GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Travel plans for many people are hanging in the balance as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact daily life. Grand Rapids resident Sandra Sebastian was looking forward to her trip to Ireland in September, but now she's not comfortable with the idea of traveling internationally as the virus continues to spread.
Sandra booked her trip through a Texas-based travel agency called Affordable Tours. She says booking the trip through them was easy, but now as she's trying to cancel the trip, she's running into problems. According to Sandra, she booked a 7-day trip to Ireland in September and paid $330 in travel insurance and $500 in a security deposit. She says that Affordable Tours will not refund the insurance money or the security deposit money if she cancels her travel plans now. Instead, they suggested she postpone her plans to either cancel or to re-book the trip for a later date. The $1,000 additional funds Sandra put toward the trip will be refunded to her in July.
"They did kind of recommend that we postpone within the year of our trip," Sandra says. "But the worse and worse the virus became and looking at how it affected Europe and our country, I decided I want to be able to make this decision without a time clock on it. But I've changed my mind and I want to cancel and they're telling me I can't do that, I have to wait until July."
Sandra also paid an additional $1,000 toward the trip to Ireland, which she expects to get back in July.
Shelley Kohtz is the manager of vacation travel services at Witte Travel & Tours in Grand Rapids. She says the 'wait and see' policy is pretty standard right now.
"Obviously this is something that the travel industry has never seen before," Shelley says. "So tour operators are taking things day by day, and obviously it makes the most sense to work in departure date order so right now the main focus is people that are supposed to travel in May, June and July. People that have trips booked further out, they are asking them to wait and see what happens."
Back in March, President Trump suspended all travel from Europe to the United States amid the ongoing pandemic. The travel ban is on Sandra Sebastian's mind.
"If I don't go on that trip why would I have to pay for the insurance and the $500 security deposit," Sandra says. "And I understand under normal circumstances that my be in their agreement, I don't know. But because of the virus I just thought things were changed. I don't want to get stuck in Europe and not be able to get back home. They're not giving me a choice to cancel which I didn't think was fair because of the virus."
According to travel manager Shelley Kohtz, if the company cancels the trip, the traveler will have a better chance of getting the money back.
"You have to wait to see what the tour operator does with the tour," Shelley says. "If they cancel it, you have more of a chance to get your money back than if you just say 'I'm not going' even though it's ten months away. That's you making that decision then, so you would be under the penalties and insurance, unless you have a cancel for any reason provision, it probably won't help you."
While the frustration for travelers like Sandra Sebastian will likely continue for a while longer, travel experts like Shelley Kohtz says they are doing their best to write the pandemic travel playbook — which doesn't yet exist.
"As long as you book with a reputable company and a reputable advisor, I will tell you not to worry," Shelley says. Things will work out but they will take time."
“Affordable Tours is a travel agency and we book vacations for clients on many different reputable major cruise lines and tour operators. As a travel agency it is not up to us to determine if and when a client can receive a refund or not. Those rules are dictated by the travel suppliers which typically are major cruise lines and tour operators," said a spokesperson from Affordable Tours.
"We are currently advocating for our clients with the travel suppliers to help them obtain the desired result, but the ultimate decision about refunds rests with the travel suppliers. We are not in possession of client funds at any time as it is the travel suppliers that collect the money from clients. Most travel suppliers are currently maintaining their standard cancellation policies for trips that have not been suspended. Once the travel supplier suspends the vacation they are, for the most part, offering full refunds or generous travel credits over the amount that the client originally paid. For now, our best advice to clients is to wait and see if the travel supplier suspends the vacation due to COVID-19 so that they may receive a full refund or a travel credit. Of course, we remain committed to excellent service and will advocate for our clients during this pandemic”
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