Canadian Resort Not Refunding Deposit for 2020 Trip

It’s right in the brochure: Any cancellation of reservation, deposit will be moved to future trip.

They’re holding deposits to be applied to a future trip. Whether they fix their cabins while the border is closed is what’s completely immaterial. I paid for a week’s trip well in advance for June 2020 and I’m pretty sure I won’t be using it this year, either, but I can guarantee they’ll keep rolling it over for me until I get there. I’m glad they didn’t put it in a coffee can and bury it behind the fish house, too. It never even occurred to me to ask for my money back. I’ll just take two trips there next year, or maybe even three.

ahhh, yes. I am. This isn’t about feeling sorry for the resort owners.

picklerick wrote:

It’s right in the brochure: Any cancellation of reservation, deposit will be moved to future trip.

Just because it is in a brochure does not mean that it is legally binding.

They’re holding deposits to be applied to a future trip. Whether they fix their cabins while the border is closed is what’s completely immaterial. I paid for a week’s trip well in advance for June 2020 and I’m pretty sure I won’t be using it this year, either, but I can guarantee they’ll keep rolling it over for me until I get there. I’m glad they didn’t put it in a coffee can and bury it behind the fish house, too. It never even occurred to me to ask for my money back. I’ll just take two trips there next year, or maybe even three.

Good luck on 3 trips in a year everyone any there brother will be trying that. So if the resort closes, not files bankruptcy do you still think it’s ok for them to keep your deposit??

👍

I have no doubt they will roll over my payment until I can be back there. It’s not a $100-200 deposit. It’s an entire week paid in full and I have no worries at all. I have been going here more than 20x and know the manager and owner are doing their best to stay afloat during this difficult time. I know for a fact they host tons of guests for free every year because of their creative business arrangement. This isn’t a mom and pop resort. This is a well run operation and it’s gotten better every year since the previous owner sold it. I actually work for a competitor of the owner and they still treat me like family. We’re all there for the fishing and good times. The bottom line is roll over your deposit or walk away from it because that’s what you agreed to when booking a trip. It’s not their fault the border is closed.

Sorry, you’re just completely wrong on this. No one agreed that they should be required to lose their deposit if they can’t even get to the resort. You’re misinterpreting what you’re reading in the brochure. Nice that you have a special relationship with the place you use, but for most people this is a commercial transaction. A good business practice – – and a smart one – – would be to offer people the option of rolling the deposit or getting it back. A lot of people would probably roll it, but it should be voluntary.

Clearly you’re the one that’s misunderstanding it. What part about the lodge applying deposits to a future booking did you misunderstand? “Any cancellation of reservation, deposit will be moved to future trip.” It’s clearly in the arrangement and applies to everyone. It doesn’t say you can get a refund if you choose not to roll it over.

I’d also point out that the OP posted that they did refund his deposit. In my opinion, they didn’t have to and the fact that they did just goes to show what a class operation they’re running.

That phrase clearly applies to the GUEST. The GUEST. I will guarantee you that when the resort owner put that language in the brochure, they had in mind if the guest cancels. And it doesn’t matter that the resort owner had no control over the border. Neither did the guest.

As I said, the refund was given to the OP, and I know for a fact that it was for everyone that asked for one, so what’s your point here? I also stated that if they didn’t refund mine, I wouldn’t go back, even after all these years. There are resorts that didn’t roll over or offer refunds for deposits paid in 2020. This isn’t one of them so maybe you should find a thread that actually applies to your argument.

Look: you were arguing that it was ok for the resorts to hold on to deposits because of the language in the brochure. The OP you mentioned returned deposits. Good for them. That wasn’t what we were discussing here. We were discussing whether or not they were obligated to.
We’d better never meet in court. I’ll carve you up faster than an old Ojibwa fillets a walleye. 😂

Can’t handle a joke old fella? Too bad.

Yeah, OK. There’s a signed agreement between two parties regarding the deposit and then there’s your opinion about it. You’d be filleted in court faster than a seasoned guide puts a pan full of waldos in the skillet. There are at least two resorts on this lake alone that did what you contend. I wasn’t arguing what some resorts could legally do with deposits. I was telling you what one resort did,

All right. I give.

A little sensitive?

Lay off the booze, you old varmint.

Weird thread turn that was resurrected. I am glad I go through a resort that gave me back my deposit. Who realized that money is not there’s to keep for not being able to offer a service that could not be completed. Do I feel bad for the resorts sure. Also feel bad for every other industry that has had loss revenue because of a pandemic. Is it my responsibility to keep them a float. No that would be my choice.

@hudsonstillwater Our little abusive friend has left the building.

On another note there are so many businesses that took it in the shorts over the last year. I gave deposits back and rolled over deposits but not to the scale of any resort.

It’s my thought that if a resort won’t give a deposit back they are very short sighted business wise. People talk and people remember. It’s doesn’t just happen in Canada.

If it’s me to whom you’re referring, no, still here.
If you read my comments in the thread all I was doing was attempting to clear up some confusion about whether the resorts had an obligation to return deposits if requested, and my point is that they do, in this particular case. Some of the commenters were arguing that,no, they did not. But they were confused even after repeated explanations.
If that felt abusive, sorry. I guess. No. Not really. Not sorry.

For those that have taken refunds, have you also lost your “slot” at that resort?

I recently had to cancel a week at my favorite place in N WI, and got my full deposit back, but as a result, whoever has now taken that week has the right of 1st renewal upon checkout.

I wonder how many postings we’ll see from those who insisted on refunds, and lost their “slot” when the border re-opens?

HRG

/hudsonstillwater

Your good.

Slots?
Deposits?
Refunds?

Dont you just show up and fish? That’s what I do.
Then again I sleep in a tent and crap in outhouse have zero amenities other than trophy fish.
Man I miss Canada eh.

HudsonStillwater wrote:

If it’s me to whom you’re referring, no, still here.
If you read my comments in the thread all I was doing was attempting to clear up some confusion about whether the resorts had an obligation to return deposits if requested, and my point is that they do, in this particular case. Some of the commenters were arguing that,no, they did not. But they were confused even after repeated explanations.
If that felt abusive, sorry. I guess. No. Not really. Not sorry.

I’m convinced. Get your legal briefs unbundled and we’ll go after the two lodges that didn’t roll over or refund deposits. I’ve always wanted to own a musky camp and a bunch of fly-in outposts. I do agree it’s not a good business practice to refund deposits even if they don’t legally have to, but it sure seems they didn’t legally have to. I’ve heard bad reviews about one of these operations for years so I never even considered booking there. The other one rolled them over to this year, but will not be rolling any to 2022 or offering refunds, so I’d never do business with them, either.

All right, well, then we pretty much agree. I was under the impression that a lot more resorts were holding on to deposits and that they were even being advised to do so. Maybe not so many were, or are. It would be really dumb of them, from a business standpoint, to withhold deposits under these circumstances. The two that you describe, especially the second one, are going to discover that their business is going downhill in a hurry after the border finally re-opens.

Unfortunately few people will check further then what’s on a resorts website or Facebook page. There’s always the “next generation” of young adults learning how to fish and families heading to any resort.

With FB unhappy excustomers will be deleted along with their comments.

Although it’s a bad business plan, the relatively few people that know about it, will be a drop in the bucket.

you’re right about that.

Geez-us…not worth getting so wrapped around the axle over this, imho.

Disney refunded every penny of my paid-in-full family trip last year.
Frontier airlines didn’t refund any of my plane tickets for that same trip.
Each of the deposits I had in place for 3 different fishing trips to Canada last year were rolled over for a future week…and at this point will probably be rolled over again to next year.

I “lost” more to Frontier than I’d lose to any of the Canadian trip deposits, and I get how that can feel like a business is stealing my money. But it just isn’t worth it to me to get that upset. It’s not life-changing money for me, but all of those deposits actually probably are life-sustaining money to many of these family-owned resorts. I hope they use the money to stay in business so I can go when the border reopens.