Rescheduling cancelled trip due to covid

This sounds like a very tough situation. You say they “encouraged” you to rebook for this summer. Did they say those 3 months were “required” to honor your original paid booking? It seems obvious that an April-to-April rescheduling is fair. The hotel was affected by the pandemic, but so were you. It’s not like you just decided you didn’t want to honor your original booking - you were medically and legally prevented from doing so. And they’ve had your money this whole time!

Maybe you’ve already made several requests, and presented your case to them this way, to no avail. Is there an owner or higher authority at the hotel to appeal to, unless that’s whom you’ve been dealing with already this whole time? If your schedule or commitments only allow you to ever go in an April, they should understand and honor that. Unless you’ve hit an absolute brick wall with that hotel, perhaps one more approach could help them understand your situation.

By the way, the time we stayed in Sorrento, it was December, just after Christmas. The owner told us the time of year he’d visit Sorrento, if he didn’t live there, would be April. I hope you get a successful resolution to this!

Italy passed a law to try and save its tourist industry. Research and read up on Cura-Italia, Decree Law Article 88. They were relieved of mandatory cash refunds and had to provide you with a 1 year voucher. It appear they are going beyond the 1 year point and allowing you to use it this summer. Family run hotels have been devastated (Italy and elsewhere). Next April will be their first real start to a tourist season. They simply cannot afford to run a summer season giving away hotel rooms for free (whatever money you paid in 2019/2020 has long been spent). Covid losses around the world has included lives (over 1/2 million in the US alone) , the provider in the family unable to work, houses lost to foreclosure and repossession or well on their way to the loss, college educations brought to a halt. If your only loss from Covid is lodging funds from a vacation I would consider that a win.

I have not faced this particular situation, but it is no different than any other negotiation (it's normal and part of life). Right now, you and the hotel are too far apart to "make a deal" but I would continue to pursue mutually beneficial options. If the hotel will not allow you to rebook as late as April 2022, then offer an alternate date(s) that are somewhere "in the middle" between their best offer and your offer (for example, October is a nice time to visit and anytime after that will be a lot less crowded). If you have a lot of money to lose, then perhaps getting to Italy before April 2022 is a possibility - consider all available options before getting vested in your "perfect" alternative. Keep negotiating and figure out a way not to come away from this empty handed.

I'm sure 6 rooms pre-paid are a considerable amount of money. I would not consider walking away with no value whatsoever (no refund or raincheck) a "win", as the prior poster suggested. That's actually money left on the table needlessly. Next time, limit your expososure by pre-paying as little as possible in advance (or not at all, in the case of hotels). Keep the dialogue open with the hotel until you arrive at some dates that will work for both parties. Good luck!

Many people have faced similar and had to walk away from money. Though it is difficult to accept, a lot of the world doesn't have the same interest of allowing 'the customer is always right' and 'no questions asked returns' as has become all too common in USA. The fact that they were willing to extend beyond the 1 year mark has to be considered as some effort to accommodate. April may be more 'convenient' but then the decision is yours whether to stick to April 2022, or look at the feasibility of late September or early October to see if they would accept a slight extension of their grace period. If not, then you have to accept the loss. They provided their parameters, and it is your decision to accept or decline.

If you paid with a credit card, perhaps see what, if any , options you have with them. If they will entertain making a charge back, you may consider that, but give the hotel a chance to 'make it right'.

If you have the leverage of 'we could do a charge back', they may be more agreeable to extending the time frame..

Whether that is still a possible, is unknown to me.

Good luck

Credit cards usually have a limit of a few months to claim fraud or non provision of service. Why do people think this is the easy out? And, it reflects on your credit rating every time you do this. And using it threat? Low blow, I say. They have financially suffered for over a year, and have offered an alternative time frame when they haven't had to.