Any Advice ? Italy Hotel Non Refund / Booking.com

[AnneKipanki]

I had notification that my flights were cancelled for 19/8 last night.
I thought that is well in time to cancel my hotels using the free cancellation through Booking.com. The hotels were booked December 2019/ January 2020.
The hotel in Switzerland did not take a deposit and I cancelled the booking no problem citing Covid 19 as the reason in the tick box section.

With the Italy hotel , I had a free cancellation option until 8/8/20. I ticked the Covid 19 box as I had for the Swiss hotel.
The hotel in Italy did take a substantial deposit . It was supposed to refund this. I have had an email from the hotel citing
"We are sincerely sorry for the cancellation of your reservation. Travel restrictions implemented by our health authority in light of the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) are affecting the whole country and are out of our control. "
"Due to the above and in application of the recent provisions issued by the Italian Authorities and in particular of the provisions of article 88 of the Law Decree no. 18/2020 and article 28 of the Law Decree no. 9/2020 and subsequent amendments, whereby request for refunds are to be done using a voucher of equal value, we hereby send you a voucher of € 797,50, equal to the amount you paid as a deposit for your booking reservation."
"We understand the inconvenience and disruption caused by the emergency to all parties involved, from travel operators and professionals to our valued guests. As such, the voucher attached will be valid for more than 1 year from the date of issuance, until October 2021.

"Please also note that in case you won't be able to use your voucher till the expiration date you will be eligible for a full refund of your deposit after the expiration date."

I am not very happy since I knew that I could cancel this before the date of 8/8 with a refund . It was booked so well in advance , I would have thought the original terms and conditions would apply.

PS , I had booked other places in another country , paid non refundable deposits and accepted I lost out on those but this ...is changing the terms and conditions of the original agreement .

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed with this ? I would prefer a refund .

I would try Booking.com, I've found them quite helpful. Only thing was it took them 30 days to get the refund back in first case and in other case its been 30 days and I'm still waiting but that's more that hotel. Other way is chargeback via bank but would try booking.com or getting back to hotel first saying it was free cancellation until 8.8.

Thank you @KoalasandRabbit.

I have emailed the hotel .

I had a hotel try this and Booking.com sorted it and gave me an extra credit for their site, wasn't Covid though. Very bad but sounds like an Italian government thing

Got a response.
"We are aware of the cancellation policy but, as per our last email, the situation with the virus progresses fast and the Italian Government has issued the decree in help of hospitality sector. Kindly note that we are following the new regulations quoted earlier in which requests for the refunds are to be done in the form of a voucher of equal value as the one offered to our mutual guests. We are not refusing your request but this voucher has to be treated likewise as a refund."
" Hotels is giving the clients our best in any circumstances therefore this voucher has a validity of more than one year and is applicable for both hotels in and in * ***. It is the best we can offer right now. If the client will not be able to use the voucher by then, then on the expiration date can get the refund in cash."

This was the response from the hotel through Booking.com.

Thanks @okiedokieme .
A voucher is not a refund, is it ?

That was just a musing , @okiedokieme , not a direct question for you .

I'ld try Booking.com customer services team directly, see if they can intervene.

If not only other way is via credit / debit card and bank but its slow, my bank its 45 working days.

I don't think a voucher is the same as a cash refund though our insurance company says they classify it as one which is quite annoying as if company goes bankrupt / can't use it you lose it.

Thanks again @KoalasandRabbit. I have just tried to contact the customer services of Booking.com.

Exactly , if they do go bust the money is lost .

The first response through the automated chat is we will contact the hotel ... already done that .

Just had an update from Booking.com and their customer service booking assistant .
They have asked the property to refund the money . Fingers crossed .

I had a similar situation with booking.com a couple of years ago, where property claimed there was a non refundable deposit. I was able to send the email confirming agreed full free cancellation policy and got my money back.

Fingers crossed @rookiemere .

Update:
Had an email from Booking.com asking for proof of payment so they can proceed with the refund.
Sent this.
New email in from them saying hotel has been back in touch with them saying the same as my original email from the hotel.

Basically, use the voucher within a year , if not used get the refund then. I would be apprehensive about staying there now. I think the next step will be contacting the credit card company.

So , the lesson here is DO NOT PAY A LARGE DEPOSIT.

That's a huge deposit. Was there any advantage to you to pay up ahead?

That is just the way they operate. It could have been double that .

Some good news . I saw that the hotel was still being advertised as 'free cancellation' with Booking.com on TripAdvisor . I phoned them again , and I am getting a refund from them .

Great news