Summer vacation trips may be temporarily canceled. Can buying "hotel cancellation insurance" reduce losses?
Industry insiders: Consumers should see the insurance clauses and make decisions based on actual needs to avoid "being trapped"
Since July, tourist hotspot cities such as Beihai, Chengdu and other places have successively issued notifications of new positive cases of the new crown.
Coinciding with the summer vacation, many parents had to face cancellation or choose to postpone their travel plans that were booked early.
In the process of canceling relevant air tickets, hotels and other orders, many consumers complained and bought hotel "cancellation insurance" in advance, which cost a lot but "buy it for nothing", because in some places, hotels canceled free of charge due to the epidemic, and some were not compensated for not complying with the terms of the contract.
In this regard, industry insiders reminded that the risk of changes in the epidemic situation is relatively high, but for "hotel cancellation insurance", consumers should read the insurance terms and decide whether to buy it according to their actual needs to avoid "being trapped".
Hotels agree to free cancellations
Insurance companies do not refund "cancellation insurance"
On July 18, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism announced that from 17:00 on the same day, Jinjiang District and Wuhou District of Chengdu have suspended inter-provincial team travel and "air ticket + hotel" business.
Chengdu has comprehensively strengthened the prevention and control of social epidemics, and the city's bars, cinemas, gyms and other closed spaces and cultural venues have been suspended.
Online travel platforms such as Ctrip, Tongcheng, and Qunar have successively introduced relevant refund and reform measures. Many platforms have made it clear that for hotel orders related to Chengdu, if you cannot travel due to the epidemic, the order can be cancelled if you do not check in.
After seeing the news, Ms. Wang, who lives in Haidian, Beijing, told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter, "Unfortunately, the hotel and air tickets I finally booked have to be refunded; fortunately, since the platform announced that it can be cancelled by itself, the Trouble with the tongue."
Since the end of June, she has been planning and preparing for the study tour route. After several choices, she finally decided to go to Chengdu to play. After drawing up the travel route with her child, she booked the hotel and air ticket.
When booking a hotel on a third-party platform of an APP, considering that it may be impossible to travel due to the epidemic, the hotel cost is more than 1,100 yuan per day, so I deliberately spent more than 100 yuan to buy a "domestic hotel cancellation insurance" with 4% of the room price.
After receiving the news that she could not travel to Chengdu due to the epidemic, Ms. Wang began to call customer service to contact the refund of the flight ticket and hotel.
The ticket was refunded in full.
The hotel also agreed to give a full refund free of charge after Chengdu comprehensively strengthened the social epidemic prevention and control notification, but the "hotel cancellation insurance" purchased in advance was not returned.
"Contact the customer service of the insurance company, and the other party said that because the hotel fully refunded, the consumer did not suffer any loss, and the cancellation insurance will not be compensated repeatedly. For the cancellation insurance that has already been issued, the insurance company also does not agree to refund." Ms. Wang complained, "I didn't expect that the trip to Chengdu would not be possible. The biggest loss turned out to be more than 100 yuan spent on buying a hotel cancellation insurance."
Cancellation of hotel reservations
Encountered claims "playing the ball"
And Ms. Sun, a netizen who was also ready for travel, was not as lucky as Ms. Wang.
Since the local government did not issue a notice requiring unconditional refunds from hotels and airlines, she needed to negotiate with the hotel or the platform on her own.
After paying the full amount of 855 yuan for a hotel reservation on an APP, there were new local confirmed cases in Shenzhen and Zhuhai. After discussion, Ms. Sun and her family felt that they should respond to the national epidemic prevention policy, not to go to the middle and high risk areas of the epidemic, and cancel the trip.
The customer service of the booking platform APP informed that the hotel will not give a full refund for such situations, and if a refund is required, a 30% handling fee of the room fee will be deducted according to the contract.
The front desk of the hotel said that the money received by the backend of the booking platform APP has not been transferred to the hotel, and the check-out needs to be negotiated with the platform.
Ms. Sun remembered that she purchased domestic hotel "cancellation insurance" on the APP at the same time, but when she contacted her customer service, the operator said, "At present, if you need to cancel the order due to the epidemic, you can call the insurance first, and then contact the insurance claims adjuster. Customers need to provide relevant supporting materials, and the ability to obtain claims depends on whether they meet the provisions of the insurance clauses. The maximum amount of this cancellation insurance claim does not exceed 90% of the actual room fee paid, and the claim amount does not exceed 5,000 yuan.”
Cancellation insurance orders "cancellable at will"?
Insured: no
According to a senior insurance industry practitioner, canceling a hotel stay means a breach of contract, which may lead to loss of prepayment or deposit, and may have to bear the full room fee when approaching the hotel stay.
"Hotel Cancellation Insurance" can cover most of the losses incurred by consumers when they cancel their reservations.
my country's hotel cancellation insurance is jointly launched by some domestic third-party hotel reservation platforms and insurance companies. It is a value-added service of cancellation insurance provided for guests when booking overseas hotels, and later extended to domestic hotels.
It usually costs 4% of the order cost of insurance, and can get 90%-100% of the actual loss of the order due to reasons such as refusal of visa, flight delay, infectious disease outbreak, etc.
These cancellations are not sold separately, but are bundled on the hotel booking page.
Consumers tend to ignore the "contract terms" and interpret "cancellation insurance" as "cancellation of reservations at will" and full refunds if they don't want to travel.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw that the "cancellation insurance" of a domestic hotel on a certain platform has only one line of gray small characters "can bear 90% of the loss of room charges for canceled orders".
But if you open the purchase link, there will be 8 pages of contract terms, and there are as many as 12 disclaimers.
For example, "The insured was aware or should have been aware of any circumstances or conditions that may result in the cancellation of hotel room reservations prior to insuring the policy, including but not limited to the unfitness of the designated occupant to travel, or the occurrence of a terrorist attack at the hotel at the time of occupancy. ... epidemic diseases, any severe weather or natural disasters" etc. will not be compensated.
This person in the insurance industry suggested that you must click on the links such as "Insurance Instructions", "Insurance Clauses", and "Disclaimer" before purchasing insurance. Since the "Hotel Cancellation Insurance" claims clauses bundled with each platform are different, you need to see which ones. In which case, compensation is available, and in which case it is not covered by compensation.
For example, some designated occupants died, were seriously injured or suffered from sudden diseases, and were diagnosed by the local hospital doctor and required hospitalization or were not suitable to continue the original itinerary; those who were hijacked, kidnapped, or those who lost their ID cards and could not take transportation; Furthermore, documentary evidence must be submitted to the insurance company.
In terms of medical treatment, a doctor's diagnosis certificate and a copy of the medical bill from a public hospital above the second level are required, and a police certificate is required in the event of a traffic accident.
hint
Buy "Hotel Cancellation Insurance" to see two things
1. Before buying, click on the "Insurance Instructions", "Insurance Terms", "Disclaimer" and other links to read carefully.
2. The "Hotel Cancellation Insurance" that is bundled with each platform has different claims terms. Please check the scope of the claim.
This group of articles / reporter Lin Lishuang
Coordination / Yu Meiying