We Travel Together Hotel Cancellation Policies Varying

[4MyEgo]

Just on the off chance, I am wanting to know if any expats booked any hotels through their wives using the government app to get the 40% discount and now having cancelling due to the latest outbreak.

 

We cancelled this morning as we would have to self quarantine for 14 days upon our return, not something we want to do unless they lock us down as they did last year.

 

So just wanting to know:

 

1) Did your hotel provide you with a full refund, naturally without the government app 40% rebate as you didn't pay for it.

 

2) Did the hotel say no refund, however would allow you to book a room for a later date using your 60% credit that you paid at the time for the room, but you would have to pay any increase for the room rate at the time of the new booking.

 

3) No refund.

 

I ask simply because we just cancelled 3 hotels that we had booked, 2 out of the 3 had been paid for, and 1 of the 3 agreed to a cancellation without a problem, i.e. it wasn't paid for, it was booked through Booking.com so the money had not been paid yet, one agreed to a full refund, the 3rd one advising no refund but they will provide us with a credit as in 2) above.

 

Two of the hotels were one night stays on the way to our destination and of course one night stays on our way back, i.e. our destination is a long drive, so we would break it up and take our time before arriving at our destination refreshed. 

 

While I am not going to cry over spilt milk, i.e. 2 nights paid for accommodation at one of the hotels which we have stayed at many many times and knowing their hotel booking policy back the front, I just want to get my head around the hotels reasoning, e.g. I know if we booked through Booking.com and cancelled before the trip, we would get a full refund, this is the same if we booked through the hotels website, but they are saying because we used the government app, we cannot get a refund on the 60% we paid, only a credit and of course it would be without the 40% rebate as it expires at the end of the month.

 

I find this a little suspect, however before I unleash with the hotels head office, It would be interesting to hear what others have experienced when they cancelled their booking after using the government app. 

 

[clivebaxter]

Done it 4 times up until Feb, easy. Now you have to book through an agent as a corruption preventative and they want scans of pp's etc, not worth the bother.

Edited April 14, 2021 by clivebaxter

[sandyf]

From day one the WTT policy was bookings were non refundable. In the very early days you could only book and pay through the app so there was no debate.

They then introduced other booking arrangements but the policy remained the same, no refund if you paid with the app but if you booked and paid through one of the other methods, such as Agoda, then any refund would be a matter between you and the party that made the booking. I am assuming it was the hotel that offered you some credit, as far as I am aware there is no way any funds can be returned to your account with the app.

Bottom line is no fixed policy on refunds.

We have only had one cancellation and that was an Agoda booking and we got a full refund as a cash credit to the  Agoda account.

 

PS This statement appears on the home page.

"All forms of refunds for tourists such as refunds or credit, etc. are at the discretion of the hotel operator."https://www.xn--12c1bik6bbd8ab6hd1b5jc6jta.com/

Edited April 14, 2021 by sandyf

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

From day one the WTT policy was bookings were non refundable. In the very early days you could only book and pay through the app so there was no debate.

They then introduced other booking arrangements but the policy remained the same, no refund if you paid with the app but if you booked and paid through one of the other methods, such as Agoda, then any refund would be a matter between you and the party that made the booking. I am assuming it was the hotel that offered you some credit, as far as I am aware there is no way any funds can be returned to your account with the app.

Bottom line is no fixed policy on refunds.

We have only had one cancellation and that was an Agoda booking and we got a full refund as a cash credit to the  Agoda account.

 

PS This statement appears on the home page.

"All forms of refunds for tourists such as refunds or credit, etc. are at the discretion of the hotel operator."https://www.xn--12c1bik6bbd8ab6hd1b5jc6jta.com/

 

Thanks for that, and yes it was the hotel that has offered us a credit for the 2 nights which were originally going to be one night before we arrived at our destination and one night after leaving our destination.

 

It does appear that it is at the discretion of the hotel as the main hotel that we would be spending the majority of our time at has offered us a full refund, emailing me a request for my wife's ID card and a copy of her bank book account details which I provided. I suppose it depends on the stars behind the hotel, this was a 5 star, the one that is providing a credit is a 3 star.

 

The above said, I am not going to cry over spilt milk, we will get that credit and use it another time, as you have pointed out there appears to be no fixed policy on refunds, and I suppose it could be worse, no credit, no refund, so as we haven't lost any money on this so to speak, we will take the credit as mentioned earlier.

[Natai Beach]

Pretty ordinary making last minute cancellations during this time of the year. 

They likely would have sold those nights to someone else, and now will be empty, losing money because you changed your mind.

 

Hotels have had a very difficult last 12 months, people making last minute cancellations during the absolute high season for Thais traveling robs them of the chance to recover some of their losses. 

[sandyf]

13 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

Thanks for that, and yes it was the hotel that has offered us a credit for the 2 nights which were originally going to be one night before we arrived at our destination and one night after leaving our destination.

 

It does appear that it is at the discretion of the hotel as the main hotel that we would be spending the majority of our time at has offered us a full refund, emailing me a request for my wife's ID card and a copy of her bank book account details which I provided. I suppose it depends on the stars behind the hotel, this was a 5 star, the one that is providing a credit is a 3 star.

 

The above said, I am not going to cry over spilt milk, we will get that credit and use it another time, as you have pointed out there appears to be no fixed policy on refunds, and I suppose it could be worse, no credit, no refund, so as we haven't lost any money on this so to speak, we will take the credit as mentioned earlier.

Yes , a bit of a lottery and as you say sometimes quality can have additional benefit.

Generally speaking, I would say you were extremely fortunate to get a financial refund. In my 20 or so years here in Thailand getting hard cash back has been virtually impossible, normally been exchange or credit. Maybe the wind of change.

[4MyEgo]

43 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Yes , a bit of a lottery and as you say sometimes quality can have additional benefit.

Generally speaking, I would say you were extremely fortunate to get a financial refund. In my 20 or so years here in Thailand getting hard cash back has been virtually impossible, normally been exchange or credit. Maybe the wind of change.

 

I have to agree, I learnt early here to never release funds for anything until I read the fine print, or having it writing, that said with the 5 star I communicated with them via email before booking and also asked the question, i.e. what if the COVID situation gets worse around the time we are going to travel (which happened to be the case), and they replied, full refund, so had it in writing.

 

The 3 star the wife handled as they didn't reply to my email, probably because they don't have good written English skills to reply, and they said to her that she could get a credit if she had to cancel, now knowing the wife, she is not as thorough as I am but then again, I won't hold that against her, it's the way they were raised in Thailand, IMO, to accept, not to question, to do, etc, that said, I also assumed the credit would be for another day.

 

The above said, I just now found out that the credit is till the end of April....LOL.

 

Now I could get angry and huff and puff and try to blow the hotel down, but if anyone is to blame over the spilt milk, it's me, so I have two choices, to live and learn, or I could be angry and not stay there again, but that would be like cutting off my nose to spite my face because we have stayed there on many occasions and the hotel suites us with kids and is reasonably priced, and has the facilities we require.

 

I have to respect the fact that they have a business to run, staff to pay etc, and they have a no refund policy on this WTT, and of course are doing it hard and need to survive during situations like this, so they can consider the 1,063 baht as my tip to them ????????

[4MyEgo]

13 hours ago, Natai Beach said:

Pretty ordinary making last minute cancellations during this time of the year. 

They likely would have sold those nights to someone else, and now will be empty, losing money because you changed your mind.

 

Hotels have had a very difficult last 12 months, people making last minute cancellations during the absolute high season for Thais traveling robs them of the chance to recover some of their losses. 

 

Do you really think someone else would have stayed there during this latest outbreak, if you believe that your delusional. I normally book through Bookings.com and do not pay until the last minute, this way it provides me with an out if I need it, not that I have had to use an out before, except once and that worked fine, no charge, but with the We Travel Together app as I just found out, there is a no refund policy, that said it's a catch 22 situation, you want the 40% discount, it comes at a price, fair enough, and as I don't read Thai, my minimal loss with the 3 star hotel, but the 5 star provided me with a full refund even though we used the WTT app, so it really boils down to the hotel and how desperate they are of taking the chance of losing customers as I am sure a lot of people won't take it as well as I have.

[Natai Beach]

15 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

Do you really think someone else would have stayed there during this latest outbreak, if you believe that your delusional. I normally book through Bookings.com and do not pay until the last minute, this way it provides me with an out if I need it, not that I have had to use an out before, except once and that worked fine, no charge, but with the We Travel Together app as I just found out, there is a no refund policy, that said it's a catch 22 situation, you want the 40% discount, it comes at a price, fair enough, and as I don't read Thai, my minimal loss with the 3 star hotel, but the 5 star provided me with a full refund even though we used the WTT app, so it really boils down to the hotel and how desperate they are of taking the chance of losing customers as I am sure a lot of people won't take it as well as I have.

 I cancelled my farang New Year hotel booking at the last minute because of exactly the same Covid situation flare up. I didn’t want to risk a 14 day quarantine on return or risk spreading covid. 
 

I didn’t bother demanding a refund from the hotel. It wasn’t their fault I cancelled. It would be morally wrong IMO for them to wear the loss that I caused. My decision so fair enough it was my loss.
 

 

[sandyf]

4 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

Do you really think someone else would have stayed there during this latest outbreak, if you believe that your delusional. I normally book through Bookings.com and do not pay until the last minute, this way it provides me with an out if I need it, not that I have had to use an out before, except once and that worked fine, no charge, but with the We Travel Together app as I just found out, there is a no refund policy, that said it's a catch 22 situation, you want the 40% discount, it comes at a price, fair enough, and as I don't read Thai, my minimal loss with the 3 star hotel, but the 5 star provided me with a full refund even though we used the WTT app, so it really boils down to the hotel and how desperate they are of taking the chance of losing customers as I am sure a lot of people won't take it as well as I have.

It is not just here. last may we had a booking with a hotel near Gatwick that we had made through Agoda. It all went pear shaped and we asked Agoda about a refund but at that time here was no "covid" compensation published and they said we would have to get it from the hotel. The hotel website said they were closed and there was no response to emails. We went back to Agoda and again no money back just a credit to the account. I think if we had booked direct with the hotel it would have been a write off.

[4MyEgo]

8 minutes ago, sandyf said:

It is not just here. last may we had a booking with a hotel near Gatwick that we had made through Agoda. It all went pear shaped and we asked Agoda about a refund but at that time here was no "covid" compensation published and they said we would have to get it from the hotel. The hotel website said they were closed and there was no response to emails. We went back to Agoda and again no money back just a credit to the account. I think if we had booked direct with the hotel it would have been a write off.

 

I don't know much about Agoda as I usually use Bookings.com as I find their website friendly when looking at it and they usually have the full price whereas I have found Agoda to add on when you book, but not pay for it, that annoys me, so I avoid Agoda, e.g. if your going to advertise a price, it should be an all inclusive if you ask me, that's just the way Like it, apart from add on's like breakfast and cancellation options, a little more expensive but at least one has the choice.

 

The above said, I read the PM is meeting tomorrow and is looking at putting a few areas in lockdown, including the area we were going to stay at, so if he does that, I will have the wife ring the hotel and say refund thanks as they said if the Mayor or PM locked down the area they would provide a refund, let's see if I take my tip back ???? 

 

[treetops]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

so I avoid Agoda, e.g. if your going to advertise a price, it should be an all inclusive if you ask me, that's just the way Like it

 

You can now make the Agoda website display the total price.  Select the currency symbol at the top of the page and you'll see this choice.

 

 

[4MyEgo]

4 hours ago, Natai Beach said:

 I cancelled my farang New Year hotel booking at the last minute because of exactly the same Covid situation flare up. I didn’t want to risk a 14 day quarantine on return or risk spreading covid. 
 

I didn’t bother demanding a refund from the hotel. It wasn’t their fault I cancelled. It would be morally wrong IMO for them to wear the loss that I caused. My decision so fair enough it was my loss.
 

 

 

It all depends on how you booked the hotel and the policy that the hotel has in place, that said, I usually book via Bookings.com and pay a little extra so that I do have the option of cancelling, I called it insurance and the hotel know if they offer a cheaper rate then those who cancel lose out.

 

WTT provided no refund, that said the 5 star hotel who we booked through WTT did refund us all the money we paid, that is what I call a smart business move, they were not obliged to provide us with a refund, but do understand the current situation is also not their clients doing and they are big enough to provide a refund.

 

The above said the PM is meeting tomorrow to possibly lockdown the area and if he does, we will be contacting the other hotel for a refund due to the pandemic, as they advised that if the area was locked down they would provide a refund. I am not one to throw money away, regardless if it's small change.

[sandyf]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

I don't know much about Agoda as I usually use Bookings.com as I find their website friendly when looking at it and they usually have the full price whereas I have found Agoda to add on when you book, but not pay for it, that annoys me, so I avoid Agoda, e.g. if your going to advertise a price, it should be an all inclusive if you ask me, that's just the way Like it, apart from add on's like breakfast and cancellation options, a little more expensive but at least one has the choice.

 

The above said, I read the PM is meeting tomorrow and is looking at putting a few areas in lockdown, including the area we were going to stay at, so if he does that, I will have the wife ring the hotel and say refund thanks as they said if the Mayor or PM locked down the area they would provide a refund, let's see if I take my tip back ???? 

 

Yes, when booking Agoda you have to bear in mind the service fee, it's not an addon more like VAT. On the other hand you get money back. Used to be points and we had quite a few free nights with the points. Now you get a credit to the account 7 days after checkout and we just use that each time we book.

We also have a booking for Saturday night which is at risk.

[sandyf]

21 hours ago, sandyf said:

We also have a booking for Saturday night which is at risk.

Cancelled.