Cancellation Policy

1. Scope

This policy governs cancellations of trips booked through the Leave Studio platform by employees of subscribing organisations. By confirming a booking and accepting the checkout terms, the employee and their employer agree to the refund tiers and processing rules described below. This policy does not apply to subscription billing for the Leave Studio platform itself, which is governed separately by the Terms of Service.

2. Who can cancel

• The employee who booked the trip can request a cancellation from My Plans → Plan summary → Cancel trip. The request is submitted to our team for review (see section 4).
• Only trips in PAID status are eligible. Drafts can be deleted at no cost; pending-payment plans expire automatically.
• Co-travellers cannot initiate cancellation. Leave Studio platform admins may open a settlement on the employee’s behalf through the internal admin console; the refund still follows the same tiers and review path described below.

3. Refund tiers

The refund amount is computed against the captured payment for the trip and is determined by the number of calendar days between the cancellation request time and the earliest travel date on the plan. The bands below follow industry norms: cancelling earlier gets you a higher refund.

The estimated refund amount, days remaining and policy band are shown in the Cancel Trip dialog before you submit. The exact figure is confirmed when our team reviews and approves the request.

4. Review by our team

Every cancellation request — whether opened by the employee or by an admin on their behalf — is filed as a settlement for review by the Leave Studio operations team. We do this so the right refund can be issued for edge cases (partial usage, supplier holds, EMI handling) that an automated system would miss.

• When you submit, the plan moves to CANCELLATION_REQUESTED and the settlement is placed in our admin queue.
• Most settlements are reviewed within 1 business day. You’ll see the status update on the plan detail page; no follow-up is needed.
• On approval, the trip is cancelled (plan CANCELLED) and the agreed refund amount is locked in. The refund itself is then paid out by our team off-platform; once paid you’ll see the transaction reference on the plan (section 5).
• If the request is rejected (e.g. cancellation no longer permitted), the plan returns to PAID so you can still travel. We’ll share the reason and the dispute path described in section 11.

5. Refund processing

• Once an admin approves the settlement, the trip is cancelled immediately (plan status CANCELLED) and the refund amount — if any per the policy — is locked in. Our team then processes the refund payout manually so we can handle partial refunds, EMI splits and supplier holds cleanly.
• The refund is issued to the same bank account / UPI ID the original payment was made from. We do not collect or store any new account details from you for this payout — the original payment instrument is what we pay back to.
• Once paid, we record the transaction reference (NEFT UTR, UPI ref no or cheque no) against your plan. You can see this reference on the plan detail page in the cancellation banner.
• Refunds typically appear in 5–7 business days from when we issue the payout, subject to your bank’s settlement timelines. If you don’t see the credit after 7 business days, share the transaction reference with your bank or contact us (section 11).
• If we need to ask you to confirm payout details before paying, we’ll reach out from [email protected] — we will never call or text asking for OTPs, card numbers or full account details.

6. EMI and split payments

• For Full EMI plans (financed by your bank), only the principal amount we have received is eligible for refund. Bank processing fees, interest already accrued and EMI service charges are non-refundable and are settled directly with your bank.
• For Booking + Balance EMI plans, the refund is computed only against amounts actually captured by Leave Studio. Any future installments not yet collected are simply cancelled with the bank.
• If you are mid-cycle on an EMI when you cancel, contact your bank for the EMI closure formalities. Leave Studio does not have visibility into bank-side fees.

7. Perks & credits applied to the trip

Where employer perks, recognition rewards or platform credits were redeemed against the trip, the refund is split proportionally:

• The cash component returns to your original payment method.
• The perks component is restored to your employee perk wallet, subject to the perk’s own validity window. Expired perks cannot be reinstated.

8. Add-ons and insurance

• Refundable add-ons (transport, accommodation, gear, eSIM) follow the same tier as the parent trip.
• Travel insurance is governed by the insurer’s own cancellation rules. Where you are still within the insurer’s free-look period, we will initiate a pro-rata refund with them; otherwise the premium is non-refundable.

9. Reschedules instead of cancellation

Before cancelling, you may prefer to reschedule the trip to a later date. Reschedules are forward-only and free of cancellation fees, but may shift any outstanding EMI balance due date. Use My Plans → Reschedule to preview the new schedule before confirming.

10. Cancellation by Leave Studio or partners

If a trip is cancelled by Leave Studio, our supplier, or due to force-majeure events (natural disasters, government travel advisories, supplier insolvency), employees are entitled to a 100% refund of all amounts paid, regardless of how close the cancellation is to the trip date. We will notify the employee and their organisation admin in writing within 24 hours of the decision.

11. Disputes

If you believe a refund amount is incorrect or has not arrived within the published window, please email [email protected] with your plan ID. Disputes must be raised within 30 days of the cancellation request; after that the refund is treated as final.

12. Changes to this policy

We may revise this policy as our refund and EMI capabilities evolve. The policy in effect at the time you confirm the booking is the policy that applies to that booking; future changes are not retroactive. Material changes will be announced in the platform and via your organisation admin.

13. Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent to [email protected]. For legal or compliance enquiries, write to [email protected].