Vacation Express

We were to arrive at the Riu Palace on July 16 for six nights. We booked through Vacation Express. The hurricane hit early on the 17th. I called Frontier airlines before our departure and they told me not to come to the airport. I called the RIU and they told me not to come to the hotel. We heeded their directives and cancelled our vacation.

We purchased the vacation protection insurance, but when I cancelled (I had to leave a voice mail message at Vacation Express because there was no one to speak to) I let them know that we had been told not to go, so we didn't and that I would like a refund rather than a voucher.

Vacation express says I cancelled so I can't get my money back. I say they couldn't provide the service that I purchased and should give my money back. We still want to go, but they don't offer any options that work for us until after June of 06 so I need my money back to find something we can use.

Is this how it usually works? It seems if they can't provide the service, then I'm not cancelling at my option.

I am very surprised by Vacation Express's policy. I guess once they have your money, you're going to take a trip with them whether they can deliver on your original booking or not? That seems rather opportunistic in an industry based upon service, and I imagine return visits as well as word of mouth.

Am I being unreasonable?

Footnote:

Royal Tours cheerfully refunded the pre-payment for the airport transfers that we purchased separately.

[Shammy]

Why don't they offer any options that work for you until June 06?

Is it a date thing or a hotel availability thing or....?

And know that Vacation Express is not the only company that is doing this. Apple has a similar policy in place, as does TNT and a few other companies as well. Unfortunately, it's quite common to offer vacation certificates when someone cancels at the last minute. If Vacation Express didn't actually cancel the trip before you did, they'll hand over certificates instead of a refund. And in some cases, depending on the company (don't know the VE policy as I don't use them), they gave certificates even if they DID cancel the trip before you did.

These companies would have lost millions if they gave back all the monies for trips that had to be cancelled due to Emily. Might not be the right thing to do...but they're doing it and in most cases, the mention of giving back vacation certificates is stated in the vacation contract that they have printed either on their web site or given to you with your travel docs. I guess they feel you still have the value of your trip, one that you planned to take at one time, and one that they hope you will STILL take, and they're giving you one year in which to book another trip so that's the best that they're going to offer given the circumstances. And with most companies that are offering vacation certificates, you have one year from the date of their issue in which to APPLY the certificates to the new trip, not in which to travel. So if your certificate was dated July 17th, as long as you book a trip and use those certificates to pay for it by that date, you can travel afterwards. Again, not sure of this is the policy of VE, but it is Apple's policy.

Like I said, it may not be right, but that's what most companies are doing.

With three kids in school and various sports and other activities it's hard to find times to go. We could go the day after Christmas for 6 days, but to stay at the same hotel, the cost goes from about $6,800 to almost $13,000. That's just not realistic. Spring break goes for about $9,200. We could always stay in a cheaper hotel, but that's not what we bought from them. Even the cheaper hotels are more expensive during Christmas and spring break than what we bought our trip for. My son has hockey tournments at both Christmas and spring break, so he'd have to let him and his team down if we go. So, they are asking me to pay more, for less and to go at times that are not really of our choosing. It would be different had we cancelled for our convenience or illness or injury.

I was told not to come by both the hotel and the airline. I bought the insurance to cover me if for some reason I had to cancel, not if they couldn't deliver. What would they have done if I didn't buy the insurance? Sorry, you screwed up, you trusted us.

I know that people down there lost a lot more than my $6,800 from the hurricane, so I feel bad complaining. But that is a lot of money to me and VE is in the business of providing travel which they couldn't provide in this instance. They are exploiting the situation for their economic gain at my expense. That's just not cool IMHO.

Thanks for replying.

Brad

Originally Posted by Shammy

Why don't they offer any options that work for you until June 06?

Is it a date thing or a hotel availability thing or....?

And know that Vacation Express is not the only company that is doing this. Apple has a similar policy in place, as does TNT and a few other companies as well. Unfortunately, it's quite common to offer vacation certificates when someone cancels at the last minute. If Vacation Express didn't actually cancel the trip before you did, they'll hand over certificates instead of a refund. And in some cases, depending on the company (don't know the VE policy as I don't use them), they gave certificates even if they DID cancel the trip before you did.

These companies would have lost millions if they gave back all the monies for trips that had to be cancelled due to Emily. Might not be the right thing to do...but they're doing it and in most cases, the mention of giving back vacation certificates is stated in the vacation contract that they have printed either on their web site or given to you with your travel docs. I guess they feel you still have the value of your trip, one that you planned to take at one time, and one that they hope you will STILL take, and they're giving you one year in which to book another trip so that's the best that they're going to offer given the circumstances. And with most companies that are offering vacation certificates, you have one year from the date of their issue in which to APPLY the certificates to the new trip, not in which to travel. So if your certificate was dated July 17th, as long as you book a trip and use those certificates to pay for it by that date, you can travel afterwards. Again, not sure of this is the policy of VE, but it is Apple's policy.

Like I said, it may not be right, but that's what most companies are doing.

[Shammy]

Originally Posted by Shredman

With three kids in school and various sports and other activities it's hard to find times to go. We could go the day after Christmas for 6 days, but to stay at the same hotel, the cost goes from about $6,800 to almost $13,000. That's just not realistic. Spring break goes for about $9,200. We could always stay in a cheaper hotel, but that's not what we bought from them. Even the cheaper hotels are more expensive during Christmas and spring break than what we bought our trip for. My son has hockey tournments at both Christmas and spring break, so he'd have to let him and his team down if we go. So, they are asking me to pay more, for less and to go at times that are not really of our choosing. It would be different had we cancelled for our convenience or illness or injury.

I was told not to come by both the hotel and the airline. I bought the insurance to cover me if for some reason I had to cancel, not if they couldn't deliver. What would they have done if I didn't buy the insurance? Sorry, you screwed up, you trusted us.

I know that people down there lost a lot more than my $6,800 from the hurricane, so I feel bad complaining. But that is a lot of money to me and VE is in the business of providing travel which they couldn't provide in this instance. They are exploiting the situation for their economic gain at my expense. That's just not cool IMHO.

Thanks for replying.

Brad

Hey, I totally understand how you feel, trust me when I say that. I deal with situations like this all the time. But I have to look at it from both a personal level AND a professional level. On a personal level, I always feel badly when something like this happens to good people, whether they are my clients or not. I wish everyone who had to cancel a trip would get their money back, whether they have insurance or not! On a professional level, I'm usually thankful they did take some kind of insurance protection and didn't see their entire investment go down the tubes!

To address some of the things you said, maybe it will help you understand where they are coming from (not that you should be any less irritated but....)

Originally Posted by Shredman

I was told not to come by both the hotel and the airline.

But the airline and the hotel didn't hold your booking, Vacation Express did. When you book with a vacation company, unfortunately you have to play by their rules. If you had waited for them to cancel, maybe things would have been different...I can't say for sure because again, I don't deal with Vacation Express. But to tell you one of my experiences....I had people due to leave the Saturday before Emily hit, they were booked with Funjet. By Friday night, Funjet had not cancelled their flight so they/I decided it was best to cancel their trip because we KNEW Emily was going to hit. They had insurance and got a full refund, minus the cost of the insurance. Come to find out, Funjet never did cancel that flight, actually sent those people down to Mexico to face that hurricane. Yes, Funjet was great considering they did get a refund and didn't have to take vouchers...but losing the insurance cost for 5 people was substantial as well. They should never have let that flight leave and shouldn't have expected people to be on it. No, it doesn't compare to how much you are "out", but you're really not "out" that money, it's just tied up. These people simply lost the cash.

Originally Posted by Shredman

So, they are asking me to pay more, for less and to go at times that are not really of our choosing

Well, THEY aren't really asking you to pay more for less, the time frame is dictating what youare paying. The bottom line is it's way more expensive to travel during a holiday and the vacation companies don't set those prices, the hotels/airlines do. Basically, they way the company is looking at it is they are giving you a certain amount of time in which to use those certificates. If you MUST travel during a holiday, that's no fault of theirs, it's just bad timing.

One thing you said in your first post...you want your money back so that you "can find something that you can use". Well, regardless of which company you were to book with if you DID get your money back, if you would be trying to plan something for Xmas or spring break, the situation would be about the same...much higher prices than what you paid for this summer trip. That $6,800 just isn't going to go as far for a new trip taken during high season as it would have going during the summer.

Having said that, why don't you just book something for NEXT summer, immediately after the kids get outof school? That way you don't get raked over the coals paying for a holiday trip. And if you get it done soon, you can avoid any more fuel or hotel rate increases. That's what I think you should do. I know it's not the perfect solution, but at least you'll have a trip to look forward to.

And know that nothing I said above is to make you feel badly about anything that YOU said, and IMHO, you DO have the right to complain. This whole hurricane thing was a raw deal for many, many people. So I DO understand your point, and agree with you...giving your money back would have been the right thing for VE to do. But since that isn't going to happen, now you need to concentrate on making this work instead of trying to figure out ways that it WON'T work. Look into something for next June and I hope more than anything that the price works out to be close to what you paid for this trip.

Good luck Brad!

You're always so kind and positive. Thanks.

When I mentioned other alternatives I was really thinking about a ski trip or Australia, or Europe, etc. I am not at all inclined to spend $13 grand to go to Mexico, but given the sunk cost, it may be worth spending $6k and having a great ski vacation at Beaver Creek or spend the whole wad and go to Australia. I could also travel on my own schedule, not just the dates offered by VE, and may be able to work around the hockey schedule.

I know you are not defending them and appreciate your empathy. I agree they are really not asking me to pay more for less, they just couldn't deliver what I bought and leave that as one alternative. The other alternative being to wait close to a year while they hold my money thereby prohibiting us from pursuing any alternatives due to the cost. We didn't budget to take two expensive vacations this 12 months.

While my contract was with VE and not the hotel or airline, if I know in advance that they are telling me not to come, then I have appropriate notice that VE is not going to be able to deliver on our contract. I don't feel I need to take the risk of going to the airport or all the way to the hotel and being turned away. The trip was constructively cancelled by the airline and the hotel. My contract was with VE, thiers was with the airline and the hotel. I shouldn't have to pick up the slack because they don't want to enforce their contract against their contractual counterparts - or they didn't contract correctly for this - neither of which should be my problem. If I had gone and they weren't able to accomodate me and sought damages, you can be certain they would use the fact that I was told not to go as a defense. I am not arguing with you, just presenting a different point of view.

In the end, you are correct. I'm probably not going to get my money and will better off to just make the best of it. I'll be a little bit wiser, and a little bit more jaded and trust that in business, as in life, what goes around comes around. I am ashamed to say that if I can help it come around a little harder and a little faster for VE in any way, I will always be looking for that opportunity.

I see that vacationexpresssucks.com is available. :-)

Hey, what more reasonably priced hotels with good beach do you like in Playa with kids aged 9, 13 and 15? Oh wait, they'll be 9, 14 and 16 by then.

Thanks again for your counsel. I love my travel agent, but would use/recommend you in a heartbeat in the future!

Brad

Originally Posted by Shammy

Hey, I totally understand how you feel, trust me when I say that. I deal with situations like this all the time. But I have to look at it from both a personal level AND a professional level. On a personal level, I always feel badly when something like this happens to good people, whether they are my clients or not. I wish everyone who had to cancel a trip would get their money back, whether they have insurance or not! On a professional level, I'm usually thankful they did take some kind of insurance protection and didn't see their entire investment go down the tubes!

To address some of the things you said, maybe it will help you understand where they are coming from (not that you should be any less irritated but....)



But the airline and the hotel didn't hold your booking, Vacation Express did. When you book with a vacation company, unfortunately you have to play by their rules. If you had waited for them to cancel, maybe things would have been different...I can't say for sure because again, I don't deal with Vacation Express. But to tell you one of my experiences....I had people due to leave the Saturday before Emily hit, they were booked with Funjet. By Friday night, Funjet had not cancelled their flight so they/I decided it was best to cancel their trip because we KNEW Emily was going to hit. They had insurance and got a full refund, minus the cost of the insurance. Come to find out, Funjet never did cancel that flight, actually sent those people down to Mexico to face that hurricane. Yes, Funjet was great considering they did get a refund and didn't have to take vouchers...but losing the insurance cost for 5 people was substantial as well. They should never have let that flight leave and shouldn't have expected people to be on it. No, it doesn't compare to how much you are "out", but you're really not "out" that money, it's just tied up. These people simply lost the cash.



Well, THEY aren't really asking you to pay more for less, the time frame is dictating what youare paying. The bottom line is it's way more expensive to travel during a holiday and the vacation companies don't set those prices, the hotels/airlines do. Basically, they way the company is looking at it is they are giving you a certain amount of time in which to use those certificates. If you MUST travel during a holiday, that's no fault of theirs, it's just bad timing.

One thing you said in your first post...you want your money back so that you "can find something that you can use". Well, regardless of which company you were to book with if you DID get your money back, if you would be trying to plan something for Xmas or spring break, the situation would be about the same...much higher prices than what you paid for this summer trip. That $6,800 just isn't going to go as far for a new trip taken during high season as it would have going during the summer.

Having said that, why don't you just book something for NEXT summer, immediately after the kids get outof school? That way you don't get raked over the coals paying for a holiday trip. And if you get it done soon, you can avoid any more fuel or hotel rate increases. That's what I think you should do. I know it's not the perfect solution, but at least you'll have a trip to look forward to.

And know that nothing I said above is to make you feel badly about anything that YOU said, and IMHO, you DO have the right to complain. This whole hurricane thing was a raw deal for many, many people. So I DO understand your point, and agree with you...giving your money back would have been the right thing for VE to do. But since that isn't going to happen, now you need to concentrate on making this work instead of trying to figure out ways that it WON'T work. Look into something for next June and I hope more than anything that the price works out to be close to what you paid for this trip.

Good luck Brad!