Ebookers / Expedia Accomodation Voucher - Terms

spy

jiggy2 said:

saintscouple said:

jiggy2 said:

saintscouple said:

jiggy2 said:

I got a voucher on 28 May, it is valid till 28 June 2021 i.e. 13 months (rather than 12). I also left it till as late as i could before taking the voucher as it then takes a few days for Expedia to issue it. 

@jiggy2 may i ask how long the voucher took to arrive from when you requested it? As i was told the voucher expiry date is calculated from when the voucher is produced, not when it is requested? 
Your post give me great comfort I will be able to use the voucher next year for the same period of travel this year, like you i will leave it to a few days before i was to travel. Thank you again

I requested on 23 May (we were due to fly on 25 May). So 5 to 6 days from request to voucher being delivered

Thanks again as this now give me a timeline of when to start the process, basically like you a couple of days before. 
But if i find the hotel is still closed at that time i will be pushing for a cash refund i think, as then i can rebook using additional discount codes, to which this voucher doesn't allow the use of in the terms. 

Agreed that the voucher is quite restrictive. Our hotel was definitely shut for most of May, but then a few days before we were due to go. the message had changed on their website (which suggested it may be ready for visitors, but in reality I think it is still shut till 30 June 2020 because of where it is - in Budapest). The choices we had:
1) Take the voucher - easy route
2) Push for cash refund from Expedia - but would need the hotel to be definitely shut (and had already spent an hour or so on chat trying to get them to refund with no luck) and would only be able to do that after the date for the stay passed as they hadn't cancelled the booking
3) Chargeback - but would need hotel to be definitely shut and the credit card co to play ball (s75 not an option due to intermediary)
4) Travel insurance - which now says in FAQs that vouchers will be considered as monetary refund so would be an uphill battle

What i wasn't sure about was if i didn't take the voucher (by effectively cancelling the booking) and went for option 2 then what would happen if Expedia still refused after the date to travel had passed. Travel insurance would say voucher offered, so you are on your own. If the credit card co also took the position that voucher offered was reasonable then would be left with a loss of £600+ or having to fight with expedia first then credit card co and then travel insurance.

I’m in exactly this position. Hotel booking for this weekend, hotel is currently closed but Expedia won’t give a straight answer on whether it will be open at the weekend and they are only offering a voucher. Do I take the risk of waiting until the day I am due to go to confirm it is still closed and then do a chargeback if Expedia still won’t refund?

saintscouple

spy said:

jiggy2 said:

saintscouple said:

jiggy2 said:

saintscouple said:

jiggy2 said:

I got a voucher on 28 May, it is valid till 28 June 2021 i.e. 13 months (rather than 12). I also left it till as late as i could before taking the voucher as it then takes a few days for Expedia to issue it. 

@jiggy2 may i ask how long the voucher took to arrive from when you requested it? As i was told the voucher expiry date is calculated from when the voucher is produced, not when it is requested? 
Your post give me great comfort I will be able to use the voucher next year for the same period of travel this year, like you i will leave it to a few days before i was to travel. Thank you again

I requested on 23 May (we were due to fly on 25 May). So 5 to 6 days from request to voucher being delivered

Thanks again as this now give me a timeline of when to start the process, basically like you a couple of days before. 
But if i find the hotel is still closed at that time i will be pushing for a cash refund i think, as then i can rebook using additional discount codes, to which this voucher doesn't allow the use of in the terms. 

Agreed that the voucher is quite restrictive. Our hotel was definitely shut for most of May, but then a few days before we were due to go. the message had changed on their website (which suggested it may be ready for visitors, but in reality I think it is still shut till 30 June 2020 because of where it is - in Budapest). The choices we had:
1) Take the voucher - easy route
2) Push for cash refund from Expedia - but would need the hotel to be definitely shut (and had already spent an hour or so on chat trying to get them to refund with no luck) and would only be able to do that after the date for the stay passed as they hadn't cancelled the booking
3) Chargeback - but would need hotel to be definitely shut and the credit card co to play ball (s75 not an option due to intermediary)
4) Travel insurance - which now says in FAQs that vouchers will be considered as monetary refund so would be an uphill battle

What i wasn't sure about was if i didn't take the voucher (by effectively cancelling the booking) and went for option 2 then what would happen if Expedia still refused after the date to travel had passed. Travel insurance would say voucher offered, so you are on your own. If the credit card co also took the position that voucher offered was reasonable then would be left with a loss of £600+ or having to fight with expedia first then credit card co and then travel insurance.

I’m in exactly this position. Hotel booking for this weekend, hotel is currently closed but Expedia won’t give a straight answer on whether it will be open at the weekend and they are only offering a voucher. Do I take the risk of waiting until the day I am due to go to confirm it is still closed and then do a chargeback if Expedia still won’t refund?

spy said:

jiggy2 said:

saintscouple said:

jiggy2 said:

saintscouple said:

jiggy2 said:

I got a voucher on 28 May, it is valid till 28 June 2021 i.e. 13 months (rather than 12). I also left it till as late as i could before taking the voucher as it then takes a few days for Expedia to issue it. 

@jiggy2 may i ask how long the voucher took to arrive from when you requested it? As i was told the voucher expiry date is calculated from when the voucher is produced, not when it is requested? 
Your post give me great comfort I will be able to use the voucher next year for the same period of travel this year, like you i will leave it to a few days before i was to travel. Thank you again

I requested on 23 May (we were due to fly on 25 May). So 5 to 6 days from request to voucher being delivered

Thanks again as this now give me a timeline of when to start the process, basically like you a couple of days before. 
But if i find the hotel is still closed at that time i will be pushing for a cash refund i think, as then i can rebook using additional discount codes, to which this voucher doesn't allow the use of in the terms. 

Agreed that the voucher is quite restrictive. Our hotel was definitely shut for most of May, but then a few days before we were due to go. the message had changed on their website (which suggested it may be ready for visitors, but in reality I think it is still shut till 30 June 2020 because of where it is - in Budapest). The choices we had:
1) Take the voucher - easy route
2) Push for cash refund from Expedia - but would need the hotel to be definitely shut (and had already spent an hour or so on chat trying to get them to refund with no luck) and would only be able to do that after the date for the stay passed as they hadn't cancelled the booking
3) Chargeback - but would need hotel to be definitely shut and the credit card co to play ball (s75 not an option due to intermediary)
4) Travel insurance - which now says in FAQs that vouchers will be considered as monetary refund so would be an uphill battle

What i wasn't sure about was if i didn't take the voucher (by effectively cancelling the booking) and went for option 2 then what would happen if Expedia still refused after the date to travel had passed. Travel insurance would say voucher offered, so you are on your own. If the credit card co also took the position that voucher offered was reasonable then would be left with a loss of £600+ or having to fight with expedia first then credit card co and then travel insurance.

I’m in exactly this position. Hotel booking for this weekend, hotel is currently closed but Expedia won’t give a straight answer on whether it will be open at the weekend and they are only offering a voucher. Do I take the risk of waiting until the day I am due to go to confirm it is still closed and then do a chargeback if Expedia still won’t refund?

I would contact the hotel directly and ask them what date they are reopening. If you can get this in writing, i.e ask via Twitter or Facebook, then even better as you then have proof. 

Life__Goes__On

spy said:

I’m in exactly this position. Hotel booking for this weekend, hotel is currently closed but Expedia won’t give a straight answer on whether it will be open at the weekend and they are only offering a voucher. Do I take the risk of waiting until the day I am due to go to confirm it is still closed and then do a chargeback if Expedia still won’t refund?

What Expedia has been doing is saying it's a voucher only, even though they haven't paid the hotel, that way they keep the cash.

Check to see if the hotel  tells you if they have been paid for the room yet.

saintscouple

So my hotel in Spain have announced they are opening 22nd June, the day before my booking starts. 
Yet, the Spanish authorities won't let me in the country to stay there. Borders open 1st July, and perhaps not for the UK anyway.
I guess regardless if ebookers / expedia have paid for the room or not, my option is really limited to accepting a voucher. (even if the hotel say they haven't received the money for the booking, that's not to say they could do afterwards)

Life__Goes__On

saintscouple said:

So my hotel in Spain have announced they are opening 22nd June, the day before my booking starts. 
Yet, the Spanish authorities won't let me in the country to stay there. Borders open 1st July, and perhaps not for the UK anyway.
I guess regardless if ebookers / expedia have paid for the room or not, my option is really limited to accepting a voucher. (even if the hotel say they haven't received the money for the booking, that's not to say they could do afterwards)

Some hotels are letting a person cancel for free, see if your hotel will do this.
If they do,  submit that proof to ebookers / expedia see what they say.

saintscouple

Life__Goes__On said:

saintscouple said:

So my hotel in Spain have announced they are opening 22nd June, the day before my booking starts. 
Yet, the Spanish authorities won't let me in the country to stay there. Borders open 1st July, and perhaps not for the UK anyway.
I guess regardless if ebookers / expedia have paid for the room or not, my option is really limited to accepting a voucher. (even if the hotel say they haven't received the money for the booking, that's not to say they could do afterwards)

Some hotels are letting a person cancel for free, see if your hotel will do this.
If they do,  submit that proof to ebookers / expedia see what they say.

I did approach the hotel a week ago to see if they could alter my booking to a new date, or would it have to be done through ebookers. 
They replied saying the booking they received from Expedia, and thus i need to approach them. 
I'll reply to the hotel nearer the time asking if the booking is still active, and paid for - I hope they say active, but not paid for - and i can use this as evidence to ebookers, even better if it's not active and ebookers had already cancelled it knowing that I can't get in to the country so have no way of attending.
Of course they are likely to say i have to approach Expedia again. 
I wonder if that is why Expedia are only offering vouchers that can be used at the same hotel, as by informing the hotels of these vouchers gives them the incentive to play ball to ensure the booking stays with them, and not another hotel. 

jiggy2

saintscouple said:

Life__Goes__On said:

saintscouple said:

So my hotel in Spain have announced they are opening 22nd June, the day before my booking starts. 
Yet, the Spanish authorities won't let me in the country to stay there. Borders open 1st July, and perhaps not for the UK anyway.
I guess regardless if ebookers / expedia have paid for the room or not, my option is really limited to accepting a voucher. (even if the hotel say they haven't received the money for the booking, that's not to say they could do afterwards)

Some hotels are letting a person cancel for free, see if your hotel will do this.
If they do,  submit that proof to ebookers / expedia see what they say.

I did approach the hotel a week ago to see if they could alter my booking to a new date, or would it have to be done through ebookers. 
They replied saying the booking they received from Expedia, and thus i need to approach them. 
I'll reply to the hotel nearer the time asking if the booking is still active, and paid for - I hope they say active, but not paid for - and i can use this as evidence to ebookers, even better if it's not active and ebookers had already cancelled it knowing that I can't get in to the country so have no way of attending.
Of course they are likely to say i have to approach Expedia again. 
I wonder if that is why Expedia are only offering vouchers that can be used at the same hotel, as by informing the hotels of these vouchers gives them the incentive to play ball to ensure the booking stays with them, and not another hotel. 

By Expedia offering a voucher, the hotel knows it more than likely guarantees a stay with them. But on the other hand, if voucher doesn't get used i am assuming the hotel wont see any money.  So Expedia "wins" either way (and therefore definitely in their interest to get us to cancel rather than them cancel), hotel "wins" sometimes (only if voucher gets used). If i had booked directly, the hotel would have refunded in my case. So i think the vouchers option is being driven by Expedia (even where the hotels may have been willing to allow cancellation of non-refundable bookings).

Life__Goes__On

jiggy2 said:

So i think the vouchers option is being driven by Expedia (even where the hotels may have been willing to allow cancellation of non-refundable bookings).

From what I read on this forum I agree with your opinion.

saintscouple

I approached the hotel again, asking if they had received the money for my booking through ebookers, and if they expect me to attend seeing as Spanish law prohibits me from entering the country.  Thus would they accept a cancellation and refund on the booking.
Their reply was that they are open from the 22nd June and they are unable to answer my question, I must direct these to my booking agent. 
So for me with a non-refundable room booked, it seems the voucher is the only option i have. (I'm awaiting an answer from my insurance company where i stand with a voucher being offered, i.e can i refuse the voucher and claim a cash refund through them minus the excess)
Ebookers are still unable to answer my one question to them at this time, and that is does the voucher have any protection should the company collapse, or if there are travel restrictions in force which prohibit me from travelling after using the voucher? 
The latter is my main concern - how does using a voucher effect claiming on travel insurance for example - would i be able to claim a monetary refund for cancellation cover if anything non-virus related came up? 

saintscouple

As suspected, I cannot claim on the travel insurance as a voucher has been offered. I can only claim when there has been no offer. 
Once i have rebooked i am to let the insurance company know of the new dates, and the policy will stand for the new booking.