Hotels.com - non-refundable refund?

techno12

Hi.
Has anyone who has booked non-refundable hotel bookings from Hotels.com heard anything from them regarding the cancellation options. Their COVID-19 page says

"For customers who booked a non-refundable rate prior to 19 March 2020 for stays between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020, we will email you in the coming days to ask if you wish to keep or cancel your existing booking if you are eligible. If you decide to cancel, you will be eligible for a full refund or, in some cases, a voucher allowing you to rebook the original property at later dates. There is no need to call us, but you must cancel your booking at least 24 hours before check-in in order to be eligible for this offer."

I had booked 9 hotels through them for my stay in Japan (which was due to start this weekend). 7 of the 9 hotels had free cancellation, but the remaining 2 were non-refundable, and still say so if I try to cancel through the website.

Maybe they email a few days before, or perhaps my booking has slipped through the cracks...

Anyone been through this with Hotels.com and received an email/refund/voucher?

SandC

Hi Techno. I had a non refundable booking through hotels.com for 9th May for a hotel in Manchester. As it was non refundable and the hotel is closed I didn't bother cancelling. However a few weeks before the planned date I received an email from them and the hotel saying they were cancelling and a refund would be made. I received it back into my account last week. 

I wasn't too bothered about the loss of money as it was a cheap room hence me booking non refundable in the first place. So it was a pleasant surprise. 

Hope that helps! 

Life__Goes__On

If the hotels are closed in Japan you should be due a refund  (so don't you cancel the non-refundable ones)

techno12

Thanks for the replies.

Interestingly, another of their FAQ Covid pages says that the cut-off date for these special-case refunds of non-refundable stays is "on or before 31 May 2020" so it looks like they haven't updated everything yet. I assume they'll just extend these month by month until the disruptive part of the pandemic is over.

So, I guess I'll give it a few days to see if those dates are extended to the end of June on all of their COVID-19 pages.

PS Getting refunds/vouchers is like getting blood from a stone at the moment! Still awaiting KLM voucher, Easyjet refund and Ryanair voucher (all been 4+ weeks since they cancelled the flights). Patience is the key I suppose...

techno12

Just to update on this - received emails today (a few days before I was due to stay).

One was a full refund, as the hotel is closed. The other was a choice of a voucher, valid for 3 years with 15% extra added, or a refund.

So, it all worked out in the end, seems Hotels.com send out the emails just a few days before the stay is due.