HOTELBEDS

Dear valued partner,

Ref: Coronavirus and United States

Following President Donald Trump’s announcement restricting travel to the United States in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we wanted to update you immediately on how we are managing this difficult situation.

After careful consideration, in the interest of protecting our mutual guests and complying with the local regulations approved by the US government, we are formally communicating here that we will treat this topic as a ‘force majeure’ situation, according to the terms and conditions that bind our commercial relationship.

The force majeure will apply to all bookings where the destination is the United States from or via the affected countries (i.e. all countries in the Schengen Area. Note this does not include UK, whose travelers are not subject to the ban provided they have not been in a Schengen Area country in the previous 14 days, including for a transfer) for arrivals from 11:59 p.m. eastern daylight time on March 13, 2020 up to 12 April 2020 (or a later date if the US government changes its policy).

On this basis , no cancellation costs or fees (including ‘no shows’) will apply to those guests who request the cancellation of the affected bookings (both refundable and non-refundable).

We advise any clients making a cancellation to do so booking via the WEB or API.

With regards to bookings for European destination where the origin is the United States, we are well aware that many US travellers are now considering cancelling their booking. We would like to assure you that we are working with our European hotel partners to request that they offer such travellers free cancellations wherever possible.

From our side, we are doing everything possible — including providing extra staff — to support the high number of requests for changes and cancellation of bookings created by this issue.
By working together, we can all help to support our customers and guests at this challenging and worrying time.

Many thanks for your understanding and support. If you have any questions relating to this, please contact your account manager.


Kind regards,
Hotelbeds