As the May Day holiday approaches in mainland China, some people have been booking custom group travel services on the “Qunar” platform. In a recent case, Ms. Xu placed an order for a travel package totaling 4572 yuan (RMB) but realized within an hour that the itinerary was not suitable. She requested to cancel the order, only to be met with refusal from the vendor, who insisted on deducting 1600 yuan as “ground handling losses”. This incident has drawn public attention.
According to a report by Red Star News on April 27th, Ms. Xu and her family planned a trip from Fuzhou to Xishuangbanna during the May Day holiday. On the evening of April 23rd, she searched for relevant travel services on the “Qunar” platform. That night, she selected a project offering private custom group travel services. Considering the late booking time, she chose to place the order first and then carefully review the itinerary arranged by the vendor. However, upon closer examination, she found the itinerary to be unsuitable and decided to cancel the order to avoid potential disputes during the trip. Less than an hour after booking, she requested a refund.
Ms. Xu stated that she had not signed a contract with the vendor, nor did she actually commence the trip. Even the cancellation was done a week in advance, therefore the vendor would not have incurred any actual losses.
Multiple order screenshots provided by Ms. Xu showed that on April 23rd at 22:54, she placed an order for a project titled “May Day Limited Time Offer – Children Travel for Free, 5 Days 4 Nights Luxury Private Custom Trip to Xishuangbanna”, with a departure date of May 1st, at a sum of 4572 yuan. The supplier was identified as Luxury Travel Flagship Store. At 23:42 on the same day, Ms. Xu initiated the refund request citing “other” as the reason.
The following day at 9:18, her refund request was denied, with the vendor indicating that the itinerary had already been arranged and therefore, they did not agree to a full refund. Additionally, Ms. Xu learned from the vendor that the reason for not refunding the full amount was due to incurring ground handling losses.
Ms. Xu requested the vendor to provide proof of actual losses. The document she received from the vendor, signed by “Gansu Northwest South Bank International Travel Agency Co., Ltd.”, stated that the company served as the local service provider for Qunar Travel Network, offering travel services in Yunnan. The agency incurred a loss of 1600 yuan due to the cancellation of a Yunnan Xishuangbanna 5-day custom tour set for May 1st, given it was during the peak May Day holiday travel period.
Furthermore, the vendor provided Ms. Xu a WeChat group chat screenshot dated April 23rd at 23:13, where the vendor posted relevant order information within the “Yunnan Certain Travel Fleet Seat Assignment Group”, and received confirmation from a user named “Operator X (Order Receipt@No Refund No Changes)”.
Subsequently, on April 24th at 9:26, Ms. Xu filed a request with the “Qunar” travel platform to intervene in her order issue. In her previous posts, Ms. Xu mentioned that the customer service at “Qunar” acknowledged the vendor’s proof of actual losses and chat records.
The report revealed that Ms. Xu had saved the “Reservation Instructions” for this order, clearly outlining the refund policy. According to the document, regarding “traveler breach” (cancellation by the traveler), it stated that if the order has taken effect and the traveler cancels due to their own reasons, the standard deduction would be: “Cancellation 4 to 6 days before the start of the trip would incur a 20% deduction of the total travel cost”. Therefore, Ms. Xu believed that from the order placement on April 23rd to the departure date on May 1st, with a week in between, based on this provision, the vendor should not have deducted any money.
On the afternoon of April 27th, attempts to contact the travel agency via public phone numbers were unsuccessful. Subsequently, based on the aforementioned WeChat group chat screenshot, contact was made with a staff member identified as “Customer Service Wang” via a note. The staff member mentioned to Ms. Xu that she had been informed about the losses associated with cancelling, stressing that the longer the delay in cancellation, the greater the losses incurred.
Despite multiple attempts to reach customer service at the “Qunar” platform, there had been no response. According to a recent call recording provided by Ms. Xu on the afternoon of the 27th, the customer service representative mentioned that they had been in contact with the vendor for negotiation, and the platform had received proof of losses from the vendor. As a result, the current proposal from the platform was to refund Ms. Xu 1400 yuan by 7:00 pm on April 29th. If the deadline passed, the refund would be reduced by 1600 yuan as per the earlier deduction amount.
Zhao Liangshan, a senior partner at the Hengda Law Firm in Shaanxi, believed that as Ms. Xu canceled the order within one hour and seven days before the trip’s start, it did not fall under the deduction requirements of the “Reservation Notice”, hence she should not be subject to breach penalty, let alone a 20% penalty. Therefore, deducting 1600 yuan for losses by the travel agency was unjustified.
Furthermore, Fu Jian, the director of Zhejin Law Firm in Henan, also supported Ms. Xu’s request for a refund.