When his daughter moved her wedding from May to September last year, Charlie Anastos booked the honeymoon, paying Sandal’s Resort Barbados for the airfare and lodging.
“The resort looked unbelievable, it had the little plunge pool outside the door, so the kids would have been having a grand old time,” said Anastos.
Anastos says he booked the vacation in April, knowing there was a possibility the couple wouldn’t be able to make the trip because of the COVID-19 pandemic. So he paid $190 for the travel protection plan and says he asked about the cancellation policy.
“They said that we could cancel within a week of the travel, that we would have got a full refund in the event the kids couldn’t travel,” he said. “Otherwise, why would we have put the money out to begin with?”
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As their big day approached, the couple decided they had to skip the trip because Massachusetts’ 14-day quarantine order would have impacted their jobs.
“We contacted the resort and said, 'okay guys, we need to cancel this because the kids can’t travel,'” said Anastos. “And they said, 'ok, yeah, we’ll refund the money for the rooms but we cannot refund the airfare.'”
Anastos says he made numerous calls arguing for a full refund.
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“Started escalating, went up to their customer service department, went up to customer service manager, went up to their air flight managers and they continued to saying it was up to the airline to refund the money,” he said. “ I called the airline reluctantly. The airline said, 'you didn’t pay us, you paid them, so we can’t refund you anything. We’ll give you the voucher.'“
Anastos contacted NBC10 Boston Responds for help, and we reached out to Sandals Resorts International on his behalf.
The company tells us:
"When guests make a reservation for a stay that includes airfare, there are specific terms of conditions as outlined by the airlines for their flight reservation. We have spoken to this valued guests regarding the options available to them which are outlined and predicated by the airline not by our resort. We have communicated that in this situation the policy offered by the airline provides for an airline credit, which has been a common policy adopted by most airlines in response to the global pandemic. We are always eager to ensure our customers are being offered the absolute best resolution possible by the airline they booked with and therefore we have currently reached out to both this valued guests and to the airline directly to try our best to have this matter resolved for them. Since the last correspondence we reached an agreement with the airline carrier and we were able to offer the guest a full refund."
Anastos was refunded $944.30.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the resolution,” he said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the process and happy to be able to talk to you about it today with a happy ending.”
No one likes to do it, but it is very important that you read the fine print before you book your trip or pay for trip insurance. It is the written details in those policies that will matter in the end if you need to cancel.
If you have a consumer problem you need help with, reach out to us on our website or call us at 1-888-521-NEWS. We will get back to you!
