Booking.com to end 'force majeure' cancellation policy - HOTREC/Booking.com webmeeting summary

The unilateral imposition of a forced refund policy for rooms - initially considered as ‘non-refundable’ - by Booking.com on hoteliers across Europe, citing ‘force majeure’, has caused additional and serious concern and harm for hoteliers during the COVID-19 crisis. Following a dialogue with HOTREC, the concerns raised by these measures are recognized by Booking.com. They have changed their policy for bookings made after 6 April and consider that consumers are now aware of the situation so there is no automatic ‘force majeure’ anymore. For bookings made from 6 April onwards, non-refundable bookings will be considered as such again. On Monday 6 April, HOTREC President Jens Zimmer Christensen and Chair of HOTREC Distribution Working Group Markus Luthe discussed these concerns via web-meeting with Booking.com Head of Accommodation Pepijn Rijvers and Head of Public Affairs Peter Lochbihler. The memo here below provides a summary of the discussion. Further information on the exchange of correspondence that led to the meeting is available here.