I live in Bavaria. We've been locked down since Monday. Ski lifts ended Sunday, hotels for tourists closed Monday.

Ok as far as non refundable goes, I never understood why it can't be a credit. I always book non refundable airfare as that is what I can afford and like to travel. I am happy to pay a change fee to get the credit. The same goes for a hotel that does not offer refundable which some do not.

I have a non refundable hotel reservation for the end of May. Given the situation and the forces that be, I would be happy to accept a credit. For 3 nights it was expensive as that is how it is there. If I am not dead, I will go unless the governments of my country and that one say no. It would just be good business sense to offer a credit as while I am alive, I would go back as I am a repeat customer. If not, then I won't be. Depends on how much they value my business.

5Alive re: <<As all of these cards keep falling, do we have a Depression as big as the 1930s?>> - the prediction I heard for the US is that this pandemic will hit us like post-9-11 and the Recession ( 2008) all rolled up together, I guess luckily the Great Depression wasn't referenced. Or I'd have to sing my old refrain to the tune of Prince's 1999. "Tonight I'm gonna party like it's"... 1929.

On refunds and non-refundable -these are unusual circumstances. I would ask. What harm can it do to ask? Nicely at first, and then perhaps a little more firmly? Many of these companies will want to create goodwill for future travel.

On domestic travel, I just inquired this morning about refund of a nonrefundable air ticket reserved at the beginning of March for end of May. The event was cancelled. Southwest Airlines is refunding full ticket price in the form of a voucher good for up to one year for the same person.

My heart goes out to all small and mid-size businesses and services, and my hope is for containment, and the capacity to recuperate as much of the year's business as possible.
Good luck and be safe and healthy.

As far as I know, Southwest ALWAYS refunds all cancellations & changes in the form of a credit for future travel, always has, & why they're my 1st choice for domestic travel, one of many thousands of loyal customers.

MmePerdu, Good to know, thanks. They don't fly out of my small local airport, so I hadn't used in a while. It costs me the same to fly local as it does to get to Baltimore, or do a shuttle, or drive sleep fly, so I lost track of Southwest's policies. not to mention SW free baggage allowance, and competitive ticket pricing.

Indeed, an altogether good attitude. Very unusual in an airline.

I think many are. The simple fact is they know if they're closed they should refund you. Giving you credit is for their benefit. The airlines offering rebooking in the future are doing it to avoid refunding all the canceled seats.

While US and EU airlines are required to provide refunds for flights THEY cancel, it is like pulling teeth for many to get those refunds. Airlines, with shrinking cash, are doing everything to delay or not pay at all. I am currently dealing with five separate airlines for trips I planned in the coming weeks. I just filed my first chargeback request with my credit card company. That may be one possibility for you. ×

Do you think you’ll get a refund from the airline? Our flights were cancelled by Singapore Airlines who will give credit but not a refund. I’ve just filed a chargeback request with our credit card company but don’t hold out much hope.

In the end, we received a one year credit from British Airways, and will receive full credit from Egypt Air for a trip to Egypt. The tour/trip to Egypt is also credited with no time line.... So I'm happy with that. Very happy as originally there was a large fee attached for any changes, but as COVID-19 got worse, and I waited, as I was advised to do here, I think they were required step up.

ps: The hotel in London only gave credit until September, so I might have to challenge that if it's still not safe to travel or can't make the trip by then... we'll see

[QUOTE=HappyTrvlr;17078142]I only book non refundable tickets if I have trip insurance. They are less expensive for a reason.[/

Exactly. I don’t see why the hotel should assume the risk .

Article in the (Dutch) paper here today says that Booking.com is pressuring hotels and b&b's to return payments that they have allready received for bookings.
Many say that they cannot pay booking.com everything they are demanding. Booking.com has decided to refund even non-refundable bookings, without consulting the hotels.
The hotels are offering a change of dates for these non-refundable bookings.

If you have travel insurance that covers this, than use that. If not, accept a change in date.

We had one refundable and one non-refundable reservation with booking.com for our planned trip to France/Corsica in a few weeks. The non-refundable hotel is currently closed due to the virus, but they are providing refunds on all reservations booked directly with them until the end of May. But they told us we had to ask booking.com for any refund. Booking.com, at first, said it was up to the hotel, and after a little finger pointing, booking.com told us the hotel approved our request. While reviewing that, we looked at the result of the refundable hotel and noticed that they didn't provide the required refund, despite our cancellation weeks agi. We again contacted booking.com, and they said if the hotel doesn't pay up in five days, booking.com will make the refund.

We had three airbnbs, all with 50% penalties. Airbnb convinced two of them to agree to fully refund. The third one declined, and, despite a liberal new airbnb policy to provide full refunds for travel through May, it seems we will have to prove our "stay at home" order is extended into May or prove we can't get to the property by some means of travel, even if our flights are cancelled. ×

I ran into a problem on a third party booking site several years ago with a “lost” reservation. The booking site and the hotel kept pointing the finger at each other, telling me the error wasn’t their fault and sending me to the other to resolve the problem. I have never used a third party site again and doubt I ever will. I do, however, use them for comparison and research purposes.

Similarly, a few years ago I booked a flight directly with an airline and the flight was cancelled. They automatically booked me on a flight departing about five hours later and sent me an email notification. While waiting at the airport, I overheard a number of people complaining because they had booked the original flight through a third party and were never notified of the cancellation and rebooking. They arrived on time for the earlier flight had been sitting at the airport for about six hours.

I think that the refund is for the moment impossible because hotels have a hard time keeping their heads above water when they run out of guests. Maybe after the lockdown and when the situation gets better, you can ask for a refund that they will accept.

Whitehall your experience gives me hope. I have the same situation with a non refundable hotel for the end of May. Mine was booked through expedia and the hotel is giving full refunds for all reservations until May 31st. I tried emailing Expedia as my travel date is not soon but no response. I can't do it through their website as it says I get 0 back. I figure I will give it until end of April and call as maybe they will update their guideline by then.

Thanks for posting. I sent a message to Booking.com regarding our stay in London for May.

Sassy, Expedia's site says: "For customers who booked a non-refundable rate for stays after April 30, 2020, with the evolving situation, we will continue to work with travel partners as necessary to implement flexible policies." I would construe that to mean that if the hotel's policy is to allow free cancels of non-refundable reservations, Expedia will honor that. As a former small hotel owner, I believe your payment may have been processed by the hotel, not Expedia. Expedia's interest is they don't want to be on the hook (even though they are unhappy to lose their commission) and the hotel's interest is that they don't want to owe Expedia a commission for a cancelled reservation. Besides the obvious cash flow concerns, this is one legit reason for finger pointing in cases like this. This should work out for you, but you need to be persistent. ×

I bet this is true for many places esp the smaller places. they just dont have the cashflow to be refunding everyone. I did not have nonrefundable reservations but had reserved 2 apts in France in May. One had no problem rolling the deposit and reservation forward to 2021. The other would move me to Sept but no further.