As promised, here is the new information for our renters.
We have some updates to the COVID-19 refund policy for our renters. First things first, though; We are NOT stopping giving out refunds for rentals who are unable to have their events due to the provincial legislation. We are absolutely not taking away your ability to receive a refund of your deposit, if your event qualifies for it. Please don't panic!
What we have realized over the past week is that the Province of Manitoba is operating on a much more abrupt schedule for reopening portions of the province than we had anticipated. The announcement that they would allow certain businesses to open came on less than one week's notice. As such, we are adjusting the timeline for receiving refunds as of June 1st, 2020. Prior to this, rentals could receive refunds for rentals two weeks in advance. As of June 1st, rental refunds will be given out one week in advance. Any events occurring prior to June 1st will still be able to receive a refund two weeks prior to their event.
Additionally, we are adding in a fourth policy. It isn't a scary one, and it actually applies to refunds and date changes. We have had a number of events that we have been unable to get ahold of by either phone or email, and the date that the events were booked for has already passed. We cannot retroactively move a date or issue a refund for an event that has already passed.
The new policies for receiving rentals will look like this:
1) The event must be something that would be forced to cancel due to the government legislation. If the government legislates that the maximum number of guests at an event is 250, a party of 100 would not qualify for a refund. In this case, all rentals of more than 50 people meet this criteria.
2) The event must occur within one week of the date of cancellation. This allows us to adapt to the ever-changing landscape that the virus is creating. We wish we were psychic and could tell where we would be at two months from now, but we aren’t. That means that we’re stuck playing the ‘wait and see’ game just as much as our events are.
3) The event cannot have previously been cancelled. We have a number of rentals who have cancelled their events prior to becoming eligible for a refund, with the understanding that they would not receive a refund of their deposit. They were offered the option of changing their date, or waiting until they were eligible for a refund to cancel. We do have some who elected to cancel anyway. These rentals are not eligible to receive a refund of their deposit money, as the cancellation occurred prior to their event being eligible for a refund. In all cases, our staff member made certain that this was done with the full knowledge that they would not receive a refund if they cancelled early.
4) Sinclair Park must be made aware of the renter's decision on whether they are opting for a date transfer or a refund at least 48 hours prior to the date of their event. You are more than welcome to let us know your intentions well in advance, even if you are not yet applicable for a refund. All you will need to do is send an email to spcc_bookings@outlook.com. We will take your message to us as confirmation of a refund request, and we will process your refund once you meet all of the criteria to receive a refund.
Again, we are absolutely not removing the ability for qualifying events to receive refunds. It might take a week longer, but we need to be able to adjust our policies based on the City of Winnipeg and Province of Manitoba. If any of you have watched the news briefings, you will know that getting solid information from either of them is difficult. We want to ensure that we are doing right by all of our events, and that means giving ourselves the time to adjust to what the City and Province are legislating.
If anyone has questions about how anything works, please get in touch with us by emailing spcc_bookings@outlook.com. Please do not call the office, the phones are not being monitored at this point in time.
Thank you all for your patience and understanding!
~SPCC~