Travel Insurance- Dolomites (accomodation)

When we went to the Dolomites ten years ago we had to give a large hotel deposit, the only time we have ever experienced this. It was wonderful, one of our favorite hotels ever, Hotel Grones, and we loved our time there and in the Dolomites!

Your plan for the Dolomites is a bit ambitious. You could reduce the overall cost by shortening the trip and staying in only one or two places—-Val Gardena for a week, and perhaps one other place for 4-5 nights.

In Val Gardena, consider Hotel Villa Martha in Santa Cristina, the next village up the valley from Ortesei. When we stayed there in 2015 they did not require a deposit at all, saying that they “believe in trust”. Looking at their website it seems that is still their policy. I cannot find their room prices online but you could send a request. If you do book there, please be worthy of that trust and let them know well ahead if you must cancel.

https://www.villamartha.it/en.html

If that is too expensive, look at Garni Max which is nearby. Price in June for bed and breakfast looks to be €58-€60 per person per day. I could not find info online for deposits and refunds.

For your other choice I suggest you look at Alta Badia instead of Toblach. We were not particularly impressed with that town, but perhaps that was due to the bad weather. On the other hand, we loved Colfosco and the hiking opportunities right from the village, or a short bus ride up at Gardena Pass.

Nature Hotel Delta in Colfosco is quite reasonable at €99 per person per day with half board—meaning dinners are included. They do require a deposit, but you may cancel for free up to 61 days ahead. After than you lose the 30%deposit.

https://www.nature-hotel-delta.com/en/price-list-summer/

Thanks for your suggestions Lola. I am spending 3 nights in Toblach since I won't be driving and it is a convenient base for Tre Cime, Lago di braies and San Candido. Post that I am spending 9 nights just in Val Gardena before moving ahead to Verona. In VG as well, I wish to pick a central location (esp in Ortisei) easily accessible by public transport. I checked out Villa Martha and it does seem a good option, although they asked for my Credit card details whehn i tried to book online.
Alta Badia as a base seems lovely but not sure, very convenient without a car.
I am looking for a place that doesn't ask for a 30% deposit. My trip is in June'23 and you never know what may happen! I particularly fell in love with a hotel- Hotel Digon but they again ask for a deposit which is non-refundable within 60 days of arrival.

When you stay in the Val Gardena you receive the Val Gardena Active Pass which includes a bus pass. Stay in the Selva area which has lots of accommodations. We are returning to the Hotel Sun Valley in June for one week. The food there is amazing and half board is included. We do not rent a car as well and the bus system is great. As far as cancellation insurance, you could purchase your own which we plan to do. I believe all places are asking for a cancellation insurance policy. Most are small businesses and cancellations cost them a lot.

I know what it is like to “fall in love” with a hotel but it often leads to heartbreak just like falling in love with another person can. Is it the infinity pool you like so much? That is an amenity that adds quite a bit to the hotel cost. I had a hotel with beautiful infinity pool in mind for our stay on Alpe di Siusi next year. But the price turns out to be more than we can justify, and they require a deposit by bank transfer, which we do not like.

There are 3 villages in Val Gardena, and all three offer good connections to hikes on both sides of the valley. There are many lovely hotels, most offering excellent food on half-board arrangements. And as Richard pointed out, most will give you a card for free bus transport between the villages. The lifts are not included, so you buy a separate weekly pass for those.

I am sure that if you keep looking, and include Santa Cristina and Selva as well as Ortesei, you will find a hotel you like and a cancellation policy you can live with.

You can use this local hotels with rooms available for your dates.

https://www.valgardena.it/en/ortisei/

I am surprised you were able to start booking Hotel Villa Martha online, as I cannot find a way to do that. They want you to send a request, and then they return with an offer for rooms, prices, and description of the cancellation and deposit policy.

Thanks Lola. I was able to book online on VM but I still chose to write to the kind owner, also got a response within a few hours. Thanks a ton for the reco. I am thinking of dividing my 9 days in Val Gardena into 4+5 nights with first 4 in Villa Martha and the next 5 in a place closer to Seceda/ AdS lifts maybe. I wish to get a varied accomodation experience instead of spending all 9 nights at a single place. From what I have been getting (almost 100+ searches in VG, on the local website you mentioned as well), only 2 places have not mentioned deposit- one is Villa Martha & other is an apartment in Ortisei. I guess, post Covid, all the accomodation wish to protect losses against cancellation. I don't think I can take the insurance policy mentioned on all websites since I reside in India (I read on one of the websites that I am not eligible for this Europe-based insurance). Maybe I can still look at booking a place with deposit (for 5 nights, my losses will be a little less) & make sure I make the trip happen!

OK, now I understand the travel insurance issue. I knew from your name that you are Indian, but I assumed you live in the US or the UK. I checked on Insuremytrip.com and they will insure your trip for medical coverage only, not trip,cancellation. Is there no travel insurance company in India that can offer such insurance for your trip? What do travelers from India do they visit Europe?

In any case, if you are looking for the most liberal cancellation and refund terms in Ortesei, you can use the filters on booking.come to filter for “free cancellation”. Most of the 34 properties that came up when I entered random dates in June for a 5-night stay said “free cancellation up to 61 days in advance” which seems to be the standard in the alpine regions (including places I have looked at in Switzerland). But a few of the holiday apartments were much more generous.

Are you willing to consider an self-catering apartment instead of a hotel? You can still dine at restaurants if you like, but we actually prefer the option of cooking for ourselves to save money and get what we like to eat.

Among the apartment on offer are two one-bedroom apartments in a building named Chesa Valeria (Cësa Valeria in the local Ladin language). One apartment is named Sonia and the other is named Monika, but both are $768 for the 5 nights I chose ( June 19-24). The building is very close to the base of the Seceda lift. Pay nothing to book on booking.com until 2 June and cancel for free (no penalty) until 4 June (2 weeks before arrival). You should be pretty confident by then that you will actually be able to travel.

There are no reviews on booking.com because it is a new listing there, from August 2022. But the Cësa Valeria holiday apartment building has its own website, and if you can find Google reviews of that—-I saw 5 Five-star reviews from Pre-covid stays.

https://www.cesavaleria.it/en/

https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/cesa-valeria-app-sonia.en-gb.html?aid=356980&label=gog235jc-1FCAMocUIHb3J0aXNlaUgzWANotAKIAQGYAQm4AQfIAQ3YAQHoAQH4AQyIAgGoAgO4Av2-w5wGwAIB0gIkYzAyNTVkZWEtYmU0Yy00NmU4LTkxM2QtNGJkMWJhZWVhMjZl2AIG4AIB&sid=3e6494fa9bf820da9f93faa2b64aaa60&all_sr_blocks=894031002_359806902_2_0_0;checkin=2023-06-19;checkout=2023-06-24;dest_id=-123483;dest_type=city;dist=0;group_adults=2;group_children=0;hapos=22;highlighted_blocks=894031002_359806902_2_0_0;hpos=22;matching_block_id=894031002_359806902_2_0_0;nflt=fc%3D2;no_rooms=1;req_adults=2;req_children=0;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;sr_order=popularity;sr_pri_blocks=894031002_359806902_2_0_0__73171;srepoch=1670438936;srpvid=2bbf84465b2e00af;type=total;ucfs=1&#hotelTmpl

I saw a couple of other apartments with similar cancellation policies, but they were much more expensive or not well-located. But you should look through them yourself, and also check each hotel individually for a similar more liberal cancellation policy if you prefer that.

I hope you do not have to give up your plans of hiking in the Dolomites because of this issue. It is such a beautiful place, offering wonderful hiking; it is well worth the time and trouble to find a place to stay that works for your needs. I don’t think it would help to change to a different location—-Switzerland is even more expensive, and they definitely expect people to have trip insurance to cover their holidays there. Maybe Austria would be better, but I don’t know that country at all.

Wow Lola! thanks a ton for your effort in helping me, really appreciate that. I am a huge planning nerd and I have been on a hunt since Sep for my June trip..haha!
Since I am early on my booking journey, I did reserve B&B Villa Angelino in Ortisei with free cencellation until 30 days of arrival (last month), but my dates changed a bit (you see improvising my itinerary every single day) and now that booking is useless for me since my new dates aren't available in that place. So I started finding more places on B.com and somehow, they hike up prices for all the places. I noticed this only for Dolomites! The prices listed on individual websites are lower than those on B.com.
Hence, it's just better to book a place directly esp for Dolomites rather than going via Booking.com and I have traveled solo in Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Russia, Hungary, Sweden, previously Italy- Florence, Rome etc with absolutely zero issues. Booking.com was all along my booking partner, I love the flexibilty of free cancellation it provides.
I do get a travel insurance everytime I travel and luckily I havent got a chance to actually use it! They do cover trip cancellations but I thought since every B&B/ hotel in Dolomites is listing this insurance, it maybe a mandate there to take.
Long story short- I have booked 4 nights in Villa Martha and 5 nights in an apartment in Ortisei with no deposit, all thanks to your reco for VM.
BUT! Since I love improvising and I have a lot of time to go for my trip, I will still keep looking esp for Ortisei...your latest reco also looks interesting. I was hoping for a nice hotel with all amenities and a halfboard so that when I come back in the evening, I have a hot meal waiting for me. Also, coming back to an empty apartment when you tarvel solo seems a bit depressing. A hotel will be a cheery set-up. But all hotels do ask for a deposit, it seems so.
I won't give up on my Dolomites dream, I totally love being in the mountains and Dolomites has been on my wishlist since long. I did Norway this year in Aug, and I think Dolomites is something that matches up to the beauty in Norway!

I was in the Dolomites last year and also had a hard time finding good accommodations at reasonable prices. I wasn't into budget hotels, but most ideal options were super expensive. I did plan at least six months ahead. What I heard was that, because of working from home, many city dwellers moved to the mountains and therefore these inns were running at full capacity. Finally, the Dolomites isn't budget friendly in general anyway.

Requiring insurance is understandable because of COVID.

The Austrian Alps is slightly more affordable but the scenery just doesn't compare. So, stick to the Dolomites. One more place to consider for your next trip is Slovenia. The river gorges (fed by glaciers) are even more beautiful than those in Switzerland. This is according to my relatives in Switzerland.