Reservation cancelled within a month of arrival - I didn't get any money back

[Victoria1845]

If there is any chance at all that you will need to cancel your reservation within a month of arrival, do not - do not - reserve with ** in Quebec City. They will charge your card a month ahead and then, if you cancel within a month, you won't get any of your money back. They will refuse to cancel your reservation for any reason - illness doesn't matter to them. They are rude and could care less why you may need to cancel.

**[Sensitive information removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

Discussion topic title updated for clarity by OCM

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Victoria1845 was your booking through Airbnb? If so did you agree to the cancellation policy at the time you booked?

[Victoria1845 · Accepted solution]

@Mike-And-Jane0 No, I booked through Booking.com, and I agreed to charging 1/2 the amount two weeks out, with no refund two weeks out. However, they charged the full amount one month out. And refused to cancel 8 days out. They didn't care that we couldn't go because my sister's asthma was affected by the Canadian wildfires. So I didn't get charged only 1/2, and didn't get any money back. I want to warn as many people as I can.

[Kia272]

@Victoria1845  The fact that they charged you outside of the agreement is a different matter. But as @Sandra856 , why would you expect a host to pay for your choice to cancel? You've held a place in their calendar for quite some time, that they may no longer be able to rebook on short notice. It's really unfair to try and publicly malign this place because something didn't work out for you. Very unfair. 

There's travel insurance for instances such as this. Nobody wants to pay for it, but they do want to complain when they need to cancel and can't get all of their money back. 

[Victoria1845]

Thank you, and those before you, for giving me a wider perspective. I am mad at Booking.com for not putting their considerable ability to pressure the hotel/condo/airbnb to give me my money back. But the real devil is at the door of this huge hotel+ (they market themselves on all platforms), which is very popular and would have no trouble at all filling the suite within 8 days. If not, they should use *their* insurance and tax writeoff, they're the professionals, after all. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Victoria1845 if your credit card was charged without permission ask.your bank to reverse the transaction.

[Sandra856]

Hi again @Victoria1845 😃

You are always charged so it at least covers the cancellation policy connected to the booking and you will always get what you are owed back (according to the contract) when you cancel a booking (for whatever reason). When you book and at the same time accept the contract - you do agree to the cancellation policy. If you were supposed to get a refund you would have got a refund automatically- the host or hotel doesn’t got your money as they are not paid before after you were supposed to check in. I don’t understand why you think they in any way are obligated to refund you outside the cancellation policy you agreed to? You are a mature woman and should know about contracts and cancellation policies. Why didn’t you just buy travel insurance so you and your family could get compensated in case of illness etc? 

[Sandra856]

Hi @Victoria1845 🌿

When you book a flight or basically anything you usually always agree to a cancellation policy. On Airbnb you agree to a cancellation policy otherwise you won’t be able to book. If you choose to cancel an Airbnb for whatever reason the system will automatically refund you according to the cancellation policy (host is not paid by Airbnb before after a guest checks in). Always make sure to buy travle insurance in order to be safe. It is not fair to ask a host to pay for your choice to cancel. On Airbnb a host will not be able to cancel a reservation without losing a potentiel superhost status for a year and will also get fined and it will say on the host’s profile that the host cancelled a guest. To be honest I dont understand why anyone would expect strangers to pay for their choice to cancel. Always buy travel insurance.