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Original poster

France quarantine: will holiday villa give refund?

58 replies

TheNewLook · 10/08/2020 10:31

IF France is added to the quarantine list this week - seems likely - what are my chances of a refund from the holiday villa we have booked? We just cannot go if we’d have to quarantine for two weeks afterwards. Firstly because of DH’s job (medical, cannot be done from home!) and secondly the children’s return to school.

I’ve got £2000 tied up in this holiday property. I fully appreciate it is not the fault of the owners and that this is their business. We do not have insurance that would cover this sort of cancellation reason. I don’t want to contact them until we know for sure what’s happening. I doubt the extra few days notice would help them much anyway.

What do you think? Are they likely to give me back my money? 😢

OP posts:
Frazzled2207 · 10/08/2020 10:37

You can only ask but bear in mind that if quarantine is introduced (esp for multiple nationalities) they are highly unlikely to re-let. They are a business and the fact that you may have to quarantine when you return is not their problem. They are a business after all and need to do what they can to protect their business. Personally I think the best you can hope for is changing to next summer.

Although I’ve never been on a package holiday in my life this is where they win sadly. FCO advises against and your holiday is automatically cancelled and money back.

Agree it’s a very difficult situation. We were heading to France in June but the accomodation was not allowed to open so we were very lucky in getting a full refund.

ureterr1blemuriel · 10/08/2020 11:15

When are you booked to go?

Original poster
TheNewLook · 10/08/2020 11:41

Coming weekend

OP posts:

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Holidays
MidnightCitrus · 10/08/2020 11:44

When did you book? Thats the most important question

I doubt you would get a refund just for having to quarantine on return - you might be able to if its on a no go at all list

Original poster
TheNewLook · 10/08/2020 12:10

Booked about a month ago.... does that change things?

OP posts:
delilahbucket · 10/08/2020 12:22

If you only booked a month ago I think it will be seen that you knew the risk when you booked. Perhaps preempt the situation and get in contact with the owner now. They might let you pick another time next year.

vagshapedbox · 10/08/2020 12:24

@TheNewLook

Booked about a month ago.... does that change things?
I don't think it will change things in terms of the t&cs but individual property owners might feel more sympathetic if you'd booked before the initial Covid lockdown.

I can see it would be gutting to lose the holiday and all that money, I struggle to have a huge amount of sympathy given you booked so recently.
If your husband is a medic and your children need to be back at school then it's madness to book to go abroad when the situation is so uncertain.

You can try to get a refund or transfer the booking but if they say no, you'll have to suck it up I think.

TSSDNCOP · 10/08/2020 13:03

You'll only get a refund if you booked without knowing the risk. We considered a french holiday recently and planned to book the day Spain trips required quarantine.

Our insurer told us we wouldn't be covered for France as we knew the risk before booking.

ivfdreaming · 10/08/2020 13:20

If you only booked a month ago I think you'll have to take this one on the chin.....that's what happens when you book a foreign holiday during a global pandemic 🤷‍♀️

Original poster
TheNewLook · 10/08/2020 13:25

Could the same not be said for the owners of the villa? That they lose (or rather don’t keep) £2k of someone else’s money that they perhaps shouldn’t have accepted during a pandemic? Just a bit galling to hand over that sort of money for nothing in return.

OP posts:
MidnightCitrus · 10/08/2020 13:26

@TheNewLook

Booked about a month ago.... does that change things?
In that case I dont think you'll get anything back
goatley · 10/08/2020 13:33

Put yourself in the villa owner's shoes.

What would you do? It's unlikely that they'll be able to re let at such short notice. Takings for the summer to date will be negligible so will need all the income they can get.

At best I would hope they'd offer to use your credit for next year?

Sorry, it sucks.

I don't know why we can't rest at the UK border though.

I'm due to travel to Iceland later in the year and visitors have to pay to take a test, or quarantine for
14 days.
Returning residents also have to test but I forget what their procedure is.

ivfdreaming · 10/08/2020 13:36

@TheNewLook

Could the same not be said for the owners of the villa? That they lose (or rather don’t keep) £2k of someone else’s money that they perhaps shouldn’t have accepted during a pandemic? Just a bit galling to hand over that sort of money for nothing in return.

Well you were the one silly enough to book it and pay for it - they are running a business and have no moral or ethical reason not to rent it to you? And assuming you booked it online how would they know which country you were from anyway until the payment had gone through??

goatley · 10/08/2020 13:42

I mean TEST at the border not rest.

WeAllHaveWings · 10/08/2020 13:44

@TheNewLook

Could the same not be said for the owners of the villa? That they lose (or rather don’t keep) £2k of someone else’s money that they perhaps shouldn’t have accepted during a pandemic? Just a bit galling to hand over that sort of money for nothing in return.
No, they could have rented to someone who was ok to quarantine. It was your responsibility, mid pandemic to find out if quarantine changed what would happen, could you still go, what the t&cs were, would you be covered by insurance. I think they would be reasonable not to refund you. This is their income.
Fleabagster · 10/08/2020 13:45

You’ll have to ask, we can’t guess obviously. But, I will say that we have just come back from a gîte in France and the owner there was happy to refund in that situation. Good luck!

ThreeLeggedCat · 10/08/2020 13:45

I did wonder what good resting at the border would do!

Trashtara · 10/08/2020 13:45

What does your insurance say?

workshy44 · 10/08/2020 13:49

In fairness things were a lot different a month ago, looked like the rest of Europe had it very much under control.
I would ask to reschedule, so they keep your money but you still get to go next year. I think France will be added to the quarantine list

Original poster
TheNewLook · 10/08/2020 13:52

I was wondering about rescheduling. They still lose out on a week’s booking though, don’t they? If we take a week next summer when someone else could have paid full whack.

OP posts:
vanillandhoney · 10/08/2020 13:54

Foreign Office advice on travel has always been subject to last minute change throughout this pandemic.

You chose to book knowing there was a risk of a second wave and local lockdowns/enforced quarantines. Why should the villa owners be out of pocket because you chose to take that risk?

LIZS · 10/08/2020 13:54

Insurance? Does it cover cancellation of accommodation if travel is disrupted or FO advice changes. Otherwise you are relying on goodwill.

Original poster
TheNewLook · 10/08/2020 13:55

Those saying I was foolish to book during a pandemic etc Things looked very different when I booked, Europe was opening up for holidays, everyone was booking holidays. In fact, it took us ages to find this one as there was so little availability! There was no suggestion France would suddenly go back on the blacklist.

OP posts:
FinallyRelief · 10/08/2020 13:59

I think your DH if a keyworker doesn't have to quarantine and how much school would the kids miss if they had to quarantine?

ivfdreaming · 10/08/2020 13:59

We were always warned about a possible second wave - other countries in Europe we're experiencing it and it was only a matter of time before others did too. Therefore things didn't look all that "different" a month ago - we were only just coming out of lockdown ourselves and pretty sure the government hadn't come out and specified "safe" countries with air bridges at that time - you took a gamble, decided the risk was worth taking and unfortunately this time you've lost