Cancellation Policy

1. In short

1.1. The cancellation policy of every rate is set by the hotel, shown to you before you pay and repeated in your confirmation. Whether a cancellation is refunded depends on:

• the cancellation policy of the rate you chose — free cancellation until a stated deadline, cancellation for a fee, or no refund at all;
• for a hotel stay wholly outside Israel, that policy alone: you confirm at checkout that you choose it, and the statutory right to cancel does not apply;
• for a hotel in Israel, and for a booking that includes a flight to or from Israel, the law also gives you a statutory right to cancel, which applies only when all its conditions are met: within 14 days of booking, and at least 7 days that are not rest days before check-in, for a fee of 5% of the price or ₪100, whichever is lower.

1.2. Once a stay has begun, or if you do not arrive, a booking cannot be cancelled for a refund unless the rate’s policy says so. A booking made for the coming days — less than 7 days that are not rest days before check-in — has no statutory right to cancel at all; only the rate’s policy applies to it.

4. Your statutory right to cancel

4.1. Under the Consumer Protection Law, 5741-1981, you may cancel a booking made at a distance — on the website, in the app, by telephone or by message — within 14 days of the day it was made or of the day you received the document containing its details, whichever is later, provided that you cancel at least 7 days that are not rest days before the day the service is due to begin (for a hotel, the check-in date).

4.2. Rest days are Saturdays and the Jewish holidays listed in section 18A of the Law and Administration Ordinance, 5708-1948: the two days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the first day of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret, the first and seventh days of Passover, and Shavuot. If the fourteenth day falls on a rest day, the period ends on the next day that is not a rest day. We calculate your statutory deadline and show it on the payment page and in your confirmation.

4.3. On a cancellation under the statutory right, a cancellation fee of 5% of the price of the booking or ₪100, whichever is lower, may be charged — once for the whole booking, never per room, per night or per person. Rahlio charges no fee of its own on any cancellation.

4.4. Where the rate’s own policy gives you a better result than the statutory right, the rate’s policy applies.

5. When the statutory right does not apply

5.1. The statutory right to cancel does not apply, and only the rate’s policy decides the refund:

• when the cancellation is made less than 7 days that are not rest days before check-in — including every booking made for a stay beginning within that period;
• when more than 14 days have passed since the booking was made and the confirmation document was received;
• once the stay has begun, or after the date of the stay, whether or not you arrived;
• to a hotel stay wholly outside Israel, where the hotel’s own cancellation policy applies (see the next section).

5.2. A label such as "non-refundable" does not by itself remove the statutory right where the law gives it. This Policy tells you exactly when the law gives it and when it does not.

6. Hotels outside Israel: the hotel’s policy applies

6.1. For a hotel stay provided wholly outside Israel by a hotel outside Israel, the law (Consumer Protection Law, section 14C2) allows the hotel’s own cancellation policy to apply in place of the statutory right to cancel. For these bookings, the hotel’s policy is the one that applies:

• Before you pay, we show you the hotel’s policy in full — whether cancellation is possible at all, its deadlines, its fees and whether any refund is given — and you confirm that you choose it. You cannot pay without that confirmation.
• The statutory right to cancel under section 14C does not apply to such a booking. If the rate is non-refundable, nothing is refunded on cancellation; if it can be cancelled free of charge until a deadline, you receive the refund the policy provides.

6.2. We record your confirmation, when it was given and the exact policy shown to you, and we print it in your confirmation.

6.3. If a rate states no cancellation policy at all, we do not ask you to choose it: the statutory right applies to that booking as it would in Israel.

6.4. A stay in Israel, and a booking that includes a flight to or from Israel, is not provided wholly outside Israel: the statutory right applies to it.

8. Worked examples

8.1. These examples show how the rules above work together. The dates are illustrative; your own deadlines are the ones on your payment page and in your confirmation.

• A free-cancellation rate: you book on 1 March a hotel for 20–23 March, free to cancel until 18 March at 23:59 hotel time. You cancel on 10 March: everything is refunded.
• The same rate, cancelled on 19 March: the deadline has passed, so the fee stated in the rate applies. The statutory right does not help: more than 14 days have passed since the booking, and check-in is less than 7 days that are not rest days away.
• A non-refundable hotel in Eilat: you book on 1 March for 20–23 March and cancel on 5 March. The statutory right applies — within 14 days and well before check-in — so everything is refunded except 5% of the price or ₪100, whichever is lower.
• A non-refundable hotel for tomorrow: you book on 1 March for 2–5 March. The statutory right never applies, because check-in is less than 7 days that are not rest days away. Nothing is refunded if you cancel, if you do not arrive, or after the stay.
• A non-refundable hotel in Rome, booked on 1 March for 20–23 March: you confirmed the hotel’s policy at checkout, so nothing is refunded if you cancel, whenever you cancel. Had you chosen a rate with free cancellation, the refund would follow that rate.
• A booking made on 1 March for 1 June at a non-refundable rate in Israel: you may cancel under the statutory right until 15 March (later, if the fourteenth day is a rest day). After that, the rate applies and nothing is refunded.
• You do not arrive, or you leave two nights early: nothing is refunded for the nights not used, unless the rate’s policy says otherwise or the hotel agrees.
• The hotel closes and cannot receive you: you receive a full refund, with no fee of any kind.

10. Refunds

10.1. A refund is paid to the payment method you used, in the currency in which you were charged. Where the Supplier charged you, the Supplier normally pays the refund to your card.

10.2. A refund due to you by law is paid within 14 days of the day we receive your cancellation notice. Rahlio is responsible for making sure you receive it within that time: if the Supplier does not pay all of it, we pay the difference.

10.3. A refund returns the amount you were charged, less only a fee this Policy allows, in the currency in which you were charged. If your card is in a different currency, your card issuer converts the refund at its own rate, and the time it takes to appear on your statement depends on the issuer; Rahlio receives no part of any conversion difference or issuer fee.

10.4. Where a refund follows only from the rate’s policy, it is the amount the policy provides, paid by the Supplier; we pass on to you in full whatever the Supplier refunds.

14. War, security events, travel warnings and other extraordinary events

14.1. If the hotel remains open and able to receive you, an extraordinary event — a war or security event, a travel warning, the closure of an airport or airspace, a flight cancellation, a strike, a natural disaster or an epidemic — does not by itself change the rate’s policy or your statutory rights: both continue to apply as described above, without prejudice to any other right the law gives you in such circumstances.

14.2. In such an event we will, at your request and at no charge: ask the Supplier and the hotel to waive their fees or to allow a change of dates; pass on to you in full anything they agree to refund; and answer your request as quickly as the circumstances allow. We cannot promise the result, which is the hotel’s decision.

14.3. If the hotel cannot provide the stay — for example because it is closed or cannot be reached by order of an authority — you are entitled to a full refund as set out in the previous section. Nothing in this Policy limits any right you have under the law in such circumstances.

14.4. We strongly recommend travel insurance that covers cancellation for reasons such as these.