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Many companies offering cancellation flexibility

In the last 12 hours I’ve received two emails, one from Hilton, one from Cunard for our return sailing to Us in August (final payment due April 14) At times like this it’s great to see it is not all about money, but people. And as things improve customer loyalty and reviews will pay off in spades.

If you have non refundable reservations, doesn’t hurt to ask what flexibility could be made available.

hilton
Existing Reservations. All reservations – even those described as "non-cancellable" (“Advanced Purchase”) – that are scheduled for arrival before April 30, 2020, can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival.
New Reservations. Any reservation you make – even those described as “non-cancellable” (“Advanced Purchase”) – that are booked between today and April 30, 2020, for any future arrival date, can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival.

Cunard

Important changes to your voyage terms.

Dear Mrs Helms, as your Cunard voyage approaches, we wanted to get in touch to let you know about some important changes we’ve made to your voyage terms given the current uncertainty surrounding travel. Simon Palethorpe, Cunard President, has an important message for you about the impact of coronavirus and the measures we are taking to reassure you that you can still enjoy your voyage, either now or at some point in the near future. To find out more and for your latest updates please see our website.

In this ever-changing environment, we understand that you may well feel in need of some added flexibility, so please read on to consider your options in light of a number of recent enhancements we have made to our cancellation policy.

Sailing as planned.

Applicable to voyages departing before 31 August 2020.

If you’d like to keep your existing booking, your ship and crew are ready and waiting to welcome you. We are pleased to be able to offer you some on board credit to enhance your holiday; this will be credited to your on board account and can be used for drinks, spa treatments and shore experiences booked on board. The amount you’ll receive depends upon the number of nights you’ll be spending on board with us: ($300 pp pernight for 7 day voyage). That’s a lot of wine, beer and cocktails

Cancelling your voyage.

Applicable to voyages departing through 31 July 2020.

Should you wish to cancel your voyage, you’ll be pleased to know we’ve temporarily relaxed our cancellation policy given the circumstances. Here’s a guide to what you need to know:

• If you’re booked on a Cunard voyage sailing before 31 July 2020, you may now cancel up to 48 hours prior to departure.

• Cancelled bookings will receive a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) equivalent to the cancellation fees and refunds will be given on any remaining monies paid.

• Your Future Cruise Credit can be used on bookings made up to the end of next year (31 December 2021) and can be redeemed against any Cunard voyage sailing until the end of March 2022.
If you have cancelled in the past few days your booking status may not have updated on our system yet, which is why you have received this email. In this case the new temporary policy still applies to your cancelled booking.

Posted by
27908 posts

That is nice, Karen.

I'm puzzled about the on-board credit from Cunard: "$300 pp pernight for 7 day voyage".

$300 per person per night on a 7-day voyage would be $2100 per person. Surely that can't be right??

Posted by
1638 posts

Sorry typo or brain lock. There is a chart in email that doesn’t copy to text. $300 pp for 7 day voyage.

I thought was very generous. And that’s on top of the $300 credit we already have. Good bottle of wine with dinner every night.

Posted by
1087 posts

Karen, the message I got from Cunard for our May crossing said the on-board credit is $300 per stateroom, not per person. Has that changed? It’s quite a difference for us, as there will be 3 in our room. Not that I think it’s very likely there will be a May sailing 😥. Who knows how long before we can get a kennel again. But I hope your July Voyage sails as planned. Stay healthy!

Posted by
4027 posts

Please see the two threads AussieNomad began 3 hours after this post that indicate that Booking.com is the company that is denying the refund, not the hotel. Hopefully, AussieNomad will return to correct her/his post above.

Posted by
1072 posts

Hi, please disregard my criticism of IHG as it has now been clarified by them that it is Booking.com that is requiring the cancellation fee. It has been a confusing 24 hours as initial advice from Booking.com was that the hotel cancellation policy would apply, but then the hotel advised that its cancellation policy only applies to directly booked rooms. My problem has been that I received conflicting advice - Booking.com said it was up to the hotel, the hotel said its policy was overridden by Booking.com.

I know trying to reorganise a holiday is a lesser concern than the overwhelming global health crisis, but my travel plans is something I feel I might still have some ability to control. As a person with a chronic health condition that is managed by immunosuppressive medication I am feeling very vulnerable at present and so am trying to get things sorted while I still can.