No refund for a canceled lodge in Mexico?
Expensive Travel TROUBLESHOOTER: I booked a 7 days at the Senses Riviera Maya by Artisan in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, for spring break. The pandemic happened, and we had to terminate our family vacation. I contacted Expedia and it assisted me get a refund for my flights. But the hotel will not issue a refund. An Expedia agent mentioned I should really get a refund for the hotel, much too. But the resort will not give me my cash back again.
Apparently, my brother experienced reservations at the exact same lodge. The hotel refunded him. I tried to dispute the rates on my credit history card, but my lender sided with the hotel. Can you assistance me get my $844 back again?
— Bernadette Cieslak, Hamilton, Ohio
Response: If the hotel refunded your brother, it need to also have refunded you. Basically, it should really have refunded any person who had to terminate mainly because of COVID-19. On the working day you ended up supposed to fly, the Condition Office issued a “do not travel” advisory, urging Americans to remain house. You did the suitable thing by canceling.
Most accommodations presented a no-thoughts-asked refund after that, but some tried out to keep their customers’ income. At a time like that, you can and really should lean on your journey agent to support. But even Expedia was acquiring some hassle persuading Senses Riviera Maya by Artisan to return your revenue.
Why did the lodge refund your brother but not you? The remedy may well lie in its present-day refund policy. It features the capacity to cancel on selected (additional expensive) costs but not on all of them. It’s possible that your brother had booked a various level, which the vacation resort regarded refundable. I like your concept of a credit rating card dispute and am sorry that did not perform. A credit card dispute is commonly the final vacation resort for obtaining a refund. I’d say you ended up there. (By the way, I assume it is time for you to come across a new credit history card. Your financial institution is absolutely not on your aspect.)
You could have attained out to an government at Expedia. I publish the names, quantities and email addresses of Expedia’s client provider supervisors on my customer advocacy site at www.elliott.org/enterprise-contacts. The future time you make lodge reservations, I stimulate you to shell out notice to the cancellation conditions. If you imagine you may well have to get in touch with off your trip, look at a vacation insurance policy that will include your decline.
I contacted Expedia on your behalf. It achieved out to the Senses Riviera Maya by Artisan. But the hotel still refused to return your income. Expedia refunded your $844.
