There's a reasonable chance you will lose your chargeback claim if the hotel is still open on the dates of your reservation. I would give it another few days to see if you will have clarity from the Spanish authorities on whether the hotel will be allowed to remain open or not. If it's closed, that's a clear(er) refund to you from AMEX. If they're open, try and work something out with the hotel?
Originally Posted by
sullim4
What's the general consensus on nonrefundable hotels and chargebacks when the hotels themselves are closed and the hotel's policy is no refunds?
I have a reservation at an H10 hotel for the beginning of May in Barcelona. Most (if not all) hotels in Spain are currently closed, and if I had to guess, will probably be closed for the time of our reservation (2 May - 5 May).
H10's policy on this as it stands right now is that they will re-book your stay for another date up to a year in advance. This is fine, and we could make it work, but frankly I'd rather have my $750 back since I have no idea whether this particular hotel is even going to be around in another year if closures are prolonged. They haven't yet extended this policy beyond 30 April but I expect they will in the next week or so. I previously contacted them through email and they weren't particularly helpful.
I charged this to my AMEX back in January. Given the uncertainty around whether hotels will be open in the beginning of May, is a chargeback the right route to go here? Should I wait until our reservation passes to confirm the hotel is indeed closed, or should I file one right away?
Or, is the chargeback the wrong route, and should I instead take them up on their offer to re-book?