one attached to the specific home you book. It appears on that home's listing, again in your quote before you pay, and again in the rental agreement you sign at booking. Policies vary by home, by season, and by length of stay, so read the terms on your reservation rather than assuming the same terms apply across every home.
We manage these homes locally, and cancellation terms are set with each owner property by property. That is why the answer to "what is your cancellation policy" is always the policy on the booking in front of you.
Everything below explains how the process works and where to find your terms. The specific windows, refund amounts, and deadlines live in the terms attached to your reservation.
Where to find the terms that apply to your booking
The policy is put in front of you at every stage before you commit. The home's listing page states its cancellation policy. Your quote restates it alongside the itemized total, before you enter payment information. The rental agreement you sign at booking contains the binding version, and your confirmation points back to it.
If you cannot find the terms, ask before you pay. The local office that manages the home can send them to you.
Four documents describe your booking, and they should agree. If they ever do not, the rental agreement you sign controls, then your confirmation, then the quote you approved, then the listing page. The listing describes the home; the agreement is the contract.
Why terms differ from home to home
Cancellation terms are set property by property, and they move with the calendar. A desert home in the middle of summer and that same home over a holiday week are not priced the same way, and they are often not canceled the same way either. Mountain homes during snow season, coastal homes in peak summer, and any home over a major event weekend commonly carry firmer terms than a quiet midweek stay.
Length of stay matters too. Extended and monthly bookings usually run under different terms than a short getaway, because taking a long stay off the calendar is harder to replace.
The policy attached to a home is named and described in full in your quote, so you can compare it against any other home you are considering before you book.
How to request a cancellation
Put the request in writing to the local team that manages the home. Include the name on the reservation, the home, and your arrival and departure dates. The contact details for each market are on our contact page.
A cancellation takes effect when we confirm it in writing, not at the moment you send the request. Keep that confirmation.
Before you cancel, ask about moving your dates. Depending on the season and how the calendar looks, a change is sometimes possible where a cancellation would cost you more. Our how booking works page covers what you see and agree to at checkout.
We strongly recommend travel insurance to protect against unexpected disruptions, cancellations, illness, weather events, or other circumstances that may affect your trip.
Refunds
What comes back to you depends on when you cancel relative to your arrival date and which policy is attached to the home you booked. The calculation is made from the terms on your reservation, not from a company-wide default.
Refunds return to the original payment method. Processing time depends on your bank.
If you are unsure which charges on your reservation are refundable, ask the local office before you cancel and they will walk you through the total line by line.
Bookings made through Airbnb, Vrbo, or another travel site
If you booked through a listing site rather than direct with us, that site's cancellation policy governs your reservation. You request the cancellation inside your account on that platform, and the platform issues any refund on its own schedule. We do not control those terms or that timing.
The policy a platform displays for a home is the policy we selected for that home on that platform, so it will generally track what you would have seen booking direct with us. Where they ever differ, the terms you accepted at checkout are the terms that apply to your booking.
Storms, fires, closures, and events outside anyone's control
Southern California weather is a real factor here, and it is not the same factor in every market. Mountain roads above Lake Arrowhead and Idyllwild can require chains or close during winter storms. Coastal fog sits over the beach towns through much of June. Desert summers are genuinely hot. Wildfire, flooding, and evacuation orders happen.
Ordinary seasonal conditions are not the same thing as an emergency, and the policy treats them differently. Weather that is typical for the season and the destination you booked does not on its own change the cancellation terms on your reservation.
Where a public authority orders an evacuation, or the road to your home is closed, the situation is handled under the force-majeure terms of your rental agreement rather than the standard cancellation windows. Those terms set out what qualifies and what we can offer, so read them alongside this page.
If we have to cancel your reservation
It is rare, but a home can become unavailable after you book: major damage, a mechanical failure we cannot fix in time, a permit or code issue, or a sale that ends our management of the property. When that happens, we tell you as soon as we know.
We start by trying to place you in a comparable home in the same destination for the same dates. If nothing comparable is available, or the alternative does not work for your group, the reservation is refunded in full.
Effective date: September 2026. Whatever this page says, the terms you accepted when you booked are the terms that govern your reservation.