Being invited to go on a business trip abroad is an exciting prospect. You can explore another area of the world while getting paid. Sounds like a win-win situation, right?
The major downside to business trips abroad is the risk of cancellation. By this, we mean cancellation on both sides – the travel company might cancel your flights, or you might need to cancel your trip due to unforeseen circumstances.
Everything You Need to Know About Cancelling an Abroad Business Trip
Unfortunately, you can’t always predict what is going to happen. You might find yourself in an emergency situation that limits your ability to travel abroad, so you’re no longer able to attend your business trip.
You might be wondering what happens if you find yourself in this situation. In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about cancelling a business trip abroad
Contacting your travel company
To cancel a trip abroad, the first thing you need to do is contact the travel company. You’ll need to do this yourself if you’re self-employed. If your employer has arranged the employee trip, they might be able to cancel the trip for you.
When you inform the travel company, they will ask for your personal details and the details of your travel insurance provider. Again, this is something that your employer may need to provide if you’re not self-employed.
The travel company might be able to make alternative dates for your trip so that you don’t need to cancel it altogether. This will depend on the travel company’s policies and the type of trip that you or your employer has booked.
Cancellation insurance
Often for business trips, employers organize extensive insurance coverage to protect themselves and their employees. This is especially true for business trips abroad.
Travel insurance policies tend to cover trip cancellations as part of their coverage. However, not all plans cover cancellation on the customer’s part. In other words, if you have to cancel your trip, your insurance coverage might not be valid.
If your employer arranged trip cancellation insurance as part of your travel package, you may be able to cancel your business trip flights free of charge. Most trip cancellation insurance providers’ policies will cover costs of up to $6,500 or £5,000.
Different trip cancellation insurance packages cover different things, so it also depends on your reasoning for the cancellation. Generally, trip cancellation insurance covers cancellation of your trip due to:
Unexpected illness or injury to yourself or a close family member
Changes in the destination country that mean travelling there is unsafe
Natural disasters or catastrophic weather events, such as floods and fires in your home country or the destination country
Bereavement or funeral attendance
Asking the right questions
When you cancel your trip, whether you have trip cancellation insurance or not, there are certain questions that you should always ask.
You may not be able to get a full refund for your tickets, but it’s worth asking about this. If you’re not receiving a refund, ask whether it’s possible to change the dates of the trip (unless this has already been offered to you, of course).
If you are offered a refund or if your trip cancellation insurance provider is covering some of the associated fees, make sure to confirm when the refund will come through. Ask whether you need to cancel your flights manually online or whether the travel agent is able to do it for you.
Before hanging up the phone with the travel agent, get the details of the person you’ve been speaking to so you know which agent to request if you need to ring again in the future. Speaking to the same person every time you ring the travel company will save you a lot of time and stress.
Cancelling your accommodation
The cancellation rules for accommodation can vary from place to place. They largely depend on the unique rules set by the resort or hotel itself.
However, hotel reservations tend to be much easier to cancel than flight bookings. Usually, all it takes is one quick phone call to the manager of the accommodation facility, and your booking can be cancelled within minutes.
The issue here is that you might not always be offered a full refund for your booking. Make sure to ring your accommodation provider as soon as you know that you won’t make it on your trip. Earlier cancellation increases your chances (or your employer’s chances) of getting a full refund.
Most hotels and resorts have a cancellation policy, which usually states that you can’t cancel within a certain timeframe leading up to the date of the booking. If you’re cancelling at the last minute, you might be charged a late fee and get a partial refund, or you’ll get no money back at all.
