The extension will apply to guests from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan looking to stay at any Hyatt hotel globally, the hotel group said on its official WeChat account on Saturday.

The policy allows guests who had booked stays through Hyatt's official channels and are cancelling due to coronavirus or Chinese guests outbound to its Asia Pacific hotels, to cancel or change dates free of charge. The cancellation policy was initially offered for bookings made up to Feb. 10.

Customers that had booked to stay at Hyatt hotels in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can also cancel or change their reservations free of charge, it said.

Shangri-la Hotels also said on Saturday it would allow travellers from China to cancel hotel bookings through Feb. 29. Customers booked into its Chinese hotels can also cancel free of charge, it said in a statement posted on WeChat.

And China’s Meituan Dianping said it would extend a free refunds policy for hotel reservations on its travel booking platform, also until the end of February.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Clelia Oziel)