No refund hotel room - options

zagfles

flateric81 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice everyone - I will book refundable rooms from now on.

out of interest, when anyone received the payment back was if ever months in advance of the trip? what sort of reasons would they consider acceptable?

The reasons I had for cancelling "non refundable" reservations were missed flight connections, transport delays, and bad weather making travel there impossible. These were obviously last minute cancellations. Some were just cancelling one night of a longer stay.

codger

zagfles wrote: »

Yes. But I was taking issue with "it's plain stupid to leave yourself so financially vulnerable.", when practically everyone who books a package (non last minute) does exactly that. Never used them, it sounds a strange business model, do they markup the exchange rate?

You're confusing protection with pricing. Protection is very much about travel insurance against financial losses relating to the interlocking components of a holiday (including, an entire cancellation.) Pricing is about the management of a single component: accommodation cost.

Our experience of US and European travel has been that bed nights are not unnaturally priced in the currency of the destination (in our case, either USD or Euros) which are then, at the time of booking, shown in £GBP according to the prevailing exchange rate.

Purchase that accommodation there and then, and your credit or debit card will be charged the £GBP amount quoted. End of story.

Purchase that same accommodation later, and you'll still be charged the £GBP equivalent . . . but that will be according to the exchange rate prevailing at the time -- and the room rate at that time, too.

Obviously, if the exchange rate has moved against you close to the time of the accommodation date, but the bed night is still available at the original Buy It Now lower price, you'll scrap your original booking at the higher Free Cancellation rate (because the GBP price you'll pay has gone up) and re-book as a BIN.

Whatever you choose to do, it's about getting the best value-for-money. Travel insurance has nothing to do with that.

zagfles

codger wrote: »

You're confusing protection with pricing. Protection is very much about travel insurance against financial losses relating to the interlocking components of a holiday (including, an entire cancellation.) Pricing is about the management of a single component: accommodation cost.

I'm not confusing anything. They're both protection against changes. Do you always book cancellable flights too?

Our experience of US and European travel has been that bed nights are not unnaturally priced in the currency of the destination (in our case, either USD or Euros) which are then, at the time of booking, shown in £GBP according to the prevailing exchange rate.

Purchase that accommodation there and then, and your credit or debit card will be charged the £GBP amount quoted. End of story.

Purchase that same accommodation later, and you'll still be charged the £GBP equivalent . . . but that will be according to the exchange rate prevailing at the time -- and the room rate at that time, too.

Obviously, if the exchange rate has moved against you close to the time of the accommodation date, but the bed night is still available at the original Buy It Now lower price, you'll scrap your original booking at the higher Free Cancellation rate (because the GBP price you'll pay has gone up) and re-book as a BIN.

Sorry but you're making no sense whatsoever. Exchange rate movements make no difference.

For a start, cancellable accomodation is rarely charged in advance, it's usually pay when you're there. So you pay (eg) EUR50 a night at whatever the exchange is while you're there.

Even if you do pay in advance, if the exchange rate improves (eg more EUR per GBP) then if you cancel and get a refund your refund will be less GBP than you paid!

Nick_C

zagfles wrote: »

I'm not confusing anything. They're both protection against changes. Do you always book cancellable flights too? Sorry but you're making no sense whatsoever. Exchange rate movements make no difference.

For a start, cancellable accomodation is rarely charged in advance, it's usually pay when you're there. So you pay (eg) EUR50 a night at whatever the exchange is while you're there.

Even if you do pay in advance, if the exchange rate improves (eg more EUR per GBP) then if you cancel and get a refund your refund will be less GBP than you paid!

1) I'm not aware of any travel insurance that allows you to change your mind about a hotel booking and claim the money back on insurance,the scenario raised by the OP.

2) Hotels.com (an Expedia brand) sell hotels where you can pay in advance in Sterling on a refundable rate. You can cancel up to 24 hours before your stay and get a full refund, in sterling, of the exact amount you have paid. I have done this.

zagfles

Nick_C wrote: »

1) I'm not aware of any travel insurance that allows you to change your mind about a hotel booking and claim the money back on insurance,the scenario raised by the OP.

Whoosh...

2) Hotels.com (an Expedia brand) sell hotels where you can pay in advance in Sterling on a refundable rate. You can cancel up to 24 hours before your stay and get a full refund, in sterling, of the exact amount you have paid. I have done this.

codger said

We use booking.com,

booking.com don't operate that way.

pollypenny

Nick_C wrote: »

Obviously you should have travel insurance, but travel insurance doesn't help if you simply change your mind about a booking, as OP has done.

On hotels.com, you can often book in advance and pay in full in Stirling on a refundable booking. I've done this many many times. If the price drops, which could be due to market forces or a favourable move in the exchange rate, you can cancel, re-book, and make a saving.

This is interesting. We’re having three nights in Philadelphia after visiting our son.

I’ve thought about cancelling and rebooking, but I’ve been nervous about ending up with two bookings.

How long do refunds tend to take?

Nick_C

On hotels.com the refund comes through in three or four days.

But you can make a second booking and then cancel the first one. You don't need to wait for the refund before rebooking.