Forced Circumstances Policy
Hi! I am very angry about the fact that I am being mislead as in what to do with refunds in this surrealistic situation.
To begin with Booking.com forced us to refund all guests who asked for it, they were getting 100% of what they paid and we were left with nothing.
Big fight all over so then last week all the partners received the following options
If you’ve already charged the guest, we ask that you proactively contact them in the next 5 business days. Due to Force Majeure, it is expected that you arrange one of the following:
- Full refund of any prepayment/deposit
- New dates for a future stay (different rates may apply)
- A locally issued voucher for a future stay, for the value paid by the guest or a higher amount at your discretion
Meaning, us partners could decide what to do, therefore, this is what I said to clients wanting a refund, voucher or change of dates, no money back.
Then I get an email from Booking.com that I have to refund the client within 5 working days or they would refund them on our behalf and then bill us.
15 minutes later I get another email saying I was right and the client was to stick with the voucher.
3 days later I get a phone call saying I had to refund the client.
At which point I explained all the above to the person at the other line of the phone who basically said:
Yes, these are the options, but if the client will only be happy with a full refund then we have to send the money back yes or yes
My question is, if you weren't going to change Force Majoure Cancellation Policy and you keep forcing us to send the money back, why did you send that email?
Why are you misleading partners and making is waste precious time?
And making us look bad in front of the clients?
And more then everything, why do you value your partners so little?
Thank you
Hello Daniela+Vincenzo Marbella Holidays! Thank you for sharing feedback about the communication. Please, have a look at this page dedicated to the coronavirus measures https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/coronavirus
Thank you Sergei, but the link you sent me is the same of the email you sent me but then on the phone and on the second email I got another information
Basically you FM policy is "try to give a voucher and if they get difficult refund them"
And you are misleading partners here I am afraid
Thank you for your reply. I will share your feedback with my colleagues.
yes, please, tell them to be clear!
Just to rub salt into the forced refund wound, there are hundreds of posts around the net like the following.
*** Post edited by BDC to remove quotes of information published publicly elsewhere i.e. guests complaining of no refund where the hotel has also not been paid ***
All directed at BDC on public sites.
Edited pic of quotes to conform to posting regs here after having a read through...
you see, nobody is refunding and most of them are not even responding
I feel stupid as I sent all the money back to whoever has asked!