Dear WordCamp Asia 2020 Attendees,
You probably already know by now that Wordcamp Asia 2020 has been canceled due to the recent COVID-19 (aka coronavirus) outbreak in the Hubei province of Wuhan, China.
Because the transmission of COVID-19 can come from unsuspecting parties who show no symptoms, we have an opportunity to join the Global community in stopping the spread of this virus.
As of this writing, there have been over 42 thousand confirmed cases in China and over 1,000 deaths reported from the Chinese government and the World Health Organization.
Since Thailand is a neighboring country with many Chinese travelers, the risk for the 1,600 expected WordCamp Asia attendees is high.
The WordCamp organizers have made the tough call to cancel this year’s event and are currently making arrangements for event tickets and official hotel booking refunds.
The one constant in life is change, and rather than risk anyone’s health for the sake of this event, we back organizers’ decision 100%.
If we invest now in rational interventions, there is a realistic chance of stopping this outbreak.
Because we are so deeply committed to the WordPress community, we would like to first extend our sincere gratitude for all registrants, sponsors, and speakers at this years’ event.
WordCamp Asia has kindly provided a cancellation fee waiver letter to support your refund requests with major airlines and hotels.
WCAsia Cancellation Fee Waiver Letter
https://2020.asia.wordcamp.org/files/2020/02/WCAsia-Cancellation-Fee-Waiver-Letter.pdf
Many of this years’ WordCamp Asia 2020 sponsors have also been generous enough to provide recovery funds to help offset cancellation fees.
Calls for refund relief pledges are pouring in from the many organizers and sponsors.
After meeting with the rest of the ServMask Team, we have decided to offer assistance as well.
ServMask stands with the WordPress community at large and will also be providing a $10,000 Cancellation Fund.
While we cannot ensure that your full airline ticket and hotel room will be refundable directly, we hope this gesture is in the spirit of keeping our WordPress community united.
Should you require more assistance, as we foresee many of you will, you can apply for a 1-time disbursement of up to $200 per person from ServMask.
The requirements of this disbursement are as follows:
To assist with the cancellation of WordCamp Asia 2020, ServMask is providing a total of $10,000 at a maximum of $200 per person.
To apply, email us at wcasia-assistance@servmask.com
Refund disbursements are only available to WordCamp Asia 2020 attendees, organizers, and speakers on a first-come, first-serve basis.
PLEASE NOTE: Once the funds run out, there will be no further disbursements.
We highly recommend going through the usual channels to seek a full or partial refund from your airline and hotel provider.
If those channels fail, please follow the directions above to apply for a cancellation fund disbursement.
We cannot guarantee that there will be remaining funds available, but we will do everything in our power to help soothe the disappointment we all feel right now.
For now, please accept our sincerest apologies for any hassle this has caused.
Thank you for your extreme understanding at this critical time.
Sincerely,
Yani Iliev and the ServMask Team
Author
Yani I
Lead, Inspire, Reward @ ServMask