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How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

philip.greenspun.com

31–40 of 91 posts

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#31

Kind of related, but our daycare just shutdown for more than a month and asked us to keep paying monthly tuition. It makes sense, the daycare workers still need to live, but it feels kind of weird in that we have to have this burden on our own since a lot of us are affected also.

Is it the kind of place if you can't pay for a month they would keep watching your kid? (serious question)

If it isn't, then you should cancel the monthly. It's pretty simple.

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#32
post #20

Just FYI, if you're lying to get out of paying for something, or to get reimbursed on false pretenses that is called fraud and is illegal. It's also wrong to do, it is an action taken in bad faith.

This is also why some hotels have draconian-seeming policies, requiring all sorts of documentation. Because without them, some people will lie.

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#33
post #20

Just FYI, if you're lying to get out of paying for something, or to get reimbursed on false pretenses that is called fraud and is illegal. It's also wrong to do, it is an action taken in bad faith.

Not all policies are fair and there should be exceptions during times of crisis. Hotels do questionable advertising practices all the time to lure in customers and then hit them with arbitrary fees during checkout which seems like bad faith to me.

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#35
post #31

Kind of related, but our daycare just shutdown for more than a month and asked us to keep paying monthly tuition. It makes sense, the daycare workers still need to live, but it feels kind of weird in that we have to have this burden on our own since a lot of us are affected also.

Is it the kind of place if you can't pay for a month they would keep watching your kid? (serious question) If it isn't, then you should cancel the monthly. It's pretty simple.

But good luck getting back in when they reopen. The waitlist was brutal before, and now you're on the bottom of it.

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#36
post #28
post #20

Just FYI, if you're lying to get out of paying for something, or to get reimbursed on false pretenses that is called fraud and is illegal. It's also wrong to do, it is an action taken in bad faith.

> it is an action taken in bad faith So is a hotel denying you a refund during an epidemic. There is an obvious power differential here between Joe Blow and some billion dollar hotel chain. You need the money for basic survival far more than they need it to pad their quarterly earnings.

By booking a non-refundable rate, which is generally cheaper, you took that risk. So long as the hotel is open, it's not really their problem. The fact that they have more money than you doesn't give you the right to steal from them.

If you really need the money for basic survival, fine, we can argue about the morality of it. But even with a possible recession looming, it's unlikely that the price of a hotel stay is going to be the difference between life and death for you.

It's unlikely you are in basic survival mode yet, unless you've already lost your job and are living paycheck to paycheck and there are no available government programs to help you right now and no friends or family to turn to.

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#37
post #25
post #24

A friend just called up and said, “I feel totally fine, but I have to let you know I am from Kirkland and I live about half a mile from the care home with the COVID-19 outbreak. I am completely happy to come to the hotel and hang out with your guests in the bar, or you could cancel my reservation and I’ll stay home.” They refunded him in full.

I'd worry about getting slapped with a bioterrorism charge.

Bio-extortion, at most...

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#38
post #25
post #24

A friend just called up and said, “I feel totally fine, but I have to let you know I am from Kirkland and I live about half a mile from the care home with the COVID-19 outbreak. I am completely happy to come to the hotel and hang out with your guests in the bar, or you could cancel my reservation and I’ll stay home.” They refunded him in full.

I'd worry about getting slapped with a bioterrorism charge.

I hope you are joking...

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#39
post #31

Kind of related, but our daycare just shutdown for more than a month and asked us to keep paying monthly tuition. It makes sense, the daycare workers still need to live, but it feels kind of weird in that we have to have this burden on our own since a lot of us are affected also.

Is it the kind of place if you can't pay for a month they would keep watching your kid? (serious question) If it isn't, then you should cancel the monthly. It's pretty simple.

If you don’t pay, you lose your place in line and there is usually a waiting list (though with the upcoming recession, those might go away). You also don’t endear yourself with the staff if you don’t plan on switching.

Re: How to get your money back on a non-refundable hotel

#40
post #28
post #20

Just FYI, if you're lying to get out of paying for something, or to get reimbursed on false pretenses that is called fraud and is illegal. It's also wrong to do, it is an action taken in bad faith.

> it is an action taken in bad faith So is a hotel denying you a refund during an epidemic. There is an obvious power differential here between Joe Blow and some billion dollar hotel chain. You need the money for basic survival far more than they need it to pad their quarterly earnings.

Needing the money more doesn't change the agreement.
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