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How to Cancel Non-Refundable Booking for Tours and Hotels [with sample email template]

By Two Monkeys Travel - Contributor March 14th, 2020 Posted in Guide for Filipinos, Travel Blog 9 Comments

One of the stressing parts of changing travel plans is canceling our flights, hotel bookings, and tours. But what if you purchased something that’s non-refundable? If we have no choice but to stay put, many travel-related businesses are allowing their customers to get a full refund. Here’s our guide on How to Cancel Non-Refundable Organized Group Tours and Hotels.

How to Cancel Non-Refundable Bookings Hotels & Tours [with sample email template]
Annie Spratt
Booking websites like Agoda, Booking.com, Airbnb, Traveloka, Trip.com, Klook, and many more have been very accommodating with the cancellations. However, there are times we can’t manually cancel them in our account as they have charges. We’ll teach you how to communicate through call or email to get your refund so you can use it on your future travels.

How to Cancel Non Refundable Bookings Hotels & Tours [with sample email template]
Artem Beliaikin

Reminder for Cancellation of Non-Refundable Bookings

Most websites have their cancellation processes and forms, but if you think it’s hard, then you can phone them or contact them through email.  We already have instructions for Agoda and Airbnb as well as some Local Flights and International Flights, you can read them for a more detailed guide.

Contact Centers of Major Hotels

The contact centers are suitable for the Philippines if it starts with +63, the +1 are global access numbers usually from the US. You can check out their website to know which number to call. Please note that charges may apply.

How to Cancel Non Refundable Bookings Hotels & Tours [with sample email template]

What to do During your Call to Cancel your Non-Refundable Booking?

STEP 1: Prepare your booking details (preferably your Booking ID or Reference Number), and the credit/debit card you used for payment. Prepare also the reason for your cancellation, e.g., coronavirus, the proclamation number, or any reference.

STEP 2: Dial the number and wait for the agent. Please be patient as the lines are busy because many other travelers are canceling, too!

STEP 3: Tell the agent you’re booking details and the information he or she may need. You may need to provide additional information.

STEP 4: Wait for the agent to confirm the cancelation of your booking and the refund method. It will be reversed in your Credit Card statement or be a fund for your future travels.

If the terms aren’t acceptable to you (e.g., you’ll be getting back only 80%, or there’s a cancellation fee), try again, another agent might help you!

E-mail Addresses

How to Cancel Non-Refundable Bookings Hotels & Tours [with sample email template]

How to E-mail a Third Party to Cancel your Non-Refundable Booking?

Documents you may attach:

  • Booking or Email Confirmation of your Itinerary
  • Travel Restriction Article or Proclamation (Screenshots)

Here’s a format of the letter you can send to them. Please remember to be polite and kind. You can add extra details too.

Subject: Request for Refund due to Coronavirus Outbreak

Good day.

I am *insert your name* with Booking Reference Number *insert booking ID.*

I booked *Hotel Name or Tour Name* from *insert dates*, but because of *insert reason, e.g., coronavirus or announcement,* my/our travel plans would not push through for *insert reason – e.g., safety purposes, no more flights, I could not get out*. I would like to cancel my booking and ask for a full refund. I have attached my/our booking confirmation, travel restrictions, and announcements for your reference.

Hopefully, if it’s all safe and there are no more travel restrictions, I/we could book again as I am/we were looking forward to going to *insert place.*

Hoping for your response and consideration. Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Your Name

Here’s a sample email using the template above:

How to Cancel Non Refundable Bookings Hotels & Tours [with sample email template]

Feel free to use the email template above so that you can cancel your non-refundable booking and get a refund. Hopefully, all goes well, and you can get your hard-earned money back in full or based on the tour and hotel companies’ terms and conditions. Let’s all travel when this situation is gone. Have a great stay at home!

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About the Writer

Lyza Paloma

Hey, I’m Lyza! I once was a person who just imagined going to places “one day” but decided to pursue my dreams. My first travel abroad was in Japan, solo, last 2018, and fell in love with the journey since. I’m aiming to visit 10 countries before turning 30 and 2 new places in the Philippines every year. Besides traveling, I love organizing trips, photography, reading, and making new friends. Follow my adventures through my Instagram.

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9 thoughts on “How to Cancel Non-Refundable Booking for Tours and Hotels [with sample email template]

  1. where i need to write for a refund which i book in booking.com .. do i have an email for me to address my concern? thanks

  2. Hi I am requesting to get my money back due to my hotel that I booked online was nothing like the actually hotel, we could not stay there, have never seen a more disgusting hotel ever. I had to wait 15 minutes for the owners to show up and give us our keys, and then had to put TVs in the room. I also have to say that there should be a phone number where I could contact booking.com extremely upset with your services and will never book through this site again.

  3. Hi my name is Jacqueline Lusk I’m requesting my refund back due to the Coronavirus pandemic my booking reference # 3726-955-494 I booked at the Beachfront Palms Hotel in Galveston Tx on 2-2020 because of insert reason (Coronavirus) our travel plans would not push through safety purposes I could not get out

  4. Sorry but this is crap on so many levels. Expedia, TripAdvisor, Booking, etc. do NOT set the cancellation policies and it is NOT them that decide to give the refunds back to clients. Each hotel sets it’s own cancellation policies that the traveller accepts when they make the reservations. We all love to “stick it to the big companies” because a few cancellations won’t hurt them. But consider the hundreds of thousands or small hotels, tour companies, etc worldwide that are being devastated by the coronavirus. They are the ones that have to refund the deposits. NOT expedia, tripadvisor or booking.

    Travellers are always happy to take the risk of purchasing the non-refundable rate to save a few bucks but are the first to cry when they want to cancel and don’t have travel insurance. We were given a very bad rating a few weeks ago by a traveller who tried to cancel a non-refundable reservation (before the CV-19 stuff started). They wanted to save a few bucks when they made the reservation but then were pissed at us for not-refunding their non-refundable reservation.

    So instead of writing about how to get your non-refundable money back, how about considering the impact to the person/business that is most affected by this…the small hotel or tour company owner…

    Like us…if this goes on for a couple of months, we will be wiped out along with our entire life’s savings. But everyone still wants their $65 back for their non-refundable reservation.

    1. Hello Michael, I understand your point. I’m in the same situation having a travel agency but this article is for our readers who are asking – maybe some of them don’t have that money that’s why there’s no harm in trying.

      1. I agree to Ms Kach, no harm in trying… I am a freelance travel agent and booked some of my hotel reservations thru these booking sites, I could say, some hotels are considerate and some are not replying at all. But it’s worth a try, I got 1 out of 4 nonrefundable booking- refunded!

        1. Any way you can help me would be greatly appreciated. I purchased a room and flight through Club Med. It’s non-refundable. Turks & Caicos. I have to be a care taker to my boyfriend who is having unexpected surgery. He is going to be unable to care for himself. No family members. Any suggestions?

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Written by Two Monkeys Travel - Contributor

Two Monkeys Travel Group – Community Travel Blog is a travel blog and website. We quickly grew into a valuable source of inspiring travel stories, advice, itineraries and travel guides, with the aim of demonstrating how to live a sustainable life of travel, whilst living your own definition of success. If you'd like to contribute and write a guest post, contact us at [email protected]