We were evacuated from Hilton Head Island due to Hurricane "Floyd". We had paid for a week at Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Resort and had only been there 2 days. I have been told I cannot get any type of refund. I was wondering if anyone else has any information on refunds during mandatory evacuations. Thank you.

Unless you got some type of trip insurance, you're out of luck. Sometimes places will reschedule your stay if a hurricane occurs. They usually don't give refunds. They call it an act of God.

We were in Myrtle beach, and they told us the ONLY way we would get a refund was if there was a mandatory evacuation, so,hopefully they told us the truth, and should be getting a refund soon.

Ah, they should refund your money for an act of God they couldn't control? Just like Americans, always complaining about something. Be glad there wasn't a real hurricane to wipe you out. Next time don't plan a trip down this way during hurricane season.

Candace, get a life!

Dear No name (could it possibly be the disgruntled author of the original post):

Get a life because I'm telling the truth. Get over it. I'm sick of whiners who want other people to take responsibility for things beyond any human being's control. Having lived through a hurricane I'll say it again: Thank God the storm did minimal damage and that you didn't get wiped out. I think that's a whole lot more important than money lost at a luxury resort for a trip you planned at the height of hurricane season. Take it as a lesson learned.

Pat, I commend you for at least trying to see if there is anything you can do to get your money back. Better to try every option than to give up. It never hurts to try. It's a given that she's glad she didn't get wiped out, and since that didn't happen, her reality is that she probably got screwed out of some money, but it's OK to ask if she has any recourse!!!

The fact remains that we are right in the middle of hurriane season. When we make vacation plans during hurricane season on the SE coast, surely we realize that there is a gamble involved.

I would absolutely NOT give up until they at least give you credit so you can come back and make up the days lost!

I received a refund from a motel when the power went out...due to "an act of god"....a lightening storm.

That's the price of doing business. It's not your problem!

Furthermore....you have me on a roll!
With the reasoning that you shouldn't take a vacation during hurrricane season....it goes both ways.....Maybe the resorts etc. should stay closed during hurricane season.

They are inviting guests by staying open.

Go all the way to the top and protest!

My dear Candace, I can assure you that I am not the original poster. Why the "noname"? That's easy to explain: In the past after criticizing an uncalled-for comment like yours, I was "punished" with a "spamming" and much, much worse.
I still say your comments are uncalled for, considering how polite the original poster was! He/she was hardly a ranter and raver and didn't deserve your vitriol!

pat:

i would be surprised if you received an actual "cash" refund, but i think that you've got a pretty good chance of at least getting a credit at the hotel to stay with them at another time if there was a mandatory evacuation. try corresponding directly with the front office or general manager at the hotel, if you have not already done so. make sure you get his/her full name & title. if you have no luck there, get the address or phone number for the corporate office (assuming the hotel is under the ownership of a larger company) and explain that you've tried to resolve the issue wih the hotel in question, but mgr "x" will not yield and all you want to do is enjoy the vacation you paid for, yada yada. if you send a letter, make sure you send a copy to the hotel manager as well.

candace, k. noel, & any other nay-sayers: yes the hurricane is out of the control of the hotel. but like cedar pointed out, that is the price of doing business, and the hotel has chosen to do business on the eastern seaboard. they have also taken a gamble. pat has paid the price of her(?) gamble...their vacation was cut short, they have to re-arrange their lives all over again if they do want to go back, not to mention having to pay to get there and back again.

any reputable hotel will allow guests to come back and enjoy the unused portion of the stay, because if they don't people will stop taking the gamble and simply won't vacation there during the hurricane season. it is actually in the best interest of the hotel to take that small loss when there is a disruptive hurricane than to run a very low occupency all through the very long hurricane season. after all, even if they extended the offer to return within the next 12 or 18 months to everyone who was displaced, many would never take advantage for the simple fact that they couldn't work out vacation schedules or babysitting or pay for the flight again..whatever. and those who do take advantage of the offer are only costing them a room comp.

If you paid by credit card, try contacting the credit card company maybe they can intervene.

Oh, burrother, it's another bout of blame-tossing. "It's your own fault." "No, it's their fault."

Let's see: a tourist checks into a hotel built near the ocean because the ocean is pretty and that's where tourists who want to see the ocean need to sleep. There's a storm. The tourist can't get there, doesn't check in. Tourist loses money. Hotel loses money. Town loses money.

Ah! I get it: The hotel deserves to lose money because it was too stupid not to build away from the ocean. The employees deserve to lose money because they're too stupid not to work for that hotel. The tourists deserve to lose money because they're too stupid not to go somewhere else. They're all to blame, they brought it on themselves, it's their own fault. But hey, you forgot the mayor, the governor, the president, the weather service, AAA, travel agents, the airline, taxi drivers, building contractors, and, oh yeah, God.

No one should ever have built on, much less visited, the entire Caribbean, the Yucatan, Honduras, the entire southeastern part of the US, and much of the South Pacific, because they have hurricanes now and then. They should be shut down from June to November, at least, right?

But if you're currently on dry land, have never had bad weather on vacation, haven't lost all you own in a tornado, fire, typhoon, or bolt of lightning, and don't have a fatal disease, it must be because you are smarter and better than everyone else, because if anything bad happened to you, it would have to be your own fault, right?

Seriously, with the weather, including hurricanes, tourists and the tourism industries are dealing with luck and probabilities. Big storms don't happen every season, they rarely go in predictable routes, and they don't last an entire season.

(And just for the record, in case you've been in a closet, the devastation in North Carolina covers an inland area beginning 40 miles inland -- mostly farmland, on a 500-year flood plain.)

Pat -- I'm very sorry you got chased away from your vacation, especially if it was something special you'd saved and planned for. I think it's fair to ask if you can get a credit or a refund, and the Hilton would be well-advised to give you a credit for another visit, but technically it's not "owed" you. And does anyone have to say that if that's all you lost, you are very lucky.

Thank you! That's all I was trying to say. Sure, try to get the credit, but it is definitely not OWED to you. Bottom line STILL is, that's the price you pay for traveling to coastal communities during hurricane season. Like it or lump it.

No, Candace, what you said involved putting down Americans, putting down Pat, implying that Pat's group was to blame for their own misfortune by being dumb enough to book a vacation during hurricane season -- which is almost 1/2 the year, and implying that it's stupied even to ask about a refund for days not spent there (through no fault of Pat's). It was a legit question, and there was no complaint in Pat's query. There was nothing objective about the tone or attitude in your comments.

Candace,
Did you have a bad day or what? There no excuse for rudeness. People have a right to ask questions on this board. You don't have to agree, but keep the tone down a bit.

Interesting. You respond to perceived "rudeness" with rudeness. Did you have a bad day? Didn't know we had to accomodate such thin-skinned people in this forum.

And gee, hi'n'dry, thought I had an ally in you. You have a lot of nerve to criticize me for not being "objective" when your post was just as flip, just as smart-alecky. Lots of hypocrites here. But I'll tell you this -- I'll bet Pat B. will think twice before booking a vacation in South Carolina at the height of hurricane season.

I'm wondering, Pat, if you would have considered staying the full two weeks if you had not been required to evacuate? Every tour guide has a section "When to Go" (which also mentions when NOT to go). Whenever the rates are a bargain at a resort (such as during hurricane season), there's a really good reason. Also, the folks who advise "some type of trip insurance" might want to try finding a policy which covers hurricane evacuations (I've never seen one). It's important to study the insurance policy or certificate (as opposed to what the agent selling it to you tells you). Policies do not cover everything everyone thinks they do. You are basically covered only if you must cancel your trip or leave early due to illness or accident. I've never seen coverage which includes natural disasters. Pay careful attention to the luggage section as well. If your laptop is lost or stolen, it's not covered under any policy I've ever seen. I must say that I'm with the folks who a) wouldn't have planned a trip there during hurricane season, and b) would have considered myself lucky to have escaped from the island and would not be whining about a refund for unused accomodations.