Forg
Established Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2017
- Posts
- 2,374
I’ve got an AHM travel insurance policy, and while I’ve not sat down to read the entire PDS I’m sure there was something about “cancellation” …
We arrived in London early Saturday evening without the Agoda-purchased AirBnB-esque rental unit manager having sent us access details, and also not answering calls. I called Agoda, they tried to also get in contact, and cancelled “free of charge” (yay them).
But then to try & find an alternative nearby. I mean there may have been other ways to search, but since I was on Agoda I used that; nothing at anywhere near the price-point I’d paid 4 months prior. There was an apartment nearby but no reception so I couldn’t find out whether they’d even be able to let us in; that was about 2.5x what I’d paid. The next cheapest in the local area was the Westin, which is more like 4x what I’d paid.
Oh, and another place at about 3x what I’d paid, but by the time I tried to book that it was no longer available.
So I hurriedly booked the Westin (”1 room left at this price” - hard to know what the lie is in that), which is admittedly nice albeit Super Corporate … but it’s added a few unexpected thousand bucks to the end of our trip!
Can you make claims to get even partial amounts back for stuff like this?
The Westin only seems to be charging maybe a 20% premium for “last minute” or “few rooms left” or “mid summer” … would insurance cover even that 20% lost by not having booked the Westin at the start of the year?
If I was going for a luxo hotel there’s one virtually right next door here which seems to have both the positives & negatives of more old-world charm; also fully booked out, but when I checked with dates in 3 months time that’s about 40% the cost of the Westin in 3 months time.
We arrived in London early Saturday evening without the Agoda-purchased AirBnB-esque rental unit manager having sent us access details, and also not answering calls. I called Agoda, they tried to also get in contact, and cancelled “free of charge” (yay them).
But then to try & find an alternative nearby. I mean there may have been other ways to search, but since I was on Agoda I used that; nothing at anywhere near the price-point I’d paid 4 months prior. There was an apartment nearby but no reception so I couldn’t find out whether they’d even be able to let us in; that was about 2.5x what I’d paid. The next cheapest in the local area was the Westin, which is more like 4x what I’d paid.
Oh, and another place at about 3x what I’d paid, but by the time I tried to book that it was no longer available.
So I hurriedly booked the Westin (”1 room left at this price” - hard to know what the lie is in that), which is admittedly nice albeit Super Corporate … but it’s added a few unexpected thousand bucks to the end of our trip!
Can you make claims to get even partial amounts back for stuff like this?
The Westin only seems to be charging maybe a 20% premium for “last minute” or “few rooms left” or “mid summer” … would insurance cover even that 20% lost by not having booked the Westin at the start of the year?
If I was going for a luxo hotel there’s one virtually right next door here which seems to have both the positives & negatives of more old-world charm; also fully booked out, but when I checked with dates in 3 months time that’s about 40% the cost of the Westin in 3 months time.
