Reader usernamedchuck reached out to let us know that his upcoming stay next month at the Club Wyndham Bali Hai Villas in Kauai was proactively cancelled by the hotel and it looks like the Wyndham properties in Hawaii may be closed through the end of April (not surprising given the current situation). That led us to also find that the Wailea Marriott intends to be closed through May 25th. In usernamedchuck’s case, he was already planning to cancel this April reservation anyway (surely due to a combination of the need for social distancing as well as the announcement of a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for all Hawaii arrivals), but it is a good reminder that in the current environment hotels are indeed closing and even travel plans a couple months out could be affected at any time.
Many properties around the country (and surely in other countries) have been closing amid the COVID-19 crisis whether because of local regulations or reduced/nonexistent demand. In this case, usernamedchuck reported the email from the Club Wyndham Bali Hai as being notable because the wording makes it sound like he requested the cancellation when he had not yet done so (again, he planned to but hadn’t yet made the call).
I think this probably means that the hotel has decided to close for a period of time and is cancelling all reservations. Indeed, a look at the booking calendar for the Hawaii properties via Extra Vacations (the site for Wyndham’s Hawaii condo properties) shows the booking calendar blacked out through the end of April (they appear to be taking reservations as of May 1st).
I checked for other data points with our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group and a members of our group shared that the Wailea Marriott is closed until May 25th. Notable there is that she Tweeted the hotel directly to ask — she hasn’t received any word from Marriott or the hotel that it is closed. Another member with reservations at two different Hawaii hotels for end of May and beginning of June hasn’t had their reservations canceled yet. YMMV.
For someone with a nonrefundable rate, the wording on the Wydnham email could initially be worrisome since it makes it sound like the customer chose to cancel rather than being forced to do so. However, for reservations through April 30th, Wyndham is waiving all penalties on even nonrefundable bookings (most chains are doing the same). From Wyndham’s COVID-19 update:
- Guests traveling with new or existing direct bookings for stays in any of our hotels through April 30, 2020 will have their cancellation or change penalties waived if the request is received at least 24 hours (or less if permitted by the hotel’s policy) prior to arrival.
- Guests who are prohibited from traveling to their booked hotel under applicable law will have their cancellation or change penalties waived on direct bookings.
- For new or existing direct bookings with arrivals after April 30, all of our properties are required to accommodate non-cancellable rate reservation changes if the request is received at least 48 hours prior to arrival and the same number of room nights or more are booked for a future stay.
Given those bullet points, I wouldn’t be concerned about a cancellation notice for a reservation scheduled for arrival through April 30th. You should qualify to get your money back even if you had prepaid.
On the other hand, I think this is a good reminder that even if your travel is in May or June or later, you’ll need to keep an eye on reservations and developments in the pandemic. Many hotels have closed or announced closures, some of them for at least several months. More closures are likely in the coming months. With Hawaii’s 14-day self-quarantine requirement, I wouldn’t be surprised to see many of the larger resort properties there shut down since it would be onerous for them to try to enforce the self-quarantine and dangerous for them not to do so.
If you do actually need to travel for some reason in the coming months and/or you’re holding out hope for summer travel to be feasible/advisable, you may need a backup plan as some hotels/resorts may not be back in business immediately after travel picks back up. Obviously I encourage anyone sitting on flexible plans over the next month or two to consider canceling if you can do so without penalty. If your cancellation would be subject to a penalty, it probably makes sense to sit tight and wait for policies to change as I imagine we’ll likely see the expansion of penalty-free cancellations before this is over and if your hotel is closed I’d expect you’ll get a full refund.
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Grand Wailea called today, they also canceled our reservation… though they were much classier about it. They said they’re closed through June 1.
I initially had a reservation at Wailea Marriott between 3/21 and 3/26. After app check-in at 3/21, got a call and was told they would close at 3/25. Decided to cancel the entire reservation.
Booked and staying at Sheraton Maui instead. Was told occupancy is 14% and going down.
Contacted by the front desk this morning that the hotel would close on 3/25.
I can’t support the idea of a tourist-based economy closing for more than a month because of a flu virus. The death rate in the USA is about 1% of actual confirmed cases. This is a drop in the bucket when you consider about 36 million people in the USA have had the flu this winter.
On the contrary, as a resident of Hawaii with an autoimmune disorder, I absolutely support it. Lives are more valuable than travel, any day, even if only 1%. I value myself even if I’m just a drop in the bucket. Too bad you don’t appear to.
I’ll bite on taking up the opposite side of that.
Keep in mind that:
1) The number of confirmed cases is way artificially low since millions of people have symptoms and no test and millions more are likely asymptomatic.
2) The infection and death rates are where they are given schools and business being closed and the economy, as you note, effectively shut down. I don’t imagine the infection and death rates would remain this low if we took no measures. By comparison, without closing schools and businesses and none of those extreme measures taken against seasonal flu, the death rate on that is an exponentially-lower 0.1%.
3) Comparing to flu isn’t really an apples-to-apples comparison. We’ve had decades to study the flu, transmission, treatment, and to develop vaccines to slow the number of cases at any given time. We’ve had at best a couple of months to study this thing. There is no vaccine or clear course of treatment for this. The additional problem here is the lack of resources for the known needs of those with the most danger. A good friend of mine is dealing with this right now. He’s mid-30’s and a rock climber. He’s in great shape. He tells me it feels like a tractor trailer parked on his chest. I’m confident he’ll be OK, but if he feels like that I imagine it is much worse for many. However, he’s thankful to be dealing with it now rather than 3 weeks from now when there may not be the resources to treat everyone.
I understand the economic impacts here are potentially devastating and I don’t proclaim to have the answers, but I think that while it is tempting to compare to something like the seasonal flu, it’s not the equal comparison it may appear to be at first glance.
Well said Nick
When I see statements like this, it makes me realize that many people don’t care about others. I’m a little worried for myself, but I don’t want to get the virus and give it to others. Just about every financial planner on the planet will tell you to have an emergency fund of 3-6 months worth of expenses set aside. I’m assuming that people can just dip into their emergency fund for a few months.
Not every person has 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings. My guess is that many folks working in the service or tourism sector in Hawaii will lose their jobs do not have that backstop or even a financial planner. Imagine more like 2 weeks in savings, living paycheck to paycheck for low wages in an expensive place to live all while losing healthcare, trying to survive in meager unemployment while still saddled with housing, food and family costs. Am I suggesting that people not use caution, especially those with underlying medical conditions, no? Imagine how many people faced with financial hardship will suffer depression, self medicate in unhealthy ways, put off needed medical treatments or even go as far as to commit suicide over this. It’s a real threat.
All of that is surely true. There are no easy decisions in this. I just think the comparisons to the flu are over-simplifying and ignoring some key differences. I can’t imagine many politicians take shutting down their economy as the first, second, or nineteenth choice — yet politicians around the world (on both ends of the spectrum) have decided to do it. I can’t imagine they all would if they didn’t have reasonable intelligence that this isn’t an easy comparison to that.
You’re right that effects could be extreme economically. No argument there at all.
Don’t worry, the Fed is going to backstop EVERYTHING! from weekly paychecks,health care, student loans, mortgages, small business. big business (re: Boeing the Ultimate bailout).
I think the cancellation email from Wyndham Vacations / Extra Holidays is just the template they use for cancelled hotel reservations. I doubt they have to email members about cancelling the reservation for the guests often enough to have a template for that scenario.
What if your booking was made before the Wyndham devaluation? Purely hypothetical question though
We just returned from the Andaz Maui on 3/22. They are closing Thursday, March 26th and staff was told to expect that the resort would be closed through Memorial Day, It was challenging for the week we were there, most restaurants now closed, a slim few doing take out for now, most beaches closed, tour companies closed… I would that the staff was in great spirits given the news.. they still tried to make us feel welcome.