American In-Laws coming to Europe

Scoondal

My wife's sister booked flights from U.S. to Madrid. They booked a hotel in Barcelona for 2 nights and then flights to Ireland. The Barcelona hotel told them that they have cancelled the reservation due to Covid19.
I have now cancelled their reservation at an Irish hotel.
Why would a Spanish hotel cancel a booking and lose money when Irish hotels, Irish airlines and American airlines continue as normal ?

Ace2007

Scoondal wrote: »

My wife's sister booked flights from U.S. to Madrid. They booked a hotel in Barcelona for 2 nights and then flights to Ireland. The Barcelona hotel told them that they have cancelled the reservation due to Covid19.
I have now cancelled their reservation at an Irish hotel.
Why would a Spanish hotel cancel a booking and lose money when Irish hotels, Irish airlines and American airlines continue as normal ?

Maybe their staff have said they aren't working, maybe the staff have been infected, maybe someone infected has been to the hotel, maybe 90% of other bookings are from Italians and they have cancelled, and no point taking on bookings if only handful of rooms full, could be all sort of reasons

Scoondal

Ace2007 wrote: »

Maybe their staff have said they aren't working, maybe the staff have been infected, maybe someone infected has been to the hotel, maybe 90% of other bookings are from Italians and they have cancelled, and no point taking on bookings if only handful of rooms full, could be all sort of reasons

Yeah maybe.
But knock on effects to Ireland.
I have told them to cancel nothing.
Let the airlines cancel first, then they will get a full refund. If the airlines do not cancel flights, then they should go. I think big business is trying to keep money and hope the customer blinks first.
These are times when the customer is king.
Either they shut down their business or reduce rates. Irish hotels are so far behind the curve that I really wonder what kind of people are in business here.
Ryanair's prices are already down for the near future but also for 2021.

con747

Scoondal wrote: »

Yeah maybe.
But knock on effects to Ireland.
I have told them to cancel nothing.
Let the airlines cancel first, then they will get a full refund. If the airlines do not cancel flights, then they should go. I think big business is trying to keep money and hope the customer blinks first.
These are times when the customer is king.
Either they shut down their business or reduce rates. Irish hotels are so far behind the curve that I really wonder what kind of people are in business here.
Ryanair's prices are already down for the near future but also for 2021.

Why would the airline cancel their flights just because you say the hotel cancelled their booking?

Scoondal

con747 wrote: »

Why would the airline cancel their flights just because you say the hotel cancelled their booking?

No, of course I wasn't suggesting that.
But the Americans said that they were thinking of cancelling the whole trip. I said that they should cancel nothing because they would lose a lot of money.

IF an airline cancels a flight, they will get a full refund.
IF their flight goes ahead they should come to Spain and Ireland in April. Why should a customer cancel and lose their money ? I told them to cancel nothing.

cdeb

You told them to cancel nothing - but you say you cancelled their hotel booking for them in the OP?

I'm a bit confused here tbh

Wuff Wuff

cdeb wrote: »

You told them to cancel nothing - but you say you cancelled their hotel booking for them in the OP?

I'm a bit confused here tbh

must be letting them sleep on his couch instead

JohnCleary

Odd for the Barcelona hotel to cancel, but there could be valid reason.

We're in Barcelona at the end of the month. You've made me paranoid, going to email the hotel now to make sure there are no reservation issues.

Xertz

The outbreak in Spain is also far further along than Ireland and has been growing more rapidly.

Spain is currently reporting 911 cases and 25 deaths.

Ireland is reporting 21 cases and the growth in numbers over the weekend was pretty small.

The two countries are not currently in the same situation vis a vis Covid 19.

That could change in the days ahead but for now Ireland seems to be lower risk.

Also perhaps email or ring the hotel and ask why they cancelled, just explain that you are curious rather than you are complaining.

Scoondal

So, Aer Lingus ... full refund
Ryanair, free change of reservation. Eh, still holding out for flight cancellation on Dublin to Madrid for 29 April.
Who needs to waste money on travel insurance ?
Oh yeah, and they said their US flight to Madrid is cancelled ... so full refund.
The consumer is king. EU laws protect the consumer without wasting money on insurance policies.