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Due to the on going Coronavirus outbreak, there has recently been a state of emergency declared in Czechia meaning my partner can't travel and, for this reason, I emailed a hotel I had booked in the Netherlands if I could cancel my reservation.

They will charge my EUR account on my TransferWise card at anytime. As the hotel has not responded for more than the 15 hours which they advertise, I wonder, if you would advise, that I take the money out of my TransferWise EUR account (and indeed all my accounts) and put it in my main bank account? In this way, they do not have access to any money in my (TransferWise) account.

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    Isn’t there an option in TransferWise to temporarily block a card? – jcaron Mar 13 '20 at 13:11
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    Can you clarify what you want to achieve with this? If the booking is non-refundable (or there's a cancellation fee), you'll still owe them the fee no matter what you do with your account in the meantime. – TooTea Mar 13 '20 at 13:30
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    @CAF Note that given the current situation, they're probably completely swamped with requests of all sorts, so a 15 hour response time sounds way too optimistic in my opinion. However, if you agreed to a non-refundable booking and now refuse to pay, that sounds like a pretty clear breach of contract on your side (but I'm not a lawyer). – TooTea Mar 13 '20 at 13:36
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    @jcaron Yes indeed, I am just worried in case they are cheeky and don't reply to my email or something or just take the money out pretending not to see the email. If they can't access the funds this would prompt them to get in touch and hopefully then the problem can be resolved and they would accept my request as a human being. But I agree, 15 hours is probably little short a time, I will wait longer and see what happens. – CAF Mar 13 '20 at 13:52
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    @CAF If the booking is not refundable, they are completely entitled to charge you for the amount of the booking, and you are liable to pay it. That's what not refundable means, and this is what travel insurance is for. There are good chances they will give you some flexibility, but that is a favour / a goodwill gesture on their part, definitely not an obligation for them, either legal or moral. They have bills to pay like everybody else, and these days every penny counts for all actors of the hospitality industry. – jcaron Mar 13 '20 at 13:56

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