Before you commit
Changes, Cancellations and Refunds
The terms that govern your trip belong to the supplier holding the booking, not to this agency. This page explains what that means, what we do when something changes, what a refund actually depends on, and what this office can and cannot do for you.
The one thing to understand
My Travel Innovations LLC is an agent. It does not perform the trip and it does not hold your money.
The airline, hotel, cruise line or tour operator performs the trip, takes the payment and sets the terms. When you cancel, their schedule decides what comes back. This agency cannot override it, waive it or refund on their behalf, because the money never passed through here.
That is not a limitation we chose in order to protect ourselves. It is what an agency is, and any agency telling you differently is describing a business it is not running.
What that means in practice
| If this happens | Who decides | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| You change your mind | The supplier's cancellation schedule | Send you the schedule, tell you exactly where in it you currently sit, and make the cancellation on your instruction |
| You need to change a date | The supplier, and it is usually a fee plus any fare difference | Price the change before you commit to it, so you can decide against it |
| A traveler in your party drops out | The supplier. Room and cabin pricing usually changes for everybody remaining | Re price the whole booking and show you both versions |
| The supplier cancels or changes the trip | The supplier, under their own terms and any law that applies | Act for you, in writing, and keep pushing. This is the part of the job that earns the commission |
| Weather, strike or a closed road | Usually the supplier's operational discretion | Tell you honestly what is likely, rather than what you would prefer to hear |
Why the terms differ so much
There is no single travel cancellation rule, and the range is wider than people expect.
- A cheap airfare is frequently not refundable at all. It may not even be changeable. This is the most common unpleasant surprise in travel and it is why we name the fare rules in the proposal.
- A cruise has the strictest published schedule we deal with. It typically steps down in stages from a full refund to nothing at all across the last few months, and after final payment the amount that comes back falls quickly.
- An escorted tour usually sits between the two, with a deposit that stops being refundable early and a balance date that behaves like a cliff.
- A hotel alone is often the most flexible thing in the booking, sometimes cancellable within a few days, which is why a package built from parts does not cancel as one thing.
Because a package is several bookings, cancelling it is several cancellations with several answers. Your proposal sets them out separately rather than averaging them into one reassuring sentence.
What we do not offer
We do not advertise flexible cancellation. We could not honour it: the terms are not ours to be flexible with. What we do instead is put the actual terms, from the actual supplier, in front of you before you agree, in the proposal rather than in a link at the bottom of it.
Travel insurance
We recommend it and we will quote it, on every trip. It is the only instrument that pays out when the supplier's schedule says nothing comes back, and it is the reason a cancelled trip is sometimes a disappointment rather than a disaster.
Two honest cautions. It has to be bought early to cover a pre existing condition, and every policy has exclusions that matter, particularly around knowing about a problem before you bought it. Read the certificate rather than the summary. If the policy will not do what you need, we would rather you knew that in advance than at the claim.
Cancelling something we booked
Write to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or telephone +1 (208) 331-7462 during Mon to Fri 9 am to 6 pm, Sat 10 am to 2 pm Mountain.
Say the booking reference and what you want to happen. We will come back with what the supplier's terms produce, in writing, before anything is cancelled, so you can change your mind after seeing the figure. Nothing is cancelled on a verbal instruction alone.
Complaints
If something we did was wrong, write to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and say so plainly. It is answered by the same office, in writing, within five business days. Nothing on this page limits any right you have under Idaho or federal law.