Mexico
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Travel experts suggest not to immediately cancel hotel, beach, and other reservations in Mexico according to a recently published article.

MEXICO'S TOURISM INDUSTRY IS AT A HALT

Hotel operators, restaurateurs, and beach owners in Mexico announced a partial or total closure of their facilities and establishments amid COVID-19. Hotel operators said that the minimum occupancy is not feasible to maintain the salary of their employees and the expenses of their establishments.

The hotel occupancy in Quintana Roo, the country's main tourist destination, reported that the reservations have plummetted from 65 percent in early March to 20 percent last week. Foreign tourists decided also to return home from their place of origin because of the imminent border closures and lockdown. 

Meanwhile, the Hotel Association of Mexico's other favorite tourist destinations like Cancun, Isla Mujeres, and Puerto Morelos said that there were around more than 7,000 rooms that were closed temporarily because of the health threat of COVID-19. 

This is a big severe blow for the country's tourism industry and national economy as well. The industry generates nearly eight percent of Mexico's Gross Domestic Product. Traditionally, spring and summer breaks are the best times where hotel establishments and beach owners earn millions of dollars because of their visitors mainly from the United States and Asia. 

SHOULD TRAVELERS CANCEL THEIR TRIP IN MEXICO?

According to the President of VIP VacationsInc. in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Jennifer Doncsecz, she said that many of her clients are now scrambling to cancel their flights in Mexico or have it rescheduled on April or May while some requested to have it transferred to other countries in June.

However, she said that before you decide to cancel your travel trip or have it to other countries, one should know the cancellation policy. It is also important if the hotels are offering full refunds or not because based on her experience most of the hotels are not doing refunds. Through this, travelers will know if they will reschedule their trip or have it canceled. 

IS THERE A HOTEL CANCELLATION FEE OR PENALTY?

Doncsecz said that hotel chains vary in terms of cancellation fee policies. There might be changes in their policies amid COVID-19.  

It is best recommended by the travel expert not to cancel the trip but rather have it move to the late months of this year. This will somehow help the tourism industry of Mexico and will open again more jobs after COVID-19 is over. 

Donsecz said: "That keeps that other person's job at the hotel, it gives you the vacation you wanted and it keeps the economy in the cycle. The worst we can do is cancel and get our money back and not travel."

It is also good to ask the hotel if they have some offers to their clients who already booked their reservation in the hotel. An example of this is the Hyatt Ziva which has resorts in Cancun, Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta where they are currently offering room upgrades with no additional costs to their clients who have booked already before the temporary closure was issued by the government.

WHY HOTELS ARE NOT OFFERING AUTOMATIC REFUNDS AMID COVID-19?

According to the travel expert that many hotels view COMID-19 as an act of nature. Hence they are not accountable for this. Typically, most of the trip insurance would not cover a pandemic like this. Many hotels will also lose a lot of money if they will do a full refund. 

In this time of global health and economic crisis. It is very important for every traveler who has booked their reservations to know what the travel insurance amid COVID-19 covers and they do not.

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