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Timing for Non-refundable Booking.com requests

Hi everyone,

Hoping to avoid a lot of sidetrack answers including non-refundable vs. refundable - thank you!

I’m just wondering what is the best timing to request the possibility of moving my reservation dates from September 2020 to September 2021 for a non-refundable Booking.com reservation. Of course, I would be thrilled with a refund, but has anyone been successful with that on a Booking.com reservation?

I would like to allow the vacancy with enough time that the hotel could fill it with an EU traveler, but I’ve also heard to hold the reservation until closer to travel time.

Posted by
10104 posts

Hi Jean — I guess my first thought is to wait until after July 1, when the EU will have officially announced whether or not US travelers can enter the EU for leisure travel.

Posted by
2602 posts

We were to travel to Iceland in August and are rescheduling to August 2021. Most of our lodging was booked through booking.com and all but one were refundable. The one that was nonrefundable was also nonchangable. When I went to cancel on booking.com I got a message that said under the circumstances some hotels were refunding money and if I wanted I could send a message to the place and ask, so I did. It took a while for the hotel to get back to me as they are just swamped with this right now, but they were great to work with and refunded our money. We will rebook directly with them, as they requested, for next summer and will book the refundable rate just to be sure.

There was one small hitch. When we booked, we paid in full and our printout from cooking.com said PAID in big red letters. The hotel never received the money so asked for proof from the bank, so I sent a copy of the credit card charge. They emailed booking.com about that with a cc to me, and I was informed that I will be refunded in full. So it took a bit, but the hotel was great to work with and we got it sorted out.

I would go ahead and reach out now. It can't hurt and if they know you want to reschedule, that certainly helps.

Posted by
7756 posts

Anyone else with personal experience for deciding their timing with their non-refundable hotels?