B.C.’s Solicitor General is calling on hotel, motel, and Airbnb operators to do the right thing and give people refunds if they cancelled their bookings because of COVID travel restrictions.

Mike Farnworth says travel restrictions that are in place until May 25 will help B.C. businesses reopen sooner if they’re followed.

“Am I a part of the problem or should I really be a part of the solution, which is to recognize that we’re all in this together and that for the next five weeks when someone is cancelling a booking, they [should] get a full refund because then they’re going to come back,” he said.

Farnworth says “short term greed” will end up damaging the reputation of hotel operators if they refuse to give people their money back.

“What they’ve done now is probably lost a customer and an awful lot of others,” he added.

“The fact that we have brought in the financial supports for the hotel and tourism sector has really been of assistance to them. We’re really pleased with the way that they have been dealing with the pandemic and the health orders because they get it. They know that’s better for their long term economic future.”

Farnworth went on to say that it should not be on hotel operators to cancel bookings if people don’t do so themselves.

“The hotel operators, their job is not enforcement. But I can tell you what they have been doing is they have been letting people know the rules and people have been re-booking,” he said.

“This order is there to protect the health of British Columbians. Its to ensure that over the longer term, businesses are going to be able to operate as we vaccinate the population of this province. And that is going to allow us to ease the restrictions.”

For more on COVID-19 and travel refunds, go here.