If you own a holiday home, have you cancelled future bookings?

[12elve]

I'm a permanent resident in a small village by the sea in South Devon. We're starting to see an influx of holidaymakers both here and in surrounding towns and villages.

They are not welcome for obvious reasons. So are you still letting your property as per normal, wherever it is the UK?

I hope the government stop this asap. I live in a coastal town and we are seeing the same selfish influx of second home owners and holiday let occupancy unseasonally high. The people who clean and service the lets as well as the local community as well as our health care infrastructure are all at risk by you coming here. You are not welcome. Stay away. You are not welcome. Stay away.

If you get any replies confirming they are still letting out, I will be absolutely astounded. I wouldn’t be shouting it out if I were.

We have a caravan and we’ve had loads of people asking if we’re going and if they can rent it.

It’s just madness

The older kids asked if we’d think about going down for a weekend after we’d all been isolated for more than 2 weeks and if we took absolutely everything we need with us. Even they then said actually the risk was too high (no chance we’d get there without someone needing a pee stop) so how adults aren’t grasping it I don’t know

I follow several holiday home companies on social media. I've been so angry that they are still heavily promoting properties and just saying they've put extra cleaning in place. One customer commented that he wanted to re-schedule his stay and the reply was that they were in discussions with the home owner! As if it should even be questioned!

Bloody hell no! We're in Somerset. I've been contacting guests booked in up to the end of May (so far) and cancelling/ returning their deposits.

I would imagine in a few more weeks I'll be cancelling bookings up till the end of June and possibly beyond.

It's my only income but we don't visitors spreading the virus, or god forbid needing medical care.

We are booked to go to south Devon at Easter. We've tried to cancel, move it. They e refused to give us our money back. Said that they're full and getting constant enquiries. It wasn't cheap as was a treat after a tough few months (pre CV).

I'm hoping govt steps in and stops all these holidays

I'm not an owner, but I have a cottage booked for the week before Easter and the company are insisting they are not cancelling it, although they have said they will let us reschedule for later in the year. I'm not impressed, even if we went (we won't) it wouldn't be the holiday we booked, would it?

Got a cottage booked next week, it was booked via groupon. Cottage have said speak to them about a refund, I don’t hold out much hope. But I will not be going and certainly won’t be using groupon again if they refuse to refund us. I know it’s shit for these companies financially but they should not be encouraging people to move around the country at this time.

The UK is not on lockdown - if people are not self isolating there is no reason to cancel a holiday - insurers will not pay out. Using the pubs, restaurants, cafes is a no no however but providing people practice social distancing I don't see the issue.

OP just to clarify my "bloody hell no" was in answer to your question am I letting my property as usual. To the question in your title, yes I am cancelling future bookings.

France is on lockdown and yes all our bookings have been contacted about rescheduling/cancelling but it remains an evolving situation and one cannot forecast beyond May. Obviously we can't go as planned over Easter. My a/l has been cancelled anyway by my organisation.

ChipsAreLife It sounds as though you are still planning to visit. How will you prevent potentially infecting anyone here?

The more people move around the country the more COVID 19 will spread. Holidays are NOT essential. NHS is not going to be able to cope. please please please don't go anywhere unless it is absolutely crucial!

Isle of Lewis self catering accommodations - many are proactively cancelling books until August time to protect the island.

Depends really.

We don't have any outside space. If I'd booked a cottage with a garden right now, I'd be tempted to use it.

Pack our car with our stuff, drive there, remain in place so no walks, visits etc. But the kids would thrive having safe access to a garden for a week so for us it would be worth it.

I have a big cottage for 18 people booked at the end of May. It's for a special birthday celebration of 3 family members. All in the 'low risk' category.

The cottage is one of two owned by a farming family. We paid the final balance at the end of Jan. Its cost £3k for the weekend. I rang them early next week asking if we could reschedule (inc next year if needed) , they were lovely and supportive saying they are working to find ways to help. However, Friday we received and email telling us :

• they are open for business, lots of extra cleaning between bookings and up to us if we don't turn up, but if we don't we lose all our money

• even if the government implement a lock down, their insurance does not cover this event, therefore they can't issue a refund, so we lose our money

• to protect their business they are unable to accommodate change of date moves, as this means they miss out on potential revenues in the future, so no option here after

It's a really hard decision for us to make. The cottage is in the middle of nowhere, we already had food deliveries scheduled and, other than walks to the village pub, had intended to stay in the cottage the whole weekend (hot tub, games room, big grounds, meals planned etc)

We've planned this weekend for 2 years. We can't afford to lose £3k. If they would let us reschedule it, we would in a heartbeat. Right now, we are waiting and hoping that things change in the next 6-8 weeks, but if we are following Italy trajectory, then who knows!

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, it's not just selfish travellers creating the problem. It's owners of the properties, and their inflexibility, too.

To be fair, we had a break in Devon over Easter. I mailed the people and said l'm sorry l think l'm going to cancel, this is non essential travel. She basically tried to persuade me not to. I cancelled anyway and l feel bad for them but don't blame this all on the holiday makers.

@AnythingConsidered speak to your bank or credit cars provider and see if they are able to do anything. We booked through air bnb, they allowed us to cancel for free but if we had lost our deposit we still would have cancelled.

@12elve I have no intention of going. I will be 18 weeks pregnant then and have two young children. We will just have to lose the money

I don’t understand the I can’t afford to lose £. The money has gone, its spent. So what if you miss out on a weekend. I’ve had to cancel a number of holidays. Yes it is a shame and a waste of money in some respects, but that’s life atm. Also hot tubs are a nasty vat of human soup. I wouldn’t get into one in a rental if you paid me.

Thank you Chips We appreciate it and I'm sorry you have lost your money

Friends and I were booked into a cottage in Somerset for this weekend. We didn’t go but Classic Cottages refused to refund us or move the booking so we’ve lost our money.

Their argument was that we free to travel and so it was up to us if we didn’t. Awful response from what I thought was a reputable company.

@LadyTiredWinterBottom2 we paid the £300 deposit by credit card, but the balance was paid by bank transfer, so I didn't think we'd be covered by section 72 (or whatever it is called)

@TheFaerieQueene it's not just the lost money. The family will not be able to do that level of spend again. Holidays and travel are unheard off for many of the family members attending, some have already lost their jobs, the money is HUGE to us all. Irrespective, we understand they are a company too, so refunds damage them too, but we would be perfectly happy to delay when we can go as a resolution too.

@AnythingConsidered Don't suppose you have a bank account which bundles up travel insurance?

I am holding the property owners responsible which is why this thread was directed at them. But I also think it is socially irresponsible for people to travel when it is not essential.