Booking.com: Free cancellations and deposit refunds due to COVID-19

Booking.com has issued the following statement regarding the Coronavirus outbreak:

At Booking.com, the safety of our partners and guests is of utmost importance. As a result of the official travel advice about the Coronavirus, guests are unable to travel to or stay at accommodations located in areas that are severely affected by the recent Coronavirus outbreak. Please note, travel throughout certain areas is heavily impacted or forbidden at this time.

In addition, a number of international travel restrictions is currently placed on travellers who have recently been in areas severely affected by the Coronavirus (in most cases, within the last 14 days). These restrictions, currently implemented in over 60 countries, can include bans on entry, mandatory quarantine on arrival, or the suspension of on-arrival visas.

We expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations as a result of the FC. Booking.com will waive the commission in these cases.

How this will affect you

Properties in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy and South Korea

• For all reservations made for properties in Mainland China with check-in date on or before 31 March 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations.
• For all reservations made for properties in Hong Kong and Macau with check-in date on or before 29 February 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations.
• For all reservations made for properties in areas under local quarantine and/or internal movement restrictions imposed by local authorities in Italy and for reservations made by travellers from these regions, with a check-in date between 23 February 2020 and 14 March 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations.
• For all reservations made for properties in areas under local quarantine and/or internal movement restrictions imposed by local authorities in South Korea and for reservations made by travellers from these regions, with a check-in date between 23 February 2020 and 14 March 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations.

Booking.com will waive the commission in these cases.

Properties in all other countries

• For any reservation made at your property by travellers from Mainland China, with check-in date on or before 31 March 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations.
• For any reservation made at your property by travellers from Hong Kong and Macau with check-in date on or before 29 February 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations.
• For all reservations made by travellers from areas under local quarantine and/or internal movement restrictions imposed by local authorities in Italy, with a check-in date between 23 February 2020 and 14 March 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations.
• For all reservations made by travellers from areas under local quarantine and/or internal movement restrictions imposed by local authorities in South Korea, with a check-in date between 23 February 2020 and 14 March 2020, we expect you to refund any prepayment and waive any cancellation costs (fees, expenses and/or other amounts) in situations where the guests/travellers requested cancellations
• Reservations made by travellers who have been to an area affected by Coronavirus, and have subsequently been banned from entering the country they intended to travel to, are also subject to the FC policy.

Booking.com will waive the commission in these cases.

In addition to the above-mentioned areas, FC also covers individual cases wherein a traveller cannot reasonably be expected to travel/stay (e.g. an infection in a hotel outside FC regions mentioned in this communication).

We will continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure the safety of all partners and guests and will update this communication regularly.

Due to the high volume of inquiries, customers might experience delays and try to reach out to your property directly for cancellations. Information on how to handle these reservations can be found here