Reservation Planning Guidelines

Reservation Planning Overview

Brief background:

Capon has been owned and operated by generations of the Austin families, supported by generations of co-workers with a heart for hospitality.  This great partnership has enabled Capon to become a “home away from home”, where relationships with guests run deep and wide.  This has been built over those 90+ years, as guests have created legacy experiences, returning each year to the same week, staying in the same room, especially in the summer, holiday weekends and October.

Fundamental booking principles:

Turning reservation requests into confirmed bookings is both a simple and complicated art form, perfected by Tom Austin over 40 years.  Since his retirement, a variety of leaders have managed this process, assisted by the historical guest knowledge from Jonathan Bellingham.  While primarily assignments are based on availability, the following factors are tools to manage the process: history of visits, length of stay, number of rooms, size of party in the rooms.  Generally, May to mid-June and September are the most open times with the most flexibility for new bookings to take place.  In contrast, late June, July, August and 3-night holiday weekends are traditionally near or at capacity and are the most difficult to reserve ahead of time.  However, since Capon has not used a deposit or cancelation policy for individual reservations, space does typically open at the last minute for those who have the flexibility to wait closer to the arrival date.

Peak Season Guidelines:

Because there are so many recurring reservations, Capon has always operated on a “dibs” system.  Once you have established history for coming for the full week in summer or full weekend in spring or fall it is “your spot” until you give it up.  (Note: You can miss one year and still return to your regular room.) This creates a foundation of repeat guests that make up the majority of reserved nights.

After these established bookings have recommitted and are put in place, the remaining openings are filled in combination with length of stay, when first requested and based on a careful consideration and combination of the following priorities:
-regular guests who have history to that time period
-family and friends of regular guests who have history to that time period
-past regular guests but without history to that time period
-new guests

Recent disruption

As we all know, COVID was a significant disruptor to the entire economy, as well as people’s personal lives.  The operational effect on reservations meant some regular guests had to miss several years- causing a break in regular rooms status.  This gap in their stay allowed for new guests to try Capon in their stead.  Now, over the last year or two, the dust has started to settle with those recurring bookings that were interrupted, now seeking to reestablish their designated spots.

Current reservation patterns

The pattern in 2024 of lapsed guests returning and even more new people discovering Capon and wanting to come, means 2025 is shaping up to be a very strong year!  While this is a great thing, it does translate into needing a much more careful and thorough assignment of rooms so that both established guests continue their “dibs” locations, while new guests are given the chance to also enjoy the Capon experience.  Since reservations requests, confirmations and waitlist management is a continuous ongoing process, never hesitate to reach out at any time by phone or email to discuss your plans to visit Capon.

2025 Booking suggestions:

Top tip: The most successful bookings at peak times are the ones most flexible on dates and location along with patience and ability to be notified at the last minute. However, we always say, ask for what you want- you never know when and where space opens up!

For nonpeak times in May, early June & September just fill out a reservation request form and someone will back in touch as soon as possible to secure your stay.

For peak times of late June, July, August and holiday (Memorial, Labor & Columbus Day) and October weekends:

Reservation team is finishing up the assigning all pre-requests of recurring guests and will be sending out confirmations in January to ensure their “dibs” spots.

After those requests are given the chance to confirm or release their space, the confirmation of new bookings requests on the waitlist will be processed.  (Note: Since some first half of the week space is available in June and July, this is really an ongoing process, not as linear as it may sound.  This means confirmations, cancelations and new bookings are all happening at the same time.)

An active waitlist is now an important part of the Capon reservation process and will be maintained at all times throughout the winter and during the open season.  The effectiveness of this system depends on all guests who requested space to respond to confirmations as soon as possible as well as letting us know as soon as possible about any changes, whether a complete cancellation or just shortening their stay.  An effective waitlist enables Capon to continue its practice of not requiring deposits nor cancellation fees because it means we can welcome other guests into the newly available space that had previously been held. 

Feel free to reach out to our reservation team with any questions:
Main Reservations: Beth Kinghorn: [email protected]
Group bookings: Margy Wirtz-Henry: [email protected]
Consulting partner: Jonathan Bellingham