Suggestions for a more equitable refund policy

My thought is that the refund policy was very clear when you signed up for the tour, so although it may be “inequitable” that is the deal you agreed to. How would you feel if after signing up for a tour, RS decided to raise the price? That, too, would be wrong because the price was agreed when you paid your deposit. As a retired attorney, I am always amazed when people enter into a “contract” but later want to change the terms for their benefit.

Unfortunately, a liberal cancellation policy usually leads to behaviors like you often see on here with hotels. People book multiple hotels for a given date, so they are assured a spot, then take their time deciding, cancelling some time later. Meantime others looking for a room may be shut out, and while one could reason that the hotel will be able to fill the room when they cancel, they likely also turned some people away, and the hotel has to deal with the hassle.

I'm sorry that you have reached the point that tours my be too much. 75 is still young these days, maybe the incentive to fulfill the tour will give you time to prepare, physically and mentally. Otherwise, I guess that is why one buys trip insurance.

I'm 74, and have started having health challenges. But I've been buying travel insurance since our PARENTS were 70 or so. I've had worries about SOMEONE's health challenges for decades. I am sorry that you, in effect, made a "hasty" decision, partly because many RS tours sell out. But I think it is unreasonable to blame a policy you were familiar with for the result.

I do think it is reasonable to discuss Rick's cancellation policies here, but your current misfortune clouds the issues.

Thanks all for the postings so far but I'm afraid that they do tend to miss the point.

It is of course obvious that the rules are posted and that they are seen by all who sign up.

My post suggests that the current policy is both detrimental to the reputation of a company which has sought to distinguish itself from others in the business and creates an incentive for clients who reserve well in advance but are unable to participate, to not bother to inform the company of a change in plans.
Considering the price of trip insurance, just disappearing and letting the company worry about filling a slot on short notice may be the better choice from the consumers viewpoint.
So again, the company might do well to move away from the blunt instrument approach regarding refunds of deposits.

The “point” is that RS, like all other travel companies, have policies that are clearly posted and hopefully are uniformly applied to all customers. Otherwise, what is the use of having any policies. I took a RS tour in 2022 when Covid policies caused over half of my fellow travelers to be booted from the tour. I did not agree with the policy, but I took the tour knowing the risk. Same risk applies to 30 day deposit refund. Sometimes you roll the dice and lose.

I've seen other companies have policies such as:

• we will refund your deposit if we can fill your space(s)
• we will extend a credit for your deposit good for a period of time that can be applied to another tour.
• you can xfer your deposit to another (maybe easier) tour (it appears that RS does allow this)

For OP, the kicker would be if the credit can be transferable, but I think that
is stretching the bounds of goodwill.

OP, have you thought about a different tour that might be easier?

There are often two sides to a story, and we do not know here if, for instance, there
has been a lot of abuse of the refund policy up to this point.

Here's a link to a relevant post:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/2025-rs-tour-refund-policy-change

I had to cancel a tour and RS Europe was extremely gracious in holding that deposit as a credit I could put toward a different tour in the future. I really appreciated that and about a year later utilized that deposit for another tour.

I don’t have any issues with their deposit policies. I’m sorry OP is feeling “wronged”, but I can’t agree with their thinking.

I understand your disappointment. But I can see why the company might make changes to the process after managing through a lot of chaos during the COVID years. They might not have landed on a policy that appeals to everyone, but this is where they landed. I'd suggest emailing them (separate from this forum post) and express your concerns.

Before giving up on your deposit, have you considered asking to be transferred to a different, less strenuous tour? The tour conditions allow this:

Transferring to another tour: Change in plans? Up to 60 days prior to
your tour's departure, you can transfer to any other tour in the same
calendar year with seats available, applying your existing payments
and with no transfer fee. If you transfer to a different tour, the
price of that tour will be applied, effective on the date we confirm
your transfer. Transfers less than 60 days before your tour's
departure are generally not possible.

As you're a long way out from your travel date, there could be another tour/itinerary that better suits your current situation. Best of luck.

drh,

I totally understand where you are coming from. I think this is less about refund policy and more about 2 people seeking grace, which they taught me in Sunday school means "unmerited favor." The policy says you don't deserve favor (i.e., a refund). Respectfully, I think making an argument that you do indeed deserve favor/refund is a bad plan, only made worse by airing that argument in a public forum owned by the company from whom you are seeking grace. Have you tried humbly approaching the Rick Steves organization and kindly saying that you don't deserve the refund but you would greatly appreciate it if the organization could find it within its heart to refund the money, especially since there should be no harm done to the company?

OP, I am sorry you don’t feel that you will be physically able to take the RS Sicily tour next year. However, I don’t completely agree with your logic for receiving a refund.

Given the popularity of the tours, the long standing reputation of the company as customer friendly, the high likelihood of this tour being fully populated within the next year

What if lots of people had accidents/health issues or other unfortunate circumstances and had to cancel the tour over the next several months. If RS graciously bends their refund rules and provides generous refunds to everyone, there is a possibility that many of their tours will no longer have enough participants and tours will get cancelled.

As has been suggested by others, RS is generous with transferring non-refundable deposits to other tours, so you should consider taking a less strenuous tour. Or you may be able to gift/transfer your deposit to a family member or a friend.

When we were younger (currently 83) we self-insured all of trip being very aware of the cancellation policies and schedules. Got burned a couple of times but figured our "premium" savings from earlier trips off set the lost for that particular trip. At our current age we now insure all of our trips. Every year for us is a little more 'iffy" than it used to be. Since I am not here to tell someone how to run their business, I accept their policies as stated. There is more to a travel agency business than just filling a seat so if they find that the current policy is a good compromise between customer and business needs -- so be it.

It is unfortunate that you may lose a little cash in this deal but it didn't come as a surprise. I agree with the prior comments that there is little to complaint about. I would love it if I could get a full refund until I completely stepped in the airplane.

I'm sorry you are unhappy with the rules you signed up for. However, I can easily see why RS doesn't adopt a sliding scale of refund percentages, as some very large (and more expensive) companies do. Can you imagine how their limited staff would have to handle that, keeping track of which percentage rate each cancelling person fell into, and handling pushback or requests to make an exception just this once? I know it took a lot of staff power for RS to issue all those refunds for deposits received prior to covid shutdown. They are a small company who does what they do very well. They also, for example, don't require full payment as early as larger companies do. Bottom line, you are nitpicking on the wrong company.

It’s very simple. The refund policies are clearly stated. There are other tour companies available.

Others have mentioned transferring to a less-strenuous tour. Could you switch to a 1-week RS tour of a city, such as Paris? You wouldn’t have issues carrying your suitcase to/from several hotels, and that tour has much less moving around. And if you need a break from one of their planned activities, you’re in lovely Paris where sitting at a cafe or people watching in a beautiful park can still create nice memories.

Or could one of their My Way tours be a solution? You don’t need to keep up the pace with a group, and you still are traveling.

I'm sorry you're unhappy with the current refund policy. But, as others have mentioned, you agreed to the terms when you booked. And there are costs to the company even when you cancel a year in advance.

There is a reason why travel insurance is highly recommended, whether booking a tour or traveling independently.

Rather than lament about the Rick Steves' company for their clearly explained cancellation policy, remember that this company was literally shut down for a couple years not too long ago. This same company honorably refunded customers during that time period where many other companies dragged their feet or simple didn't give refunds.

If you haven't noticed, we live in a different world lately. Restaurants requiring a credit card to reserve a table. Many hotels requiring prepaid reservations, not just a credit card guarantee.

if your unable to transfer your deposit to another trip for yourself, perhaps you can give it to a friend or family member rather than waste it. I hope you find a solution that you are comfortable with.

While exploring other aspects of the Rick Steves Tour policies, I came across this link, which is worth reading:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/policy-updates

Extract:

"we're aware that our TMs are eager to join us on tour, but may not quite be ready to commit to a particular departure. Understandably, some customers have put down deposits on multiple departures — and then, much later, canceled all but one, "rolling over" the credit from their deposits to cover the cost of their tour.

We completely understand the logic of this approach, from a customer's point of view. (Frankly, it's a clever hack!) However, you can imagine how this creates challenges on our end — both for balancing our books responsibly, and for accurately managing tour availability. (Imagine: If a customer puts deposits on eight tour seats, then cancels six of them several months later, that's up to six empty seats that might have been filled by travelers who'd have enjoyed joining us, had there been availability earlier.)

We believe that sticking to a 30-day refundability window on deposits simply makes good business sense, while also helping all of our customers have a more accurate and complete picture of available seats."

Basically, people were block-booking a bunch of departure dates, then using the fact that cancelled deposits could be rolled over into active bookings, thereby not losing a penny despite locking up a bunch of reservations for months and months.

Based on this, I think their policy makes sense.

This post is to let folks know that we are aware of this thread. We appreciate the thoughtful comments and explanations from everyone (though I've made a few minor edits). I've escalated this in case additional commentary from RSE is needed, though a lot of it has already been covered. I'm aware that we'll be reaching out to the OP with regard to the last email we sent which provided some options.

OP, you say that you have completed 5 very successful tours. You obviously like the RSE company, its culture and the tours you participated in. Yet you would choose to inconvenience them and other potential travellers, who may have enjoyed getting on a tour in a timely manner, by waiting until the tour is close to leaving to cancel your trip. How does this benefit you?

It’s unfortunate that you feel you can no longer join a tour, but as said by others, this policy clearly states deposits won’t be refunded after 30 days. As Jean suggested, why not use the money to go on a city tour where you unpack only once and can take some time away from the tour if you need a break.

OP, I am sorry that you had to cancel your trip.

I historically have never bought travel insurance (except medical and medical evacuation). My flights--I use Delta SkyMiles--can be cancelled without penalty at any time. I nearly always book the refundable rate with hotels. And I rarely book organized tours. My not buying travel insurance was a considered decision where I believed that over time the savings in premium costs outweighed the coverage provided.

Because of a major family issue, I had to cancel at the last moment a RS tour. I did not receive a refund. However, I knew the company's refund policies when I booked the tour and certainly when I made final payment. When I cancelled, I did give the cancellation reason and asked whether there were any exceptions to the refund policy. I was told there were no refund exceptions, but that the company in its discretion would consider a partial credit for a future tour. The RS website states that the company has total discretion with granting any credit up to the stated ceiling amount.

I provided the documentation requested (there was an emergency medical issue). Within days, I was granted the maximum credit for a future tour. There were absolutely no games played with requests for more information. Yes, there was a major difference between the fare paid and the credit amount. But the company did not have to provide any type of credit. Throughout the process (which did not take long), I was treated with courtesy, and the credit received was more than fair.