Refund & Cancellation Policy
Effective April 26, 2026. We may update this from time to time — the latest version always lives at this URL.
This page summarizes how refunds and cancellations work on TrovaTrip Groups. It is intended as a plain-language reference; the binding legal terms are in our Booking Terms, Sections 4 and 5. Where this page and the Booking Terms differ, the Booking Terms control.
1The short version
- Before a trip locks in: you are never charged. Your card holds an authorization for your 25% deposit, but no money moves. Cancel any time and the hold releases.
- After lock-in but before charge: we email you at least 24 hours before your card is actually charged. Reply to that email if you need to drop and we’ll release the hold instead of capturing.
- After your deposit is charged: the booking moves to TrovaTrip’s primary platform. Refund eligibility is governed by the TrovaTrip Booking Terms and the operator’s policy for that itinerary. The deposit generally becomes non-refundable at this point.
- If we cancel a trip: any active card holds are released and any captured deposits are fully refunded.
2Card holds vs. charges
Every commitment places a temporary authorization hold on your card equal to the 25% deposit. Holds reserve funds against your available credit but don’t move money. Card networks release expired or cancelled holds on their own schedule (usually 1–7 business days). We have no control over how quickly your bank reflects a release.
A charge only happens after (a) the trip locks in, (b) the TrovaTrip ops team confirms it with the operator, and (c) we email you 24 hours ahead of the actual capture.
3Cancelling before lock-in
3.1Cancelling your own commitment
Reply to your reservation confirmation, or email hi@trovatrip.com with the trip name. We’ll release your hold. Because no money was ever captured, there is no refund — the authorization simply lapses.
3.2Organizer cancels the trip
If the organizer cancels an unconfirmed trip, every committer’s hold is released automatically and you’ll receive a confirmation email.
3.3Trip expires without locking in
If a trip doesn’t reach its minimum within the 7-day commitment window, it expires automatically. All holds are released. You’ll receive an “it didn’t lock in” email.
4The 24-hour pre-charge window
When a trip locks in and ops is ready to capture deposits, we send every committer an email titled “Heads-up: charging your deposit for [trip] in ~24h”. Capture will not happen before that 24-hour window has passed, even if ops is ready sooner. If you need to drop or have a card issue, reply to that email before the window closes and we’ll handle it without a charge.
5After your deposit is captured
5.1Refunds after capture
Once captured, the deposit is treated as the trip down payment under the parent TrovaTrip Booking Terms. The deposit is generally non-refundable at this point, subject to the carve-outs in those terms (e.g., trip materially changed by the operator, trip cancelled by TrovaTrip, force-majeure provisions).
5.2Operator-side refunds
For operator-policy refunds (cancellation tiers tied to days-from-departure), the specific operator’s policy applies. TrovaTrip ops will share the relevant policy at the time of confirmation.
5.3How to request a post-capture refund
Email hi@trovatrip.com with your trip name, your registered email, and the reason for the request. We’ll respond within two business days with the eligibility outcome and, if granted, a timeline for the refund.
6Disputed charges (chargebacks)
If you don’t recognize a charge from TrovaTrip on your statement, please email hi@trovatrip.com before opening a dispute with your bank. Most disputes we receive turn out to be forgotten reservations, and we can usually resolve them within a day. Filing a chargeback when a refund would have been issued anyway costs both of us time and money — we will always provide documentation of the deposit, the lock-in email, the 24-hour pre-charge reminder, and the capture receipt to the card network if a dispute is opened.
Documentation we keep on every commitment includes: the IP address used to commit, the email confirmation, the lock-in notification, the 24-hour pre-charge reminder, the deposit-captured email, and the operator’s itinerary. This is what we submit in response to a card-network dispute.
7Service fees
We do not charge a separate service fee on commitments. The price you see in the trip card is the price your card is held against (the 25% deposit), and the remaining 75% is invoiced by TrovaTrip closer to departure.
8Travel insurance
We strongly recommend travel insurance for any trip. Insurance can cover trip-cost loss for reasons our cancellation policy doesn’t (illness, family emergency, weather disruption). Insurance is not included in the trip price and is not a substitute for our refund rules.
9Contact
Refund and cancellation questions:
hi@trovatrip.com
TrovaTrip, Inc.
1120 SE Madison St., Portland, OR 97214
For full legal terms, see our Booking Terms and Privacy Policy.