TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Re-booking Help

Sorry to start another thread with the doom and gloom of canceled trips, especially with more significant issues around the world. I booked a land based trip for a group through HomeAway in May. We are way outside the refund policy on the house and the trip insurance is useless unless one of us actually gets sick (not wishing that on any of our group). HomeAway is encouraging homeowners to either give 50% refund or letting travelers re-book within a year, but ultimately it's up to the homeowner. The individual we're working with is offering us a hybrid. 50% credit to re-book. The rest of the group is not thrilled (especially my wife) and wants to me to push back, as they feel the homeowner is being unreasonable. I'm a little more understanding. It's not their fault, it's not our fault, so split the loss. We really don't have any back up and technically the homeowner owes us nothing, so i fear pushing too hard and they tell me to take a hike.

Any thoughts from other homeowners on the forum? or other travelers experience as we navigate this thing?

hoping it all works out and we can re-book in October/November. We've only ever experienced the BVIs in April/May, so would also appreciate any additional feedback on visiting Oct/Nov.

Hope everyone is staying healthy and sane. Thanks.

If the homeowner doesn’t have the rental for you on the date you asked for then he’s breaking the contract regardless whether it’s a hurricane or the government and you have every right to a full refund or credit if you prefer.

At Adagio we generally have let the party that has paid in full re book anytime (except Christmas) for three years. We still have to pay for our maids, management company, landscaping labour costs in addition to electricity, water and insurance even if the villa is unoccupied.

Re visiting in Oct/Nov - early October can be humid and rainy but after about the 20th it's great - pretty quiet until around Halloween.

I'm not fully sure how it works, although I'm thinking the third party (HomeAway) also has a share of your funds. If true, then the homeowner can't refund what he never received. I like your approach of sharing the loss, and it seems you are now dealing directly with the homeowner. Perhaps your group and the homeowner could agree on a 'rebooking fee' of some amount (rather than a percentage). Wow, this is new territory for most everyone.

Unfortunately there is a section in the contract that states if the house is not available for any reason and it’s not the fault of the homeowner then we forfeit the funds.

The homeowner has been very nice to deal with since the onset and we’ve been engaged for the last month or so discussing current events. I tried asking for the credit up front and promising to pay the difference if the rate changed. He said he was only able to offer half as the credit. I know HomeAway charges a service fee and they are willing to refund, but only if we cancel. Not sure if they also get a cut of the rate.

This won't be a popular answer but it's worth looking at both sides. I would guess the homeowner does actually have the rental available on the date asked for. The issue is the tenant is not able to travel to the rental. If the tenant had been somebody who lives locally and was doing a staycation, the homeowner may not have been out any revenue at all.

In our case, we amended our normal cancellation policy to allow our guests to rebook for up to a year (and we can be flexible on the time) and use 100% of their deposit. Unfortunately for us, that means if/when they stay next year we only receive 1/2 the revenue because that's the outstanding amount. Our mortgage, insurance, landscaping, etc costs do not change and the deposits will get used for those expenses this year. Utilities and housekeeping change a little but not much really. So even for homeowners who allow people to rebook, we will have a bad season this year and next year.

We have had some guests leave their deposits so they can rebook and we've had some guests who wanted a partial deposit back based on the standard cancellation policy. Everyone has different needs.

I think offering a change fee would be a good compromise. If they are unwilling to take that suggestion, I guess I'd rebook for only 50% of the original days and move somewhere else for the other half of your trip.

This issue is why U.S. hotels typically offer a discounted/pre-paid non-refundable rate. I never take them because I prefer a more flexible cancellation option.

What does everyone think? If rentals like mine offered a higher rate that was refundable would you take that rate if it was 10 or 20% more?

I’d be open to a change fee as a compromise, just don’t know how to approach it or what rate would be fair. I’m definitely sensitive to the fact there are significant fees with maintaining and hopefully taking care of the staff on site. The whole situation stinks for everyone involved.

It might be easy to say now that I’d pay a higher rates at booking for more flexibility given the circumstances, but at the time the property and deal were the selling point when pitching my group. The refund policy seemed generous enough, supplemented with insurance, were really just checking a block when compared to the property details and rate. I fear I would have just clicked passed a property that was 10-20% higher. Maybe I’ll change up how i tank properties moving forward.

No one is a winner in this situation. It would be nice for everyone to step back, take a deep breath, and see everyone's point of view. You have to remember those of us with serious $$$ interests in the BVI's, villas, boats and businesses, took a huge hit from Irma and then a glancing blow from Maria. I think I speak for many when I say we were just getting back off the mat after the knockout when this came with a sharp left ,or right, hook. All I am saying is please look at everyone's point of view in this..let everyone be reasonable..let everyone be a little understanding..if we work together we will all be celebrating in the beautiful BVI's before we know it. I am now stepping down from the pulpit..mask firmly in place.

Not knowing exactly what you paid, I would offer the homeowner a change fee that is around 10% with the promise that you'll rebook your full number of days with them. Just a thought. That way, they are giving up 40% but have the potential to gain 90%. Did I explain that right?

Good luck with your conversation. If you're on Tortola, stop by and see us in Cane Garden Bay when you make it back! Cheers.

Couldn't agree more!

So why is it the homeowner's fault? The rental is actually there. Likely not specifically mentioned in rental contract and thus Homeowner offering a later booking is reasonable.

Personally I just get back to what is my counterparty risk...meaning what chance do I have that whomever I am in business with will longer be in business or will change the rules before I can get satisfaction on the contract. Stubhub is an example of the latter with their changing the rules...

I am on both sides of it currently and dont really consider "fault". If you cant get to my beach house for whatever governmental restriction then I am unable to fulfill my "implied" contract and therefore you get the money back IMHO and if you come back in 2021 then all the better. Our management company has forwarded 50% of the rents on Jan 1 to all 1000 landlords. Some of my fellow landlords with this management company have decided that the house is ready so therefore it doesn't matter if you cant get there and will fight to keep their 50% regardless or issue a credit. That is their deal.

If my counterparty as an example is Jason or Gorda Guy then I would feel comfortable with a credit since I have met neither but from this board hold both with high integrity. If my counterparty is a private equity owned charter company that layed off all their base workers immediately I am less loyal...

As a consumer you always have the credit card dispute option assuming you charged the rent...

It really sucks for all the hard working BVI businesses that just rebuilt after Irma...although as Manpot says there are no winners my issues are still 1st world when compared to all the great businesses of the BVI which we cant support...

I'm a frequent vacationer and also had a home for rent (in Colorado) via HomeAway and VRBO. If I understand your situation correctly, you had fully paid for a May reservation in BVIs and now you can't come as a result of CV. The contract basically says the homeowner owes you nothing if you can't make your trip due to any reason (in this case, CV and border closure). However, they are willing to allow you to postpone your trip to later this year. If your group can reasonably make that happen then clearly this is a good alternative for both sides. There might be a rate difference between the booking periods - that might be a bit challenging to work out, but I'd just assume a 1:1 rate transfer (or look at the rental site's information for those dates and change as applicable - refund or payment.)

For what its worth, my owners contract didn't envision a pandemic and it said the same as with your situation - that if the renter cancelled or couldn't come - that that was fully on the renter with no refunds (we always suggested trip insurance to renters but can tell you that I personally would never purchase trip insurance). But here's what I'll say, there's no scenario where I wouldn't have reasonably tried to work out a transfer/postpone with a renter so that's good of the owner in your case. However, in this particular situation, my unbiased opinion is that given the highly unusual circumstances, there's NO scenario where I wouldn't have FULLY refunded the renter if they asked. That is the right thing to do. Period. It should be noted that the Owner has a lasting asset (the home) and the renter is entirely out of their payment for a situation WELL beyond their control - and in my opinion this is outside of a more normal cancellation due to illness or other situation which could have been insured against - in that case, I would NOT have provided a full refund though I would have reasonably worked with the renter to reschedule, if possible.

As for HomeAway fees, while I've not had my former home for rent in over a year, I don't think anything has changed: if the Owner provides a full refund, then HomeAway also refunds fully the fees that would have been paid. That is why HomeAway doesn't want to see a bunch of refunds - their entire revenues will evaporate.

Appreciate all of the feedback to help craft a reasonable response. Conversation went really well. We were able to negotiate a price that makes it financially possible to re-book the trip for the group, while also recognizing there are some fees the homeowner will incur regardless, so forfeiting a small amount to cover those costs. Fingers crossed that things continue to improve and a trip this fall is possible.