AIBU to ask why people don’t take out travel insurance when booking a holiday?

[Frannyhy]

I’m an Airbnb host. Guest due tomorrow has had to cancel. I won’t refund her, and I’ve just heard that Airbnb have agreed with me after she went to them for help.

She’s going to lose around £600. I’ll normally refund if I can rebook, but I won’t this time because the lady rang me and swore at me when I told her to take the matter through Airbnb.

So to those of you who don’t think travel insurance is necessary, why not?

I had a patient sue me because she didn’t have travel insurance and chose to ignore medical advice while on holiday. Her family knew she would not be cleared to fly and went ahead to get her home.
It took 5 years of legal backwards and forwarding for the case to be dropped. Obviously can’t go into details but suffice to say one small lie led to a whole series which were eventually unpicked by the legal team I had.
Travelling without insurance is akin to playing Russian roulette.

Most insurance companies I have used do cover uk (when you have an annual policy) as long as you spend at least 2 nights away.

We have annual insurance because it is only a little cheaper than two lots of week-long insurance, but really we would only claim for medical losses.

BA lost our luggage on a skiing holiday this year, and we were only covered for about £50 compensation (when I had actually had to buy new skipants for both me and my son, and rent a snowboard, boots and helmet for the week - so my actual losses were about £500).

I wouldn’t expect insurance to cover an Airbnb cancellation, unless I was cancelling due to my own illness. So I wouldn’t take out insurance just for that.

We get annual cover for our family of 4. This year's it was only about €150.
We went in a cruise once that was delayed on the arrival day and we missed our flight home, had to pay for flights the next day plus a hotel for the night and the insurance covered it. That's the only time I claimed and I got back a lot more than years of premiums I had paid

We've had free annual insurance via our (free because we have more than £50k with them) Premier Bank account. We used it for a UK trip only 2 weeks ago - my partner injured her back by falling awkwardly (we feared a fracture and paramedics attended, but it's badly bruised tissue) and we had to cancel our week in a Scottish holiday cottage as she was barely able to move for days, much less sot in the car for 4 hours).

I claimed online the day we cancelled and the insurers rang the next day to say they were paying the claim in full - no need even to prove we'd booked it.

We would never travel without appropriate travel jnsurance - it's vital, especially if you're going abroad.

Absolutely essential for going abroad. I don't bother within the UK but if they privatise the NHS it may become necessary.

I wouldn’t think to for a break in the U.K. But knowing you’ve retained all someone’s money and don’t refund anything- depending when it was cancelled and how much you could reset for. I would expect there to be a charge/loss of some kind but not the whole amount. I would take out insurance in future.

Presumably you escalated that, with a letter from the airline to say you didn't fly? pretty easy to prove. what did the ombudsman say? Be very surprised if they found against you.

But it's not the business/cottage/Airbnb owner's fault if you can't take up the accommodation you booked and they'd lose revenue if expected to repay any of it.

Travel insurance is like any other kind - you might never have to use it but it's there just in case.

We don't get insurance for holidays in UK, I always book with credit card so could reclaim through that if necessary. If we needed to cancel at last minute I wouldn't expect the host to refund as it's unlikely they will be able to resell at short notice (we do mainly rural, not touristy locations)
Going abroad I would.

I've also just remembered an elderly couple my mother knows. They went on holiday to Scotland. Tragically he died very suddenly. Insurance covered the return of the body to the South Coast and additional legal fees because the rules are different in Scotland and transferring the body back to England was complex.

Sadly, shit happens and cannot always be anticipated.

@SiblingFights You just need to contact the airline and ask for a letter to confirm you didn’t fly.

A lot of annual policies will cover pre booked UK breaks of two nights or more

Why should owner lose out though? They have provided a service and it's the bookers choice/fault they can't go

I've never taken out travel insurance in my life. Simply a question of cost and I'm happy to bear the risks myself.

“But it's not the business/cottage/Airbnb owner's fault if you can't take up the accommodation you booked and they'd lose revenue if expected to repay any of it.” Didn’t say it was the hosts fault. They don’t lose they relet it for the full amount. Depends how much notice was given, if it’s possible to re let and how much. I would expect a charge in the form of deducting their loss I suppose.

Any way lesson learned- take out insurance even in the U.K.

I have travel insurance through my house insurance.
I guess people either forget or don't think about it for domestic holidays or just take a chance.

You should only take insurance if the risk would break you. Savings are always cheaper.

the risks can be great though.
for example mountain rescue in the alp is not free. the use of a rescue helicopter can be many thousands.
additional nights in a hotel in a booked out tourist spot - very expensive.

Well for the UK it's totally different assuming it's your home. You can access a hospital or a doctor for free unlike being abroad.

I never holiday in UK anyway so no it wouldn't occur to me.

It's the people who don't think they need to buy travel insurance until they actually go on holiday that I find infuriating.

The whole point is if you can't go due to sickness or family reasons that you are covered.

In truth though during covid I realised that travel insurance is really only used up for medical matters. I still have an annual insurance policy, but I'd imagine it's highly unlikely to pay out if we had to cancel a UK break, unless it was something like one of the people on the insurance passing away, in which case I'd have other things to think about than money.

Because people think that if the worst happens they can rely on a go fund me sob story to recoup their losses/ pay for medical evacuation/ cover hospital bills in private hospitals.

I take it out when we are abroad as whislt very unlikely repatriation and/or medievac costs can be eye watering.

May people don't. A few years ago ina small town in France I had to help a British touirst after a freak accident with a champagne bottle caused them serious eye injury. They didn't speak any French so I helped them at the local minor injuries unit.

The doctor decided they needed to be taken to A&E in thr nearest big city urgently. The tourist had no insurance or EHIC (as was) and was totally shocked when I told them they would probably have to pay for the ambulance.

I used to work in the duty office of a well known tour operator dealing with repatriation and all sorts. All kinds of things happen, car accidents, thefts, deaths, rapes, falls from balconies, robbery from villas. Then the mundane delayed flight, lost luggage, sickness of a parent or relative at home, hospital appointment you've been waiting for suddenly occuring. Not taking insurance is crazy and used to be not sure if it still is a condition of carriage, so you could be asked to show it before getting on the plane, Eurostar, ferry etc. We had people who had to buy insurance at the airport ( very expensive) if they wanted to fly

I have family annual travel insurance which comes with my bank account. I also have travel insurance for myself from my employer - the insurance covers business and leisure which makes sense because it is often difficult to separate the two.

The family insurance covers the dc even when they are not travelling with us. So as username says, good for older teens.

I have claimed on travel insurance before, including during covid when holidays were cancelled. They don't cover every eventuality and have an excess but still good protection. I tend to buy cheaper non-refundable tickets so if I have to cancel for unforeseen reasons, it is covered.

I agree that the medical treatment/repatriation aspect is important, particularly if travelling in the US.