Another thread has covered in good detail how the refund process works with airline reservations. Thanks to tips there, I have gotten refunds for several cancelled flights and vouchers for those that I cancelled. But my question has to do with tours.
My husband was going to take a trip to Egypt with a friend while I was walking this summer. He was going on an organized tour, a first for us, so I am navigating the unknown. The trip was cancelled, no surprise there. But what has been surprising is what happens next. The company has automatically booked him and his friend on a similar trip next May. Foolishly, I had assumed that tour companies were subject to the same legal regime as airlines, and that if they cancelled the trip, a refund would be in order. That is not the case.
Nor is it the case that our ācancel for any reasonā trip insurance for this trip will entitle us to a refund. There is a difference between āspecified reasonsā (refund available) and āother reasonsā (voucher available). Pandemics are not a āspecified reason,ā which I already knew.
So we really have very little wiggle room here ā the only realistic option seems to be to let them keep our money for a year and hope that the trip goes next year. Our existing ācancel for any reasonā travel insurance has been rolled over to cover the rescheduled trip and will entitle him to a refund if he cannot go next year because of health reasons, so I guess we are pretty well covered. I am doubtful that the trip will go next year, or that his doctor will authorize him to go next year if there is no vaccine. I have learned that some tour companies have bent to public pressure and offer partial refunds if the traveler is willing to give up 20-30% of the paid price, and that seems like a more fair way to go. I totally understand that it is unrealistic to think these companies can provide total refunds for all of their booked business, so Iām wondering what all the Camino tour companies are doing.
Buen camino, Laurie
My husband was going to take a trip to Egypt with a friend while I was walking this summer. He was going on an organized tour, a first for us, so I am navigating the unknown. The trip was cancelled, no surprise there. But what has been surprising is what happens next. The company has automatically booked him and his friend on a similar trip next May. Foolishly, I had assumed that tour companies were subject to the same legal regime as airlines, and that if they cancelled the trip, a refund would be in order. That is not the case.
Nor is it the case that our ācancel for any reasonā trip insurance for this trip will entitle us to a refund. There is a difference between āspecified reasonsā (refund available) and āother reasonsā (voucher available). Pandemics are not a āspecified reason,ā which I already knew.
So we really have very little wiggle room here ā the only realistic option seems to be to let them keep our money for a year and hope that the trip goes next year. Our existing ācancel for any reasonā travel insurance has been rolled over to cover the rescheduled trip and will entitle him to a refund if he cannot go next year because of health reasons, so I guess we are pretty well covered. I am doubtful that the trip will go next year, or that his doctor will authorize him to go next year if there is no vaccine. I have learned that some tour companies have bent to public pressure and offer partial refunds if the traveler is willing to give up 20-30% of the paid price, and that seems like a more fair way to go. I totally understand that it is unrealistic to think these companies can provide total refunds for all of their booked business, so Iām wondering what all the Camino tour companies are doing.
Buen camino, Laurie