Cancelling booking on Booking.com due to COVID-19

Cancelling booking on Booking.com due to COVID-19 - Photo of a Woman Reading Book Inside the Train

We are non-EU citizens and are banned to travel to Europe during this time. We had made non-refundable reservation of Ibis Styles Paris Meteor Avenue d'Italie via booking.com. However we're not allowed to make a refund due to the Coronavirus situation and Schengen border closures.

The reschedule of booking are offered until December 31, 2020. A free cancellation is preferred as we are not sure on our travel plan.

Under the FC conditions apply for the above booking? Should we get a full refund from booking.com?

https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/help/legal-security/important-information-regarding-coronavirus

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/breaking-eu-decides-to-close-all-schengen-borders-for-30-days/



Best Answer

Yes, it seems to me that the conditions specified in that booking.com link should apply to your reservation.

The general France conditions:

The FC conditions apply to the following reservations

Please note that domestic travel is not subject to Force Majeure unless mentioned otherwise.

France

All reservations made for properties in or by travellers from France and the French territories, with a check-in date between 17 March 2020 and 1 April 2020 (including), excluding travellers able to travel based on the exceptions made by the French government. Domestic travel is also subject to our Force Majeure conditions.

do not apply to you, as your check-in date is 3 April, which is not in the period specified.

However, the conditions also apply to:

Other reservations affected by Coronavirus

Reservations made by travellers,

  • who have been to an area affected by Coronavirus;

  • who have subsequently been banned from entering the country they intended to travel to;

  • who have to undergo quarantine upon arrival and/or return;

  • who face suspension of on-arrival visas.

you should qualify under the second point of this section, if (as you say) you are not allowed to enter the EU.

It may be wise to contact booking.com for confirmation, although any response is likely to take longer than normal at this time.




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Answer 2

BDC are not following their own advice. It looks unlikely you will get a refund from them if it is a non-refundable booking, even if a forced cancellation. I cancelled a non-refundable booking, contacted the accommodation owner who agreed to a full refund. She informed Booking.com using the accommodation owner's dashboard, but they did not honor this and will only offer me 15% refund. They now do not answer any messages. It's clear from their Facebook page there are many people in the same situation.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Liliana Drew, Alfatah Bilal Afdam, Alfatah Bilal Afdam, Moe Magners