Non-refundable hotel question

[Kapri18]

I second what Anna said above, if your sister booked using a credit card that has travel insurance attached (a lot do!), she may be able to recover some costs that way.

 

[DizMe]

I second what Anna said above, if your sister booked using a credit card that has travel insurance attached (a lot do!), she may be able to recover some costs that way.

Oh thanks! I somehow missed that suggestion!!

 

[Pluto468]

Well, the good news is that our property is fine and we made it through another fire. It's getting scary these days because there is the threat of disaster almost anywhere you go. I feel sorry for those who have lost so much and have to figure out whether to rebuild or relocate, because there are huge downsides to either choice.

On the hotel front, I talked to someone from Priceline (not AI) and she seemed very helpful. She told me she would check with her bosses to see if they were ok with cancelling the reservation or moving the date and put me on hold. She returned to say that they (Priceline boss) agreed to cancel but that she'd have to call the hotel and get permission to do so from their manager and she would call me back. When she called back, she said that the hotel manager said no, no refund. I thanked her and called the hotel myself. I got the same guy she had spoken with and he said no, no refund and no moving the date. Since I'm not one to throw in the towel too soon, I plan to call again later and see if I get a different hotel manager/staffer who might give me a different answer. If not, at least I tried. It was a little weird that the hotel manager told me he was glad my house hadn't burned down. It gave me the impression, from the way he said it, that he thought I was lying. I guess I can see why someone might be suspicious.

I'm so glad your house is ok. It's so stressful living in a fire zone. My sister lives in Northern California and they've had to evacuate so many times.

It's nice the priceline person tried to help. The manager really has no reason to think anyone would lie about a thing like that. It would have been nice if he was at least kind to you. Hopefully you can get through to a different person at the hotel next time.

 

[katyringo]

I would start going up the hotel chain ladder..

And.. worse comes to worse- tag the hotel chain and Priceline in a twitter post.

 

[StarlitNight05]

The hotel manager's comments are strange. I mean, if he doesn't believe you (I would have interpreted that the same way), he could simply do a Google search of the fires near your address. Hopefully you can escalate to someone more helpful!

 

[Keladry84]

The hotel manager's comments are strange. I mean, if he doesn't believe you (I would have interpreted that the same way), he could simply do a Google search of the fires near your address. Hopefully you can escalate to someone more helpful!

Except I think the relative made the reservation, so her address would be on it….if she doesn’t live near the fire and the manager was looking at her address, I can see why he’d be skeptical…

Good luck op. I hope you are able to salvage some of the cost!

 

[DizMe]

Except I think the relative made the reservation, so her address would be on it….if she doesn’t live near the fire and the manager was looking at her address, I can see why he’d be skeptical…

Good luck op. I hope you are able to salvage some of the cost!

That's what I was thinking, too, so I explained that my sister had made the reservation but I was the one who was in the fire zone. I'm not sure he was really listening though.

On a side note, I had a doctor's appt and my doc came in and asked if we were ok as we both live in the same canyon. I told her that yes, so far so good. She lives up the hill several miles from me and I asked if they were ok and she said their house burned down! She and her husband are living in their trailer. UGH!! I had a moment of survivor's guilt because they lost everything. I have to admit that I love my road, which is very long, winds into the foothills and is both historic and scenic, but am very, very glad that I live at the base of it and not way up into the canyon. Even so, our property survived the previous Camp Fire only because the fire crews used our property as a staging area while we were evacuated. They said the fire shot onto our property through a culvert pipe under the road like it was a blow torch, but luckily, the firetrucks were right there. You can't help but ask yourself, "Should I stay? If not, where would I go?" It's just a different world now than it was when we bought our house 24 years ago no matter where you go.

 

[Pluto468]

That's what I was thinking, too, so I explained that my sister had made the reservation but I was the one who was in the fire zone. I'm not sure he was really listening though.

On a side note, I had a doctor's appt and my doc came in and asked if we were ok as we both live in the same canyon. I told her that yes, so far so good. She lives up the hill several miles from me and I asked if they were ok and she said their house burned down! She and her husband are living in their trailer. UGH!! I had a moment of survivor's guilt because they lost everything. I have to admit that I love my road, which is very long, winds into the foothills and is both historic and scenic, but am very, very glad that I live at the base of it and not way up into the canyon. Even so, our property survived the previous Camp Fire only because the fire crews used our property as a staging area while we were evacuated. They said the fire shot onto our property through a culvert pipe under the road like it was a blow torch, but luckily, the firetrucks were right there. You can't help but ask yourself, "Should I stay? If not, where would I go?" It's just a different world now than it was when we bought our house 24 years ago no matter where you go.

Oh, no! How sad for your doctor.

The fires really are terrible (Understatement, I know.) We had one close to our house a couple of years ago and it was so stressful. I could barely sleep at night and the sky was all yellow and weird, plus the smoke was bad for the asthmatic people in my family. At the time I said if it ever gets that close again we have to move but like you say, DizMe, where would we go?

 

[deejdigsdis]

That's what I was thinking, too, so I explained that my sister had made the reservation but I was the one who was in the fire zone. I'm not sure he was really listening though.

On a side note, I had a doctor's appt and my doc came in and asked if we were ok as we both live in the same canyon. I told her that yes, so far so good. She lives up the hill several miles from me and I asked if they were ok and she said their house burned down! She and her husband are living in their trailer. UGH!! I had a moment of survivor's guilt because they lost everything. I have to admit that I love my road, which is very long, winds into the foothills and is both historic and scenic, but am very, very glad that I live at the base of it and not way up into the canyon. Even so, our property survived the previous Camp Fire only because the fire crews used our property as a staging area while we were evacuated. They said the fire shot onto our property through a culvert pipe under the road like it was a blow torch, but luckily, the firetrucks were right there. You can't help but ask yourself, "Should I stay? If not, where would I go?" It's just a different world now than it was when we bought our house 24 years ago no matter where you go

That is awful news! There are currently large fires where I grew up in Oregon. It's crazy how fast things can be destroyed when it comes to wildfires.

As far as nonrefundable stays go, I don't have any experience with Priceline. The only time I have ever booked a nonrefundable stay was through Expedia. (I ALWAYS book refundable, but I figured I was safe this particular time.) I ended up needing to cancel that trip. I can't remember why (a year or two ago) but it wasn't due to anything nearly as serious as your issue. I had a great experience being able to cancel when I called Expedia to explain. I didn't expect to be refunded, since I knew what I signed up for, but thought it couldn't hurt to try. It made me want to always book through Expedia. I don't always book through them, but the experience was such that I wanted to keep using them and continuing to book refundable since they had been so helpful. I realize that it can often depend on who you happen to get when you call, but I was really pleased with how they handled my request.

I really hope you can find someone who will be more willing to work with your particular situation.

 

[DizMe]

Well, I'm throwing in the towel. I got my last "no" on the refund or date change and I guess that's about all I can do. BUT I'm so lucky in almost every way that even though this is a bit of a downer it's really nothing in perspective. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts, commiserations, and suggestions!! Love my DIS buds

 

[TinkAgainU]

I would start going up the hotel chain ladder..

And.. worse comes to worse- tag the hotel chain and Priceline in a twitter post.

And a attach that nice fire photo I've seen them occasionally give a reduced credit - for example a 50% credit on a trip in the next xx days/months. It might be better to ask for that at this point.

Sadly, I doubt you can "assign" the hotel to anyone else, the hotels seem to always require the credit card and ID related to the person who booked the hotel.