Hotel in Italy has reopened and not issuing refund

Rochemback

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies is this isn't in the correct place - I think I'm still new enough to this forum to cite ignorance.

My predicament is as follows:

My partner and I have (or had I suppose) a holiday to Italy booked in July. We were due to fly out on the 18th of July and fly back 2 weeks later on the 1st of August. We planned to visit Rome, Florence and Lake Garda (Sirmione) but only booked hotels in Rome and Sirmione, (non-refundable) as we done a bit of research on where to stay on those two first, paid them on credit card (in January) and then we were going to book Florence in February but we held off (and for good measure).

Now that it is edging slower and slower towards the holiday, our outward journey has now been cancelled, meaning we now have no way of getting to Rome. So with no way of getting to Italy, we have an issue. The hotels in Italy are slowly reopening (according to both of the hotels in Rome and Florence) and will lose income if we cancel - which I can empathise with but so will we. They won't issue a refund, regardless of us having no way to travel there and have offered vouchers so we can use them next year, at the hotels. We have travel insurance, could we claim money back on that? Also, we haven't yet paid for the hotel in Rome, their terms were pay at the desk and now that we can't physically arrive at the desk, we can't pay but the rooms non refundable so what do we do?

We booked these through Booking.com but they haven't contact us back yet and we're probably nowhere near a priority as we're just under two months away but we're still at loose ends of what to do.

If anyone can offer any insight into this, I would be entirely grateful. Preferably, the best case scenario would be to have the money refunded and we all go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for all of this to blow over - I'm happy with just the money though.

dgp1000

Hi

You will find this useful http://www.capecchilegal.com/covid19-effects-on-contracts/. As I understand it if you've pre-paid, the hotel is only required to give you a voucher valid for 12 months and not a cash refund so they are correct under Italian law.  I'm supposed to be staying in early July and have been told its too early to claim 'Force Majeure' (causa di forza maggiore) so will try nearer the time once I have formal confirmation the flights have been cancelled and there are no others available.

I have also booked a non-refundable hotel room to be paid on arrival as you have. I will be cancelling my credit card to ensure they do not take payment!

Hope this helps.

David

Mrsn

If the hotels are open then they aren’t obliged to offer a refund. You may not be happy with offer of a voucher but actually that is a goodwill gesture on their behalf.

 They only have to offer you the service you are paying/have already paid for, in the nicest possible sense how you get their isn’t their concern.

Im sure you’re travel insurance will say the same thing but you can contact them and see how you get on from that side. 

[Deleted User]

Yes unfortunately you may have to settle for a voucher if the hotel is open for business but you should get your flights refunded (or transferred if you wish).    You could check with Booking.Com to see if they can do a deal with you,  but if they have paid up front then it is doubtful (some hotels only receive payment after the event).  No harm in trying for a chargeback or the S75 either although they will probably deem the offer of a voucher sufficient?  I think insurance companies would regard this as 'goods received' also.  it is a toughie and unfortunately a lot of people caught like this.  Good luck.

Grumpy_chap

You have cancelled, the hotel is open and it is not their concern if you cannot get to them.
The hotel has offered a voucher, which seems more-than-fair.
Your flight has been cancelled, but can your airline re-schedule and / or you book an alternative flight?  There are plenty of flights bookable from London to Rome online for 18th July when I looked just now.
Try your travel insurance, but I suspect they will not pay yet and say it depends on the default event actually happening and whether the FCO advice on the date you are scheduled to travel remains not to go.