HELP!!! Windsor Hills rentals & refunding of payment ?

[loveysbydesign]

We just booked our flights to WDW on JB for Nov. 13-22-HOORAY!
We stayed in a great 2bdr./2ba. condo at WH last year but this year we'd prefer a 3bdr. condo or TH.
The issue we have is that my grandfather is sick and we honestly don't know when he could pass away...his Dr. said it could be 6 weeks or 6 months or 6 years...they just don't know. If he would pass away right before our trip we would have to cancel the trip and reschedule. However almost every single WH rental I've looked at says you forfeit the entire amount paid for the condo if you cancel 2 wks. before and some are 1 month before. This scares me as not only would it be horrible for my grandfather to pass away before our trip but we'd also lose our entire payment on our rental.

I have 2 ?'s
Would trip insurance cover the rental if this would happen?
Have any of you stayed in a WH rental and had this happen...where you had to cancel at the last minute and if so did you really lose all your $ paid for the rental?

Any help on this is appreciated!

 

[5mins2disney]

I would strongly suggest trip insurance. It almost happened to us as guests 2x , I got sick myself on one trip there with an earache.

Just last week, I had a guest who is staying with us from Iceland for 16 days have to call and cancel his trip. His son, who's 30 years old, had a massive brain aneurism and is in the hospital on life support, he has 2 little kids too. Our cancellation policy, like many, is no refund less than 4 weeks to go until arrival. Now, it puts us in a dilemma too, I don't really want to keep anyone's $$, but the bills still need to be paid. We were lucky and found 2 bookings to fill some of those dates, which we will use towards a refund, but without trip insurance, it would not have been a good situation. The reason for these cancellation policies is that in general, if you don't come on the trip at the last minute, the owner isn't going to be able to rent out the home to someone else, and will lose that $$ for the stay. It's very hard to get last minute bookings to fill a home within 4-6 weeks of arrival.

www.insuremytrip.com would cover you for sickness, weather, etc, don't forget hurricane season starts this week too! Our September trip had to be delayed by 3 days due to Hurricane Ernesto...again, we got lucky...our place was open...if it wasn't we wouldn't have had a place to stay...or it would have been cut short by 3 days. Others here have used them and reported it was roughly $100 to insure your whole trip. It would certainly give you peace of mind!

We had a similar family situation a few years back, my father in law was in very poor health, but we wanted to go do things on vacation as a family before he was gone forever, so we did! We also bought trip insurance, just in case, then, if you end up in a situation like Mr. Thor (our guest last week), the last thing on your mind you want to be worrying about is cancelling and paying for a trip you're not going to use.

By the way, please say a prayer / thought / chant (whatever your thing is!) for Mr. Thor if you're so inclined, his family could use it right now!

Cheers,
George

 

[curlyjbs]

Yes, there is trip insurance to cover that scenerio. Go to insuremytrip.com and compare policies.

Hope all goes well with your grandfather!


~Connie

 

[Brian Noble]

If you have already booked and paid a non-refundable deposit, read the pre-existing condition clauses very very carefully. Some policies require that you purchase a certain amount of time prior to your trip. However, with a travel date 5+ months away, I'm guessing you can find a policy that will cover your specific needs.

 

[mungo]

Being from the Uk we always purchase insurance. We buy what is known as an annual policy. This insures us for any vacation we take in any one year. Great value at approx $180 for the four of us for 12 months.

 

[mbb]

on insurance.

We always "plan for the worst, and expect the best".
Makes for great trips

And hugs for your and your family

 

[Mainebound]

If you have already booked and paid a non-refundable deposit, read the pre-existing condition clauses very very carefully. Some policies require that you purchase a certain amount of time prior to your trip. However, with a travel date 5+ months away, I'm guessing you can find a policy that will cover your specific needs.

For many companies, if you get your trip insurance within 14 days of making your first payment on the trip (whatever you bought first for your trip, be it plane tix or deposit for villa, etc.) preexisting condition exclusions are waived (i..e they are covered). They count the 14 days very exactly -- the date you write the check, for example, not the date it was cashed.

I second the recommendation to check out insruemytrip.com.

We were thankful to have insurance from Travel Guard (found via insuremytrip) as we needed it in March when we had to stay extra days due to my son's ear infection.