My heart bleeds for them

[junipersjuice]

The bbc are reporting that a family booked a Skiing chalet costing £17'000 and are now expecting the small family run firm to give them a refund. They don't have insurance for cancellation. The company are still open for business as far as the chalets are concerned because the area where the chalet is hasn't forced them to close which is needed for them to be able to cancel.

Surely you'd have the gumption to take out insurance if you are spending 17k on your holiday accommodation? We've had to cancel our holidays and one wouldn't give us a refund but we are insured so it's not an issue.

Do people really believe insurance will pay out on Covid related cancellations ?
I haven't approached mine yet but I am assuming they most definitely will not, even though I have had teh policy for years.

I am in Ireland though, maybe things are different. In the UK you seem to have huge faith in travel insurance. My only experience of it , and this is even from premium type polices as opposed to ones you get free with your bank account , is that they will find almost any way to wangle out of paying.

Really cannot see them paying out for Covid issues. Am I wong ?

Unfortunately not @FoodieToo. Many insurers have already confirmed pandemic isn't covered as a reason to cancel holidays unless it's specifically listed in a policy.

junipersjuice
what's the point of your thread and your goady title?

What an unpleasant thread.

Not showing you in a good light OP

Actually i reserve my YABUS for companies who claim to be a "small family run business" whilst claiming thousands and thousands and thousands in holiday lets.

Agree. We have something booked, haven't taken out insurance. I'm hoping we'll still be able to go as it's a while away. I'd didn't occur to me we'd get a refund, I should have got insurance. If you cant afford to lose money on something then you insure it.

He's commented on a post on Twitter and someone has asked if he has travel insurance. So far he's not answered??

YABU

Because there are a lot of people facing some dreadful times right now and there is zero need for such a mean and pointless post

Firstly OP, this is none of your business.

Secondly, who cares?

Thirdly, you have your facts wrong.

Finally, you sound daft,

The firm has therefore asked its guests to claim on their insurance and to follow the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's (FCO) guidelines advising against non-essential travel, to avoid insurance claims being invalidated.

Insurance companies pay out when the FCO are advising against travel. The current guidance is the FCO advises British nationals against all but essential international travel. which is how we've been able to claim on our travel insurance.

We Recently renewed our annual trip insurance and specifically asked our insurers this in February this year before doing so.
We are covered for travel and accommodation refunds during the Covid19 Pandemic.
Our renewal specifies this Virus separately in the cover and is not an exclusion.

I'm glad to see that this thread in the majority is not going the way you want OP, what was the actual AIBU?

My travel insurance will pay out (and yes, it’s part of a packaged bank account. My husband’s separate policy won’t though) but only if I can prove that the airline/accommodation company have refused to give me a refund.

That it's unreasonable of the family to expect the company to give them the refund when they should be claiming on their insurance. At the very least it should be a shared loss - 50/50 - if insurance absolutely will not pay out, though they should because of the foreign office guidelines.

“ YABU because your OP is just being a nasty dig at someone you thought could afford a more expensive holiday than you can.

Please do explain how you know what my cancelled holiday was going to cost? If 20 people had been going it would have been over 17k, thankfully it was only 5 of us.”

So what are you sneering at on your horrible, misleading, goady thread then?

The chalets are open but the slopes are shut (so no skiing) and the flights have been cancelled (meaning they can't actually get there). So technically there is nothing they can claim on their insurance?

However the chalet company should have just agreed to let them move their booking?

And yes it was £17k between 20 people.

• sorry just to clarify I mean as the chalets are still open, they cannot claim for them on the insurance despite not being able to get there and what they are going for (skiing) is completely shut down.

They can't claim (if they have insurance) because the company haven't cancelled their booking because the hotel is still open.

Are insurance companies asking for proof of cancellation during all this?

They can't claim (if they have insurance) because the company haven't cancelled their booking because the hotel is still open.

They can because the foreign office have said nothing but essential travel. That was the grounds for our insurance claim when we cancelled our holiday.

I was also under the impression that insurance companies were not paying out for Covid 19 cancellations

If you can afford £17k for a group holiday, you can afford insurance. It was a large group so less than a grand per couple.
Sorry but not sorry, no sympathy from me.

The company should not be open for business or accepting bookings.

Its an insane amount of money for one week but for 20 people its slighly better. With that amount of money a group insurance might have been a good idea but insurance tends to avoid paying out if they can. I read this story on another post..might have been daily mail or bbc so they taking it to many places so i suspect they get the money back as company will look back.

Bad not back

@Viviennemary
Many airlines are grounded for who knows how long, but they are open for bookings now.
Some great deals out there, Venice €58 return spring ‘21