Approved, they said. Processed, they said.

Whichever site you booked through, the mechanics are the same: two parties, one of them holding your money, each pointing at the other.

Read this first

The statement descriptor tells you who has your money

Look at the card statement line for the booking. If the platform's name is on it, the platform charged you: it is the merchant of record, the money went to it, and it is the party that must send the money back — the property's approval is a step in its process, not a transfer of the debt. If the property's name is on it, the platform never held your money at all, and chasing it for the refund is chasing a messenger. Ten seconds with the statement and you know which of the two is actually holding your money and which is merely agreeing with you. Then both go on the same thread anyway, with the same dated deadline, because the fastest way out of an it-is-with-the-other-party loop is making sure each can see what the other is telling you.

What you are owed

The money, to the original payment method

A refund agreed in writing is a debt, whatever the rate type was before the agreement. It is money, not platform credit and not a voucher, unless you expressly accepted one as settlement — and you did not. Quote their own promise back verbatim, with its date, in every letter.

It on a date, with a reference

Ask whoever promised the refund for the date it was or will be processed and the transaction reference, and note that your issuer can trace a real refund from a reference in days. A refund that is permanently processing is a refusal that has not been written down yet. When their own stated timescale passes, say so, and put the next step on a date of your own.

A route that does not require either of them to be honest

If a card was charged and the agreed refund has not been paid, the card dispute route exists for precisely this deadlock. The window runs from the transaction date, not from the most recent promise, so establish your deadline with your issuer now, even if you still expect the refund to arrive. Waiting politely is how the window closes.

How they will refuse, and what answers it

“We are waiting for the property to approve the refund.”

Then the property's written approval ends the wait, so obtain it and quote it verbatim — or ask the platform to state in writing exactly what it is waiting for, from whom, and until what date. Vague pending dissolves when someone has to name the missing thing.

“The refund has been processed on our side.”

A processed refund has a date and a transaction reference. Ask for both, hand them to your issuer, and the question of whose side it is on answers itself within days.

“Your rate was non-refundable.”

It was, until they agreed in writing to refund it. A promise of a refund is not undone by the rate terms that preceded it. Quote the promise, with its date and the name of whoever made it, and decline to re-argue a point they already conceded.

Gather this before you write

The written refund promise, quoted verbatim, with its date and who made it
Your card statement line for the booking, showing which party's name is on the descriptor
The booking confirmation and the rate terms as they stood when you booked
The full message thread with both the platform and the property, exported with timestamps
Any stated refund timescale, and the date it expired
Your issuer's dispute deadline for the original transaction

Now make them answer.

Tell us what happened in your own words. We write the letters, set the deadlines, and email each escalation on the day it is due.