Cancellation Policy Changes at Blue Angel

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Our res for December at the Grand Occ is 100% cnx up to the day before....in fact, they arent even asking for any deposit!

There are numerous other resorts/hotels, like Aldora that are doing the same.
 
The Villa Aldora, and indeed Aldora Divers has never retained a deposit over 25 plus years.
I still wonder about this claim? Then why take a deposit?

Yeah, I think the BA is going to need to change their requirements as not many will buy that.
 
.....but transferable dates up to two years (until 2022) from original reservation date....

I thought the wording of this was interesting. Given the wording...it’s only transferable until January 1, 2022...which is well under two years.

I think I’d just not do any advanced reservations.
 
We had five trips planned and paid for prior to the pandemic. No one refunded our money. All of them have allowed us a year to two years to use our future travel credits. I do not think this policy is wrong at all. They have given you plenty of time and 100% of what you have paid to book another trip. Times are tough for anyone in the tourism business. Policies vary depending on if you cancel the trip or the operator cancels. Unless you purchase a cancel for any reason, travel insurance may be worthless. We disputed one of our charges with Chase Sapphire. They stated that if we were given future travel credits that they would not credit our account. Seems fair to us.
 
Unless you purchase a cancel for any reason, travel insurance may be worthless.
I think what I buy will pay ok. Just completing the claim.
 
I have mixed feelings about all this.
I was supposed to stay at BA back in April, but had to cancel the reservation due to Covid. At that time, BA was providing full refunds. I chose to allow BA to retain my deposit until I could make arrangements for future new dates. They were very grateful because everything on Coz got shut down and I am assuming they had next to zero income.

I was able to book for August 2020 and there were no issues with getting credit for the deposit they retained. The trip was awesome and BA did not disappoint! The BA Dive Op, the hotel and the restaurant were all great! Upon our arrival we were welcomed by Eva, the owner. I could tell that everyone was happy to see customers.

I am estimating that there were about 5 rooms that were occupied with hotel guests during my 10-night stay. The dive trips were all full, with the exception of the last 2-days where I was the only diver booked. The port was closed so it made no difference. I will say that I got the sense that Eva and her staff are very concerned about the whole economic impact of Covid, not just for BA, but for the entire island economy. I know the DM's were grateful to have dive customers, and even the restaurant staff were grateful to have dining customers.

Our DM for most trips was Ruben Larregui. He is also a PADI Instructor and he does a lot of the PADI training classes at BA. He is also the lead-singer for The Red Eye Band and wow, can he sing Classic Rock! The Red Eye Band plays at BA as well as Hemingway's and some other popular spots in Coz. I got to know him a bit and he shared with me the challenges he and other Coz residents are facing. His DM job prior to Covid was steady and the band gigs were plenty. Now the DM and band jobs are literally day-to-day. He said that some months he struggles to pay rent. I made sure I tipped him and all the other BA folks very generously. I feel very blessed that Covid has not impacted me financially.

Personally, I would have no concerns with a "No Refund" cancellation policy because short of my demise or a horrific accident, I will go back to BA in the future. In fact, I am already planning my next Coz/BA trip for this March-April.
 
They have to abide by the policy they told you BEFORE booking, not AFTER booking. I'd tell them to return my deposit now or I'd file a dispute on credit card. As for them not having funds to return deposits, it was their choice to spend your deposit rather than hold it.

^^^ THIS ^^^
 
A Coz resort or hotel requiring a deposit these days? Who the heck needs to require a deposit in these times? Deposits are used to reserve rooms in advance because demand could exceed supply. If someone cancels at the last minute that room could go unfilled that night costing the operator $ because it couldn't be sold to a replacement guest at the last minute. The deposit covers that potential lost revenue. I'd be suspicious of any hotel or resort operator that is requesting a significant deposit that isn't stated as fully refundable with 24 hours notice and I'd NEVER EVER pay that deposit on anything but a credit card so you can file a dispute with your CC provider. The supply of rooms everywhere exceeds demand by so much there is no reason to reserve a room for 1 night or an extended say with a minimal deposit that isn't fully refunded with 24hrs notice of cancellation.

BA's response to the OP seems to say it all. From my read, it appears BA has taken deposits, spent that $ on current expenses and has no funds remaining to refund those deposits.

I'll re-post the response the OP received from BA regarding deposits. This sounds like a business that has run out of capital, has spent tomorrow's $ (in the form of all the customer deposits) on current expenses and is on the verge of bankruptcy (although there is no such thing as bankruptcy in Coz - it just goes out of business).

"Now as you may consider, we are reactivating our economy here on the island, because in our sector (tourism) we had no income at all. This means that the accountability from all the companies had to adjust their selves to the current situation. Fortunately, our president and owner Ms. Eva Rasmussen take actions to not affect us, so for the moment, we have no funds designated to refunds, until this situation gets better.

This doesn't mean that we don't care about the concerns of our guests about their refunds, but unfortunately, we can't even when we wanted, to designate resources to do this action. This is because a lot of cancelations (even from groups that were almost Full Paid) had place at the beginning of the quarantine.

We can't confirm or denied a date to refund your deposit, but make sure that if you want to use it as credit, in the next two years, it will be honored on a 100%, until you decide or can travel again. We would love that you visit us, but we want to make sure that you are fully agree with our current policies. "
 
I booked recently (a couple of weeks ago) with BA and they were very clear BEFORE we paid the deposit that those were the terms. They sent that same email either with the invoice for the deposit, or just before. OP I’m sorry that you didn’t get the same clear message. That would sour my experience too. For me, those were the terms, they stated them before I gave any money, I could take them or leave them, and I chose to take them.
...Everything crossed we get to go on our (third time rebooked) Coz trip next month, but if not we will rebook for next year.
 
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