Does anyone know a place where I can get a refund if I need to cancel my reservations for business reasons? I visit Bonaire frequently and sometimes my clients have to cancel because of something serious that has happened in their life. On Bonaire, many places don't give refunds--it's a pretty sweet deal (for them!) if they can keep hundreds of dollars from someone who doesn't require the room and not have to provide any service (maybe even make double the money if they can rent it out to someone else). I've talked to business men in USA who say they are kicking the hell out of their competitors because they offer their customers a refund and their competition does not. I would agree because, in these days, when disgruntled (would-be) customers have recourse to popular forums on websites like tripadvisor etc., it would seem unwise business practice not to offer refunds to customers who need to cancel for legitimate reasons.

Hi Jack.. I am a strong advocate for cancellation policies to be clearly outlined on an advertising website so as to avoid any mis-understandings.

Having said that, we recommend to our guests that they explore purchasing trip cancellation insurance if they find themselves in a similar predicament as yours.
Here's a couple of sites to explore.


http://www.insuremytrip.com/

Alternatively, Home Away also has a plan to insure your trip for very little. Their site for a free rate quote:

http://www.accessamerica.com/HomeAway/Index?id=quoteform

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

We've always thought a couple hundred in trip insurance beats an amount of 4 grand in losses.

Very good advice Vince and Gail. Spend a few, might save big.

I had a wonderful experience with Travel Guard (and that's saying a lot--who has "wonderful experiences" with an insurance company?) when I was in Italy with my father and he fell sick. Ann Phelan of this board is an agent for Travel Guard, so you can contact her. ann@bonairecaribbean.com.

We have used, and continue to use, Travel Guard.

If not them, any trip insurance is always good idea.

I know that everyone would say just buy trip insurance, though in Canada and the US, in my experience, most hotels give you a refund if you call by 6:00 pm the day of arrival--they do this to be competitive (to avoid disgruntled ex-customers trashing them on the Internet). I already have trip cancellation insurance through my Travel VISA credit card, but it only covers a death or a medical emergency IN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY. What I need is to get a refund when their is a death or medical emergency IN MY CLIENT'S FAMILY and they cancel my trip. This type of insurance is sometimes called CANCEL FOR ANY REASON and any I've looked at, the cost is over $400 PER PERSON which is about 30% of the cost of my trip--paying over 30% insurance premium doesn't make sense.
If anyone has read the fine print and knows of travel insurance that is under $200 and will let you cancel FOR ANY REASON I would appreciate the information.
Still, as my business friend said, aren't other destinations more competitive because you don't have the added cost of trip cancellation insurance?

THx guys - good info!

We got our travel insurance for about $180 for a family of 4 through USAA. But I think you have to be military to use them.

e.

If a client cancels last minute, and leaves you with nonrefundable travel expenses, can you recoup from the client? Or have the client pick up the cost of travel insurance for you? You could offer it as an option when you take them on?

[(to avoid disgruntled ex-customers trashing them on the Internet).]

Jack: I don't understand why someone would trash a provider of accommodations when the cancellation policy of the property owner is conspicuously posted on the website. This has never been my experience in dealing with ANY of our guests.

Additionally you are asking the owner of the business to take a huge financial hit, when the renter can contractually transfer it for a nominal cost. The property owner probably has turned away other inquiries into that time slot.

I know If I had a last minute cancellation, the probability of re-booking a trip with someone else to an international destination is probably slim to none (and I believe Slim just left the building..if you get my drift).

So you have to look at this from both sides. Do you really think that when a renter cancels out of a contract at the last minute without sustaining a penalty and having the financial burden fall onto the property owner is in any way fair and equitable?

Vince, you obviously have a different perspective being an owner. I am a customer and will simply go with the business offering the best deal--nothing personal. As a customer, I am not going to say, "No, I don't mind spending an extra $200 on trip cancellation insurance because you won't give refunds and I don't mind you getting to pocket all the cash should an unfortunate incident require the cancellation of your trip." That is what you the owner would say. But if I, the customer, have another choice, I'm going to choose the most economical and customer-friendly business.
I think you missed the original point of my friend: many businesses offer refunds and in fact they make it a big selling point (full money-back guarantee, etc.) and make a lot of money doing it. Businesses that offer full refunds have happy customers who tell other people about it on the Internet and they kick the hell out of the competition that keeps the customers money having not provided any services.

Thanks Boston for creative thinking, but my enterprise is service-based and going after a client would destroy my reputation, my client-base and my business.

PS I forgot that another reason regular trip cancellation insurance is useless FOR ME (besides only covering death in the immediate family, etc) is that my wife travels with me and she has 2 chronic pain conditions, but no payout from trip insurance because she has the dreaded PRE-EXISTING CONDITION (they don't want to insure sick people or invalids--they must pay more because they are higher risk!). Another reason we need the expensive Cancel FOR ANY REASON type of insurance. But would rather find an enlightened business-man on Bonaire that sees customer refunds as part of his/her customer service regime.

Keep in mind that many tourist-based businesses on Bonaire rely on the "sure thing" during the busy seasons just to survive. Many businesses are small, so if a group cancels during the Christmas holidays for example, it can have a significant impact on their bottom line. Being an island, they have to order and stock up on supplies well in advance of their anticipated busy weeks.

CAA, the Canadian version of AAA, does not penalize you for pre-existing conditions as long as you have been stable on your medications for 3 months prior to departing on your vacation.

Not to sound cold or anything....... but unfortunately people die all the time. I do not blame insurance providers for limiting coverage to deaths in a client's immediate family. It is the only way to minimize fraud and keep rates affordable.

Well, I for one, prefer trip insurance that covers all circumstances. The year my husband had a heart stet installed, and we were't sure if he could dive yet, up until the trip. Another, his step-dad had an head injury which could go either way. And living in Florida during hurricane season....... who knows when the flight will be cancelled? I still stand a couple hunded for trip insurance to cover the daily life circumstances that can crop up.

I have a continuous travel, medical and cancellation Insurance for my whole family.
It costs me about $ 200 per year and I think it’s well worth it.

I think it's fair that I a have to pay (part of) the rental of a home, if I cancel (for what reason). The owner of the home relies on his income and, being on an island, has probably no possibility of renting it on such a short notice.

Hi Jack. You have focused on accommodation. How do you go on with the airlines. If you have discounted fare or on a charter flight I cannot see them refunding you. Certainly KLM will not.

Jack..Well I do have a different perspective from you, but not necessarily because I am actively involved with tourism to Bonaire. I do have one question. If it's such a great business practice as you have indicated to offer full refunds on last minute cancellations, why aren't others doing it?

The best business practices are derived from competition; both for the consumer and also for the business itself. So if no one on Bonaire is doing it, I strongly suspect there just may be a valid reason for it. The business would not survive.

Yes, I have been on "both sides of the fence" as a paying guest at rented accommodations and also as an owner of such accommodations.

In summary, I and others here have offered you a solution to your problem. Good luck to you and I hope that you find what you are searching for and everything works out.

What is the need for making a payment if upon cancellation the payment will be (or is expected to be) refunded again??

Just look a little further. I happen to know that there is at least one accommodations on Bonaire that offers such a cancellation insurance!

Vince, small businesses in the USA and Canada offer full refunds and they are very competitive and I know from my friend in business that it is really working for him because his competition doesn't give refunds. Most businesses there allow you to return pricey items and get a full refund (most want the receipt, but some)--you don't need to have had a death in your immediate family.
A rhetorical question: If you had to cancel for a reason not covered by your trip insurance and a business kept $1000 or two of your cash, how would you rate their service on a scale of one star to five stars?

Hi Trevor,
I totally agree. In my opinion, even with trip cancellation insurance you are unlikely to get a refund from the airline short of a death in your immediate family or a heart attack, unless you have more expensive "cancel for any reason" insurance.
The airlines are really an exception with their refund policies--the worst case of customer exploitation. You really see this when you have to change your return date and they have a seat and the flight is the same price and they charge you $100 to $200 per person for something that the customer could do online. In my humble opinion the airlines are very poor examples of good business practises--the industry struggles.
In fact they may be an example of an industry not offering refunds and charging exhorbitant service fees and not doing very well.
I guess I think happy customers is the key.

Understanding both opinions, we at Tropicana & BonaireFun Apartments do have a refund policy and give private customers "full money back" in case of a legitimate reason.
Of course we hope the guests will re-book with us later. Until today never had a big issue. Doesn't seem to be a big selling point either.

Thanks Tropicana. I will stay with you next time! Perhaps you should promote your accomodation as "the only accomodation on Bonaire offering a full refund (for legitimate cancelations). It may give you the edge with some customers.

Travelguard will insure pre existing illnesses when purchasing a policy within 15 days of your first deposit. Protect Assist is the plan. Call Travelguard for questions.

Thanks Ann, I'll get a quote, along with a few other companies.
To recap: I'm looking for trip cancellation insurance that covers you if you cancel for ANY reason (yes there is such a thing!)-- an annual plan might be cheaper than paying for each trip.
As I said before, I already have trip cancellation insurance (its way better than most coverage but it is group insurance only available to retirees who were in my ex-profession--it is self-funded and non-profit), yet even this great insurance would not cover most my (future) cancellations because they are for business reasons--something happens in my client's life or I simply need to change my plans because circumstances change--or because my wife has a pre-existing condition which is rarely "stable" for 90 days before the trip. That is why I require the kind of insurance where you can cancel for ANY reason.
Actually, I am more concerned about getting a refund for a canceled flight because hotels in countries where I travel give a full refund (except Bonaire) anyhow. I've found that even hotels that say they don't give refunds will give you an 80% refund if you ask the manager(they say no at first) the right way.

Not posting what we were told but check with Bruce at Carib Inn.

He'll be the one most likely to treat you right on this.

There is a huge difference between many hotels located in the USA and those on an island such as Bonaire.

On Bonaire, there is very little "drop-in" hotel traffic (unlike in many USA locations). If I cancel a reservation in Boise at 6pm, there is still a fair chance they will rent that room. On Bonaire, there is virtually no chance. If I cancel that reservation a week in advance, odds are very good that they can sell that room in Boise. Not in Bonaire -- most folks make their reservations well (most often months) in advance.

For places that tend to run full, for smaller places that tend to run full and for peak periods this can be a real drain (as they have already turned down others who inquired after the reservation was made).

There is one other potential issue with liberal reservation policies -- as a customer, it makes it harder to actually get a reservation. Destination type hotels that are super liberal on the cancellation policies tend to get lots of speculative and aspirational type reservations. (Lets book Christmas 2011 at Park City as we might be able to swing it financially then and there is no cost to holding the room now...)

FWIW, where I stay it is $125/week, non-refundable. This would make the financial impact of a cancel not that large a deal (the car rental would be $0, two weeks deposit would be $250 plus the change fees on the tickets). I actually think there deposit is less than it should be and have told them so...