Nationwide Insurance versus Booking.Com.

scottiescott

I wonder if anyone can give advice on this one or is having a similar problem.
I had booked a 5 night stay in a hotel in Torremolinos for the end of April. Flights were booked with Ryanair. Towards the end of March with the Covid pandemic well under way, Ryanair cancelled the flights and Government advice not to travel was of course in place. I duly more or less straight away cancelled the hotel booking with Booking.Com and as it was a non-refundable rate, instigated an insurance claim through my provider, Nationwide Bank Insurance.
After providing Nationwide with all the necessary paperwork I received a call from them on saturday asking for some more details, namely who cancelled the hotel booking and was the hotel open at the time I was due to be there. Nationwide claimed that they had tried to contact Booking.Com to verify but had been unable to do so and were asking if I could do so. During the call the Nationwide advisor hinted that Booking.Com should still have refunded me if the hotel was not available to me during my intended dates, i.e. it was closed. The only thing Booking.Com could tell me is confirmation that I cancelled the booking, however I also contacted the hotel and they confirmed to me that they were closed from 31st March to 3rd July.
My fear now is that Nationwide will say Booking.Com should have refunded and Booking.Com will say, sorry, you had a non-refundable rate and I am stuck in the middle, out of pocket.
I have not yet responded to Nationwide.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.

StandingInTheSun

I don't think any of us will be able to say what Nationwide will do next. However all insurance is ultimately designed to be tremendously difficult to claim and get a pay out so don't be surprised if they argue their case.

Generally speaking insurance claims are a last resort, when all other avenues have been exhausted. Always worthwhile asking for a refund from the company first. I've gotten several non refundable rates back over Covid simply through asking.

parcival

I have something vaguely similar with Nationwide Flex Plus which has been going on since March. They are doing everything to avoid paying. The case has been handled so poorly that they have already paid £100 in compensation. I am waiting for them to provide a final decision on the claim before it goes to the Ombudsman.

missile

My MW complaint is with the ombudsman, but they are slow to respond. I expect they are very busy <LOL>

scottiescott

StandingInTheSun said:

I don't think any of us will be able to say what Nationwide will do next. However all insurance is ultimately designed to be tremendously difficult to claim and get a pay out so don't be surprised if they argue their case.

Generally speaking insurance claims are a last resort, when all other avenues have been exhausted. Always worthwhile asking for a refund from the company first. I've gotten several non refundable rates back over Covid simply through asking.

I have messaged Booking.Com today to ask for a refund despite my booking being non-refundable on the basis that the accommodation was not available for my dates. Is there any legislation I could quote if Booking.Com play hard ball? 

scottiescott

Well  would you believe it, 2 hours after sending a message to Booking.Com I got a phone call from tgem offering me a voucher, albeit only to be used at the original hotel, valid for a year.
Inclined to accept it.
Thanks again for all advice.