Coronavirus cancellation free of charge for guests moving to Italy
Hi to everybody!
Booking.com has decided to cancel all reservations free of charge for the guests moving to Italy in this period of Coronavirus, invoking the cause of force majeure.
What I personally think is that Booking.com has no rights as these conditions are not mentioned in the contract and it is up to the host to decide whether to apply the free cancellation to the guest or not. Booking.com's duty is not only to protect its guests but also its partners.
It was certainly not our choice to close the borders of our country so if booking.com wants to retaliate against someone for the economic damage suffered, it should do it against the Italian government, not against its partners. In any case booking.com is due to compliance with the contract signed with the partners; therefore in Italy a class action is being created between the partners to be defended in the name of consumer protection.
We hope that booking.com will pay attention to our words before arriving at the appropriate locations. Greetings to all those who work honestly!!!
Hi Valerio,
I was just trying to find a way to get in touch with Booking and make sure my guests (#***) will be fully refund.
Could you please reassure me on that?
Warmly,
Gioia
Although it hurts getting all these cancelations and basicly having 0 income in March and probably in April I don't see the point and don't have the heart to fully charge the guest that are not able or afraid to come due to current situation. I think it's a common sense to accept cancelation and issue a full refund.
The ones that must help us in this chrisis is our/your government and not the guests that canceled their trip nor BDC. Basicly every industry is affected by this.
Hi piboMarco,
Maybe you don’t understand that we should follow the rules of the contract signed with Booking.com. Otherwise it’s up to Booking.com (billionaire) to make some charity and fully refund its guests with travel check! When someone decides to book without free cancellation(lower price), he must know the possible risks ;)
HomeAway reply
In HomeAway's nearly 25 years, we’ve been through a lot, but nothing comes close to the current challenges facing our holidaymakers, partners, and team members around the world.
HomeAway is a two-sided marketplace, so for every holidaymaker who paid hard-earned money for a getaway they may not take, there is a partner who is experiencing a loss of bookings and a large number of cancellations. Despite this, the vast majority of you are rising to the occasion and giving credits and/or refunds to holidaymakers in these extreme circumstances. Thank you for exemplifying hospitality — even when it means a financial hardship.
Today, we are introducing our COVID-19 Emergency Policy, a series of measures designed to help navigate these extraordinary circumstances.
For our part, HomeAway is refunding 100% of the money it makes through traveller service fees when someone must cancel a trip due to COVID-19.
For your part, we ask that you handle cancellations for trips booked before March 13 with stays that fall between March 13 and April 30 in one of two ways (even if those trips are outside of your set cancellation policy):
Option 1 (Default): Offer a credit for full value and flexible stay dates within the next year (at no additional cost) to holidaymakers who can’t take trips now due to COVID-19.
Option 2: If a holidaymaker is unwilling to accept a credit, we advise you to issue them a refund. If you are unable to accommodate a full refund, HomeAway expects you to provide at least a 50% refund if the holidaymaker cancels during this time.
Our intent is to reward HomeAway partners who offer holidaymakers flexibility during this time of uncertainty with additional visibility in holidaymaker searches on HomeAway and Expedia Group. The idea is that the more you do now for holidaymakers, the more we will reward you moving forward (so a 100% credit/refund will count more than 50% refund and so on).
Here’s more on what HomeAway is doing as part of our COVID-19 Emergency Policy:
Full Refund of HomeAway’s Fees: HomeAway is refunding 100% of the money it makes through traveller service fees when someone must cancel a trip due to COVID-19, whether the cancellation is government-mandated or not. This goes into effect for all stays booked before March 13 with a night between 13th March and 30th April. Holidaymakers don’t have to do anything to collect the refund; it will happen automatically over the next few weeks. They do not need to call and confirm.
Rolling Out Automated Refunds: Our teams are also working to make refunds and date changes to bookings easier for you. Details on this new process will be communicated in the coming days, so we ask that you wait to call our Customer Service line until that happens. We acknowledge that credits for future dates will be administered between our partners and holidaymakers, so we only ask that your teams acknowledge the arrangement in writing — ideally via our secure messaging system.
Automatically Waiving Related Cancellation Penalties: If you need to cancel due to this event, we will automatically waive the cancellation so it does not impact your ranking metrics. You no longer have to call Customer Service to get the cancellation waived, just select COVID-19 as the cancellation reason code and refund at the minimum 50% to be eligible.
The new policy we are implementing is not perfect, but in this unprecedented time we believe it strikes the best balance of protecting holidaymakers, partners, and the public. I am sure many of you have questions. We primarily want you to understand the spirit of how we hope to address this situation. Please review our help portal and Discovery Hub for the most up-to-date information. These resources will be updated every 48 hours with new information.
We have been in contact with thousands of you in the past days and I am humbled by your willingness to rise to the occasion and appreciate your sacrifices.
The skies will clear and families will want to travel again. We will be there with open arms to provide spaces to heal and recharge when this is over.
With admiration and appreciation for your partnership,
Jeff
President, HomeAway
Hi Valerio
Many thanks for putting up this thread. As from today i received an email from bookings.com claiming force majeure and advising they will be refunding all guest that have paid that will not be traveling. While i agree that guests should be looked after ,i do not agree with bookings.com forcing this on us as there partners. Over the last few weeks i have agreed to move dates for people and am now looking like the person who is not accommodating in these hard times. you are correct that bookings.com should be held accountable for the contract that partners signed and i would be interested in joining forces with Italian partners on this as they have no right to withhold any money from an agreed contract or change terms as it suits them. The small guy pays again. The large companies seem to win the whole time and are never held accountable.
Greetings from Spain
Reply from HomeAway website.
Bookings have a lot to answer for. I am down €4000 in 1 week. I know its small scale compared to others but we are only a 1 villa operation. Rhis is only the start.
We should of been giving an option to offer other dates at least. Full refund is a get out clause to save there reputation as they only have to give 17% . We do not care about there partners. They have shown this. All they care about is the guests. We have to give 83%.
What annoys me is that we offered guest already other dates which was accepted until they automatically gave full refunds. Disgraceful to say the least
regards
trisha
In HomeAway's nearly 25 years, we’ve been through a lot, but nothing comes close to the current challenges facing our holidaymakers, partners, and team members around the world.
HomeAway is a two-sided marketplace, so for every holidaymaker who paid hard-earned money for a getaway they may not take, there is a partner who is experiencing a loss of bookings and a large number of cancellations. Despite this, the vast majority of you are rising to the occasion and giving credits and/or refunds to holidaymakers in these extreme circumstances. Thank you for exemplifying hospitality — even when it means a financial hardship.
Today, we are introducing our COVID-19 Emergency Policy, a series of measures designed to help navigate these extraordinary circumstances.
For our part, HomeAway is refunding 100% of the money it makes through traveller service fees when someone must cancel a trip due to COVID-19.
For your part, we ask that you handle cancellations for trips booked before March 13 with stays that fall between March 13 and April 30 in one of two ways (even if those trips are outside of your set cancellation policy):
Option 1 (Default): Offer a credit for full value and flexible stay dates within the next year (at no additional cost) to holidaymakers who can’t take trips now due to COVID-19.
Option 2: If a holidaymaker is unwilling to accept a credit, we advise you to issue them a refund. If you are unable to accommodate a full refund, HomeAway expects you to provide at least a 50% refund if the holidaymaker cancels during this time.
Our intent is to reward HomeAway partners who offer holidaymakers flexibility during this time of uncertainty with additional visibility in holidaymaker searches on HomeAway and Expedia Group. The idea is that the more you do now for holidaymakers, the more we will reward you moving forward (so a 100% credit/refund will count more than 50% refund and so on).
Here’s more on what HomeAway is doing as part of our COVID-19 Emergency Policy:
Full Refund of HomeAway’s Fees: HomeAway is refunding 100% of the money it makes through traveller service fees when someone must cancel a trip due to COVID-19, whether the cancellation is government-mandated or not. This goes into effect for all stays booked before March 13 with a night between 13th March and 30th April. Holidaymakers don’t have to do anything to collect the refund; it will happen automatically over the next few weeks. They do not need to call and confirm.
Rolling Out Automated Refunds: Our teams are also working to make refunds and date changes to bookings easier for you. Details on this new process will be communicated in the coming days, so we ask that you wait to call our Customer Service line until that happens. We acknowledge that credits for future dates will be administered between our partners and holidaymakers, so we only ask that your teams acknowledge the arrangement in writing — ideally via our secure messaging system.
Automatically Waiving Related Cancellation Penalties: If you need to cancel due to this event, we will automatically waive the cancellation so it does not impact your ranking metrics. You no longer have to call Customer Service to get the cancellation waived, just select COVID-19 as the cancellation reason code and refund at the minimum 50% to be eligible.
The new policy we are implementing is not perfect, but in this unprecedented time we believe it strikes the best balance of protecting holidaymakers, partners, and the public. I am sure many of you have questions. We primarily want you to understand the spirit of how we hope to address this situation. Please review our help portal and Discovery Hub for the most up-to-date information. These resources will be updated every 48 hours with new information.
We have been in contact with thousands of you in the past days and I am humbled by your willingness to rise to the occasion and appreciate your sacrifices.
The skies will clear and families will want to travel again. We will be there with open arms to provide spaces to heal and recharge when this is over.
With admiration and appreciation for your partnership,
Jeff
President, HomeAway