No sympathy for people who booked a recent holiday

[fairparie]

Headlines this morning have got me cross. People who are 'devastated' that their holiday to Spain that they booked last week won't go ahead as they can't quarantine on return and lost all their money.
How stupid to book a holiday when you know it is a risk. We were going to go away and had not booked anything as was leaving it till the last minute. . We still could but I would not expect my work to pay for me in quarantine on top of two weeks away. It is understandable if I had booked before the pandemic but why should a firm pay for quarantine for those who knowingly knew it may be a risk.
I have full sympathy for those that booked before the pandemic and at least they will be insured. But c'mon how can you be upset that you have lost your money for a holiday you booked last week and now can't go on due to quarantine?

Oh, and specifically check with your insurer what you are and are not covered for at the moment, as a travel insurance policy has never been more likely to be either vital or useless!

The exclusions clearly state pandemics aren't covered unfortunately. Booked in September, balance paid mid July. If we cancelled, we had to pay the full amount anyway, this would've been owed even if we had cancelled back in September.

This is what it says in our Post Office policy in the exclusions section, taken out in September.

And this clearly states of we cancel the amount we have to pay. This is the cost of the whole holiday, minus the deposit.

We are screwed either way, in spite of booking a holiday before anyone had ever heard of Covid-19 😡🤬

Most insurance seems to be a bit useless.

I thought I had a case to get a holiday property deposit back when our flights got cancelled, but they deliberately asked for loads of things I've not got - like the package reference details when I booked everything separately, Claim not to have received paperwork I sent to them and are unreachable by telephone. In any case I don't think we'll get anything as the property has helpfully offered to let us use the deposit again for up to 13 months. Although I'm not sure when - if ever - we'll be able to travel to Costa Rica again.

I always read the full policy document each time for travel insurance.

It's boring but necessary to know what is and isn't covered. We have taken some risks in the past e.g. did an activity that wasn't covered but we knew it when we did it and even told others that their insurance may explicitly exclude it (turns out a few of us knew but took the risk ).

Doesn't help for those already booked but it often pays to spend a bit more money and pick a company or hotel which has good cancellation policies, don't require the full amount until you get there and always book by credit card. It really does make cancelling much easier for whatever reason.

Butter, we would never have predicted a pandemic back in September!

@Freeekedout

Butter, we would never have predicted a pandemic back in September!

Oh I know but I always book my holidays a year in advance and I figure shit can happen in that time so try and cover all bases for cancellations which are covered and not covered by travel insurance. It typically costs a bit more but gives me reassurance that I can get most of my money back even if we had to cancel for non insurance reasons.

As I said it doesn't help those that have been caught up in this (and btw I do have sympathy for any traveller right now) but for future it's worth looking at the cancellation policies in more detail for future booking.

Butter, could you give me a list of all the eventualities you check for in a decent policy? Add I said, we thought that the Post Office would have provided a decent level of cover for a family holiday to a safe, all inclusive resort.

It's isn't that the insurance has to cover all eventualities it's more that I know what it does and doesn't cover.

I have done some odd activities in my time on holiday and if I can't see that it covers it I actually phone them up. I have often given the company a good laugh when asking do you cover this (not saying explicitly what type of thing on here because it's outing). I have also phoned them up and asked if a tropical storm/hurricane etc meant we need to change plans/hotels for a driving holiday would I be covered etc. If an activity isn't covered I decide whether to get extra (btw you can sometimes find companies that explicitly do add ones so they only cover medical expenses/repatriation for an activity as an extra to a normal policy).

But on top of the travel insurance I tend to look for flights, hotels, car hire that allows me to cancel for anything prior to arrival. This covers me for a change of mind which insurance doesn't. I also only ever book by credit card so again let's say their T&Cs say I can cancel but they decide not to pay up as long as the amount is over the minimum cover I could try and claim from the credit card.

In 99% of times I never need to cancel but for the 1% I know that I am as covered as I possibly can be.

what I check for, which we git stung for before:
medevac home not to 'the nearest suitable medical facility'

All good tips.

I've just spend a good hour reading ts and cs of various policies. Unsurprisingly none on sale to new customers seem to cover situations where the FCO changes its travel advice either after you book or while you are away. So it a a really big risk to take going anywhere at the moment, unless your travel and accommodation is fully refundable. This still leaves the possibility of having to bear additional travel and accommodation costs if you get stranded abroad due to a rapidly changing situation. The quarantine requirement on return is less of a worry to me but the idea of being stuck somewhere doesnt particularly appeal.

Oh and I find insurance policies terms can seem a bit ambiguous. If I read something that may affect me and I can't quite decide what they actually mean I phone them up and get them to clarify.

It sounds like I am a pain in the arse or pedantic but I figure if something happens to me I want to make sure I am not left out of pocket or even worse with a massive bill on holiday.

@Whathewhatnow - The best policy for coronavirus cover at this moment in time seems to be one only available for people with Nationwide accounts. That does cover for a cancellation due to a change in FCO advice, provided travel was allowed when you booked the holiday, or when you got the insurance cover, whichever is later.

(By allowed, I mean, was not a country the FCO specified only essential travel was advised)

Yes I found that one. Annoyingly my ex took the joint nationwide account with him.... grrr. I suppose I could switch but it is such a hassle.

Thanks for advice re travel insurance. I'll make a note of those things to look for (not that I'm planning on booking another holiday abroad for a very long time).

@Whathewhatnow - TUI/First Choice are offering a “COVID promise” at the moment

www.tui.co.uk/destinations/info/our-promise-to-you

You still need to get ordinary travel insurance, but the COVID/cancellation/quarantine parts seem covered by this, with a full refund on offer if you can’t travel

Not just Covid 19 cover but places going out of business. If you are booking for next year lots of things might have gone to the wall.

@ZiggeryZaggy thank you. That looks promising. I'll check it out. At least with a tour operator youd expect them to fly you home if it all goes pear :)

Battleface cover CV19. Its the talk of social media and I have a non refundable apartment in Spain. It wont cover for cancellation due to CV19 because that is known but it will cover if you fly agaisnt FCO advice.

I am just about to buy.

Sadly it doesnt stop you having to quarantine but I can do that. I dont want to do it but I work at home. Getting some box sets ready for the evenings and will book a few home food delivereies should we all end up going (there are 4 of us planning to go at present). If one doesnt go then they can drive us to the airport (!) and also do all the food shopping when we are in quarantine. Staggeringly when we return they dont need to quarantine too. We have a big house so can use seperate bathrooms etc

Booked our family holiday last September (so before the pandemic) and are due to go to France to stay in a villa for the last 2 weeks of August. We are planning to drive and will spend all our time in the villa so it will be a pretty socially distanced type of trip so I feel comfortable that it will be a pretty safe holiday. However, because of the timing I am now worried that if quarantine is reimposed for travellers coming back from France, I am risking my 3 teenage DCs missing the start of school. If the quarantine is reimposed before we leave our insurance will cover is and we can cancel, but if it happens while we are away it will be a real headache. If we cancel the trip “just in case” we will lose all our money as at the moment there are no restrictions. Feel trapped between a rock and a hard place as don’t want to throw away all that money and miss the holiday but at the same time don’t want my DCs to miss anymore school than they have already....I wish the government would make a decision one way or another about all these countries on the “watch” list as they must know that lots of families with children go away in August and we are getting very close to the start of school...

More destinations added. Belgium and Bahamas. Seems it's just not worth the risk right now.

Doesn’t really help those already booked to go to other locations though....although at least they gave a bit more notice this time - Just enough time to pack up a car and get to channel tunnel! Not like Spain which was about 5 hours notice...

We arrived in France yesterday. Drove via Eurotunnel and staying in an AirBnB house by ourselves. Mainly lounging by pool and bike rides, possibly a visit to the beach.

DH was stressed about a quarantine being announced as the exemption for NHS staff was removed at the beginning of the month. He was talking about coming home early if one was announced so he could use some of his holiday to quarantine (sometimes he is too conscientious) but he spoke to people at work and they said he should go and the issue of quarantine would be addressed if/when it came to pass eg whether it would be unpaid leave or if he could WFH for some/all of it (he's just been asked to do another big project which he could from home).