Help! I’m Owed a Refund, But the Hotel Owner Refuses to Budge

A spokeswoman for Best Western said in a statement that “During the COVID-19 pandemic, Best Western Hotels Resorts has offered a flexible cancellation policy to its valued guests. This policy includes that ‘a more restrictive cancellation policy may apply to a limited number of high-demand dates at individual hotels,’ which was applicable to this guest’s reservation.”

After reaching out to Hilton, I learned that Nick got trapped by an even more peculiar loophole — a bizarre wrench in the pandemic’s ever-expanding toolbox of bizarre wrenches. On March 17, Italy passed the “Cura Italia” decree, a relief measure meant to offset the economic toll of the pandemic in one of the hardest-hit countries. The new law gave hotel owners in Italy the option to make the call on whether to issue refunds or vouchers.

As I’ve reported before, cash-strapped travel companies have numerous reasons for retaining non-refundable payments in the age of the coronavirus, and it’s also not hard to understand why the owner of hotel in Italy — at an airport, no less — would choose that option, especially when expressly given the greenlight by the Italian government. Another reader bemoaned a similar issue, also with an Italian hotel. “Why is an American who never set foot on Italian soil subject to a new Italian decree?” she wondered.

In general, though, hotels have generally been better about Covid-related cash refunds than airlines, tour operators and cruise lines. In mid-March, as the world started shutting down, every major hotel company announced newly flexible cancellation terms, even for “non-refundable” or “advance purchase” reservations. And even now, as we move into summer, hotel policies remain pretty flexible. Hilton, for example, allows guests to cancel any reservation booked through August without penalty, so long as it’s done so at least 24 hours before the arrival date. It’s a strategic move meant to get people to take a leap, plan travel, book trips.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/travel/virus-refunds-hotel-franchises.html