Did COVID cancel your vacation? Tips for rebooking hotels, flights and more in 2021

One year into the coronavirus’ official arrival into the U.S., many people are still stuck at home.

The thought of traveling — actual traveling, not just going to the liquor store — is a touchy topic in the midst of a pandemic that’s lasted so long, and with no certain end in sight.

With COVID-19 vaccines slowly rolling out and the imminent arrival of spring, we are finally nearing the days when using those long-ago-refunded Carnival Cruise tickets actually seems possible. As South Carolinians — and those who would like to visit the Palmetto State — begin making travel plans, there’s a lot to keep in mind.

From vaccines to unused travel points to vouchers to safety in hotels and on flights, visiting a tropical island or New York City isn’t going to be as simple or easy as it once was, for a long time.

Do you have additional questions about traveling to or from South Carolina during the pandemic? Have your vacation plans been disrupted by coronavirus? Email ckaracostas@thesunnews.com.

Vaccines

The long-awaited pandemic savior has finally arrived, with effective COVID-19 vaccines being produced by multiple companies. However, while millions of people are eligible for them, many people are still not, and won’t be for a while. And even for eligible recipients, supply shortages and distribution challenges are keeping many people from receiving their shots quickly.

For those who are vaccinated, there’s been talk of so-called “vaccine passports,” a sort of medical document proving that you have been immunized. There is little agreement for who should issue them, however, and what they should say or allow the holder to do. Would you be able to go maskless? Travel internationally without a COVID-19 test? The answers aren’t clear, according to travel advice website The Points Guy.

There’s no indication that vaccine passports will become widespread anytime soon, so travel experts say expect to follow the same health and safety guidelines as now for months or even a year to come. Part of the issue comes from trying to standardize a single passport, and many countries, tech companies and public health organizations are developing their own, according to CNN Business.

It could be the end of the year before everyone in the country is immunized from the coronavirus, depending on vaccine production speeds. However, Anthony Fauci, nation’s senior official for infectious diseases, predicted in December that there will be significant levels of “herd immunity” by April.

Unused travel points? Refunds from canceled trips?

Companies across the tourism industry got slapped with an almost immediate halt to travel starting in mid-March of 2020. The sheer volume of cancellations and refund requests led to many reports that it took some customers months to get their money back.

Despite all the trouble, Myrtle Beach Hospitality Association CEO Stephen Greene said travel and hospitality companies have been doing their best to meet customer needs. Frankly, he said, they had to if they didn’t want to risk permanently scaring away people.

“The industry has recognized we’re in the midst of a pandemic that has never affected the travel industry as much as this has,” Greene said. “It has to be significantly flexible. And I also believe that it wants to make sure that guests are taken care of for possibly what they’ve lost in this last year. But also they want to make sure that they’re continuing those relationships with (customers) in the future.”

Greene said he saw this especially closely in Myrtle Beach but said flexible arrangements are being made in other tourism locales, too. Having traveled to Florida theme parks in recent weeks, he said the hotels, airlines and parks have been as accommodating as possible.

“I traveled to Orlando, and we had an issue with one of our flights, and we were hoping to get on an earlier flight that would have cost me a fortune to travel” before the pandemic, he said. Yet, “They put me on an earlier flight. We were in Myrtle Beach eight hours earlier than I could have been, and for no extra cost.”

Some companies, in order to dodge refunds that drain the bank, gave customers generous point rewards or travel vouchers last year in light of cancellations. However, if a customer wanted a refund due a pandemic-canceled trip, they were legally required for flights at the start of the pandemic. Today, many will still do so to keep customers happy.

For those who received such offers, travel experts and consumer advocates encourage customers to stay wary.

Read the fine print. Many of those vouchers or points will expire at the end of this year but can still be used for travel in 2022, so long as the trip is booked this year. For flights, especially, some airlines issued refund vouchers for the single canceled flight, while others refunded the cost of the flight.

The difference is the vouchers can only be used for one flight, and the company might pocket the difference if your new flight is cheaper than the original flight, or they might charge you additional money. With a flat-out refund, you might be able to purchase multiple, cheaper flights until the refunded money or points are used up.

These rules can apply to hotels as well, and each brand can have its own policy.

All in all, consumer advocates recommend that the safest route is asking for a full refund. That way, there’s less chance of hidden strings.

Booking future travel

Wanting to escape South Carolina and finally go to Vienna as you planned? Or finally hop on that cruise? It’s best to plan and book future trips with “Murphy’s Law” in mind: Anything that can happen, just might.

Carnival Cruise Line, for one, has had to cancel trips or delays out of U.S. ports nine times since the start of the pandemic. Early in January, the company pushed back its first cruise date to the end of March, only to extend that delay to the end of April just over two weeks later. In both cases, planned trips out of Charleston had to be scuttled or postponed.

International trips or interstate trips during the pandemic pose their own risks. Several European countries shut down their borders again this month despite having a handle on the pandemic for the second half of 2020. New York City and California have both relaxed and reinstated travel restrictions numerous times, and both currently require incoming visitors to produce negative coronavirus.

The arrival of new virus variants in the U.S. also throws a wrench in future travel plans. Scientists currently believe the existing vaccines will be effective against them, but that could change.

“Where are we going to be in six months? What are the requirements?” Greene said of the importance of flexible booking policies.

For bookings, Forbes says flexible change policies will likely continue for a while, but always check the details ahead of time and even consider buying travel insurance. Some companies are also better than others, according to AARP’s regularly updated travel guidance.

Southwest Airlines, which flies out of Charleston and Columbia, offers one of the most generous rebooking policies among airlines. The company also has been expanding the number of airports it flies to in the U.S., hoping to take advantage of increased domestic travel, so it might take you where you want to go now even if it hadn’t in the past.