Will Hotels Waive Cancelation Fees Due To Covid?

Fair article. But it works both way. If there’s no cancellation policy, then I’m turning up covid +.

Most ppl wouldn’t cancel their trip for a mild cold pre-pandemic, so I presume that would be the expectation here too.

Exactly
Nor you should test

RE: I'm just not a huge fan of discretionary insurance policies...

Ben, I have a policy that covers all trips within a one-year period. I consider it very affordable ($630 a year for two people), and it avoids deciding whether you want to buy insurance per trip. What's your opinion about these kinds of policies?

We’ve come to the end of any travel entity be it be hotels or airlines where customers can use testing positive for covid as a reason for curtailing a trip. Globally we have to recognise that it’s here to stay like common colds and flu, heck the UK and many other countries are seeing a new Spring covid strain wave sweeping through communities but it’s nots getting headlines as it once did. I have noticed some airlines are offering “flex fares” which are not a change in travel class ie J being fully flexible VS upper and Z being least flexible, for an additional £200 on top of the lowest fare class you have the option for a full refund or change dates with fare differences to be paid if you can’t travel for any reason, I wouldn’t be surprised if hotels started to offer a similar option.

Insurance begins to make sense when you look at lexpensive cruises. We took two bucket list cruises from Buenos Aires - one to Antarctic and one to Rio Carnival with 15 days between to tour. Cruise lines do not refund much within the last 5 months and are a go/nogo proposition. The total cost was in the order of $40,000 so I insured for 50% assuming we'd make one or the other even if we had covid (not expected being 5X vaccinated and careful).

Otherwise only emergency health makes any sense.

The problem I have with this is that it is one-sided, in the hotel's favor. I understand about the hotel and their cancelation policy, but much like a cold vs a flu people have had different side effects of COVID. For some it was much more than a cold and I don't think most people would travel with a fever, for example. May be the credit card "airline" credits could be expanded to cover such expenses.

I get it from a hotel POV... but Hotels have to accept... If people are sick - and hotel wont refund - If one thinks they will feel better during the trip, most people will show up and spread COVID/FLU/etc.

Really from a hotel POV... how many people make reservations and cancel last minute? 1% or less? Isn't it worth it for the goodwill and extra bookings with a generous refund policy.

Must be nice to not have to worry about a $400+ lost amount of money. Travel insurance for $99 or less would be better than losing that, IMO.

Two points to add:
- There are also year-long travel insurance policies that cover you for all trips
- Consider what your health insurance covers (and maybe the cost of healthcare in the destination). If you have US employer-based health insurance, emergency medical expenses outside the US are probably covered, with the usual caveats of deductibles and co-insurance. Medicare doesn't cover anything abroad so if you are covered through Medicare, it might be good to look into travel insurance to cover ER visits.

Cancelled a Marriott reservation 5 hours passed their 72 hour cancellation window. My son developed Covid. I took his test in the night and called the hotel at 5:43 am. They refused to waive the fee. This was a Huge mom/son trip. Saved and planned for a long time. Had to cancel everything. It was really sad my son got sick, our trip was canceled and we were charged $700 for the cancellation fee. A lot of savings gone. We will save up again, but never again with the Marriott.