In Reply to: refund on accom posted by horrie on Wednesday, 6. May 2009 at 08:55 Bali Time:
accommodation through your Travel Agent rather than booking yourself directly with another property and then seeking a refund on the accommodation you originally selected?
With the high incidence of bookings in Bali right now, most hotels would gladly accept a cancellation from the Wholesaler (who could probably re-book the room/s almost immediately anyway). Again, there is a possibility that your friends may have a different perspective about accommodation than yourself and had been staying in a significantly more up-market property to the one you had chosen. You need to be comparing "apples with apples".
If you asked your Travel Agent to seek alternative accommodation through the same Wholesaler as used originally, I feel you would find them to be totally co-operative as in such a situation there would be no losers.
When you accepted the booking, you also accepted the Wholesaler/Agent's Terms and Conditions which in all cases generally stipulate that, in the event of a cancellation, monies paid for deposit will be forfeited. Remember that the Agent accepted your booking in good faith, probably based on a set of requirements (budget, location etc) povided by yourself. Why should they be the loser in this instance because you have personally elected to take the advice of friends and cancel your booking without giving the Agent an opportunity to find a more suitable alternative?