Would you book a holiday

[weddingplanning15]

For May next year...

The price is really good for a 5* in Greece for end of May/beginning of June. Is it too much of a risk?

I'm hoping with the vaccine rollout things might be better by then

If it gives you something to look forward to, it's cancellable / guaranteed against covid and you can afford to wait for a refund if the worst happens then go for it. We're about to start booking Italy for July.

The more people who take the gamble and put a little money into travel agents or holiday companies at the moment then the more chance those holiday companies will still be around in the future.

It's all very well saying 'we're going to wait for 2022/2023' but who do you plan to fly with and where will you stay at that point when they've all gone?

I would book - we have a holiday in March that I haven't given up hope on yet! We've been abroad this year and it was lovely - felt safe and the destination we went to was desperate for tourists to visit. If everyone takes the approach to not travel until 'it's all over' then we won't have any airlines or travel agents left and the communities that rely on tourism will be decimated. I will be jumping on a plane again as soon as I'm allowed!

I'm considering it myself. Can I just ask who you are thinking of booking with? I know some companies are only selling quarantine free trips but can't remember which. That's the only thing putting me off, that the holiday would still be going ahead so no refund, but we would either have to quarantine whilst there or when we got home

Depends if you can afford to lose the money which if flight only etc is a risk. Don't forget that many countries are behind us vaccinating so given it is probably going to be May 2021 before we have a huge leap in safety some others may be behind.

However, some places like Greek islands have been safer with odd exceptions (party islands) but be prepared to pay for expensive CV tests

We have decided (and booked) to stay U.K. next year. May change out mind later in for a city break but will decide much nearer

If it’s refundable or changeable then why wouldn’t you?

I have several trips booked for next year - all can have a date change or full refund up to a week before we are due to travel so don’t really see the risk tbh

@lickingintolockdown

I would book - we have a holiday in March that I haven't given up hope on yet! We've been abroad this year and it was lovely - felt safe and the destination we went to was desperate for tourists to visit. If everyone takes the approach to not travel until 'it's all over' then we won't have any airlines or travel agents left and the communities that rely on tourism will be decimated. I will be jumping on a plane again as soon as I'm allowed!

I think it's a gamble though. Maybe you will go and have a great time, maybe you will end up doing sad faces for the press because things changed. It just depends on how flexible you can be.

I knew someone who decided to go backpacking around Europe last spring. She kept saying that covid was no big deal and everything was fine, until Europe closed its borders and she suddenly realised she was about to get trapped. She ended up paying for a new ticket to go home and had to quarantine for 14 days on return. Things change so quickly. This new strain that has appeared, problems with the vaccine. No one knows what will happen.

The tourism infrastructure will still be there even if individual operators go bust. When demand returns, so will the industry.

Yes, some places are dependent on tourism, that's the responsibility of their governments to assist, not foreign tourists.

It's also devastating to close the restaurant and pub industry but we've done that.

No. We're getting married in the summer and I imagine we'll wait and see how things are going in April/May before booking our July honeymoon. Too much stress this year dealing with insurance companies!

Greece in May is possible

I had 9 booked- 2 already cancelled and 3 more highly unlikely but Europe in summer is still a possibility

Sadly I think not. Not abroad anyway. I can't be doing with trying to cancel and rebook and I know I definitely want a holiday the same time as you. If I hold out for abroad and it gets cancelled I might not be able to find anywhere good in the UK at shirt notice. I'm booking UK break with a heavy heart.

I don't expect that I'll have had the vaccine by this time next yr, possibly not at all. As I'm not in an at risk category. They'll probably need to start re vaccinating ppl (like flu jab) this time next yr.

I would book it if your fine with having to go a holiday when u don't really want to. Let's say COVID is still really bad and not everything open over there and you'd prefer it to be cancelled. Also u don't mind having to quarantine on your return.

Make sure what the cancellation cover is actually for. It might not be because u don't fancy going now sometimes there still has to be a fairly valid reason.

I'd rather wait and book something nearer the time to see how everything is.

I've got August and October booked in Cornwall and Wales. I am so not fussed about UK breaks. I want to go to Italy!

No! We had to battle to get a holiday refund. Not worth the stress.

We’ve booked 3 holidays for 2021, the last of which I booked last night. If we can’t go, we get a full refund so nothing to loose.
I would book.

I moved our October holiday in Portugal to mid-May next year but I'm not that confident that it'll go ahead or even that we'll want to go if things don't change much before then. Luckily I can change the flights and hotel again so if things are still looking dodgy in mid-March I expect that's what I'll do.

We've booked for the European mainland in the summer holidays, but we have paid a little extra for the tariffs with cancellation cover this time. If it gets binned it gets binned, but we live in hope. I would have been happy to scrap Christmas if it got us to a safer point for the spring and summer.

We've got a campsite in France for July, which is a booking that was moved from July this year. I have no idea if it will go ahead or not. I really hope so.

My holidays from this year were cancelled and moved exactly a year forward, so a weekend away in April and a week away in May, so yeah I have. I’m still not holding out much hope but fingers crossed!

I’ve booked Mallorca for May/June half term, but it’s fully refundable. I’m hopeful!

Depends on your attitude to risk..yes it would be nice to have something to look forward to but....what if the holiday still goes ahead but you have to pay for a Covid test before you go...and maybe you need a second before you return...or what if the contry you go to demands you have the Covid vaccine...or theres a sudden breakout whilst your there and you have to quarantine on return.....and whilst your there the resort shuts down and your confined to your hotel room??

I think im a glass half empty person right now so i wouldnt take the risk!!!

We’re waiting and all being well, will do something next November (Sri Lanka or Goa). Have booked a Dorset cottage for a week in August though.

If you can get all of your money back or can amend the dates then I would be tempted to book it.
I've been looking at summer holidays for next year but won't book anything until nearer the time. That's what we always do, still need to find out if dh can amend his rostered summer fortnight as it's for the last 2 weeks in September!!

Thinking of booking a flight to our holiday house as we haven't been there for two years now:-( ... not sure if the risk is worth the benefit of booking early. Wish we had a crystal ball!

Yep! May feels a little too soon for me.
I’ve booked June - hotel fully refundable. Flights will be a pain to change but can do that for free. But it’s Europe and the flights were cheapish.

I basically needed something to focus on. I was sick of waiting. Missed out on trips this summer because everywhere was booked in the U.K. not making that mistake again.

I’ve also booked for winter 2021 and those holidays were selling like hot cakes. I had to take my third choice.