Actual note from a Montreal B&B

Bonjour and thanks for choosing to stay with us. Do consider the room confirmed. Please excuse the following somewhat lengthy, "pasted on blurb," but.....(If for any reason, you are not comfortable with what we consider your commitment, please email back as soon as possible with your concerns, otherwise we will be holding the room for you.) Our cancellation policy is pretty straight forward. We ask that guests only seek confirmation if they are positive that they will be arriving and departing on the dates agreed to. From the moment we confirm a room, each and every request that follows for that room is denied and many of those people who contacted us and were refused were past guests or guests referred to us by others, in other words, we were their first choice. Most people also plan well ahead so it becomes more difficult for us to rent a room if we only become aware that we have a vacancy with in days of it becoming vacant. Many guests book months in advance, few just days before arriving. For instance, many people assume since larger hotels usually demand two days notice of a cancellation, that should be fine with us too and it's not. We have a very small number of rooms and the income from each allows us to keep our prices reasonable. If we get stuck with vacant rooms, for us it's costly and there is a good chance that someone who had wanted to stay with us couldn't due to the original confirmation. Obviously if highways are closed due to storms etc. those things happen and we accept the loss. We hate taking a loss though, just because someone didn't plan well and realized that Quebec city was a lot farther then they had planned for, for instance. The vast majourity of people who ask us to confirm their stay actually stay, and if we confirm a room and the totally unexpected happens and a guest must cancell with little notice, we expect that they would help shoulder some of the financial loss especially if only a day or two notice is given. We work on the honour system so obviously we don't and can't chase people down for money we loose, and that's part and parcel of what we refer to as "the honour system". We work in cash or traveller's cheques and on the honour system and will accept payment during your stay. Our house is classified as a "historic monument" and we have invested heavily in the pine floors and carpeting and want to keep our home as clean as possible. We ask that guests wear slippers when in our home and we do provide freshly laundered wool slippers to each guest. If you prefer and have your own favourite slippers, bring them along. We look forward to having you in our home. If you haven't already supplied us with an guesstimated time of arrival, please email back with one. [It goes on...]