Holiday cottage - August - would you book?

[IDidntChoseThePondLife]

we have found a cottage on a farm for hire in a month's time. our travel insurance wouldn't cover any covid cancellations, and we asked the cottage owner what would happen if we were locked down again and he said we'd need to speak to our insurance.
I don't know whether to go ahead with it or not. I doubt the government would put us into shut down again, but if they did, we'd lose our deposit/full amount.
Would you take the risk?
Its pretty remote and it's self catering, we're basically just going for the peace and change of scenery.

Well, we have.
If this last few months has taught us anything, it is that we never know what might happen.
OTOH - it might be worth finding a few options and ringing round to see what owners say. No insurance is going to insure you against COVID at this stage, so so owners might be more willing to be more generous in order to get your booking, than others ? After all, the tourist industry has lost months worth of booking - they will take different attitudes to people booking in now - some might think they'll keep the money if you can't get there, and risk no-one booking under those terms, and others might think they will get more families booking if they have a more flexible policy.

Wouldn't they have to give you your money back if you can't go as we're locked down? Or at least transfer the booking?

I guess weigh up the need for a holiday against possible lost cash. We chose holiday, I was desperate to get away and we're currently driving to wales, hurrah!

I've taken the risk and booked 5 nights in a holiday cottage.

I've deliberately found an option at the cheaper end of the scale so that it's not thoroughly awful if I lose the money (I am very hard up so it's still half my annual budget for all holidays so would still be quite upsetting!).

Depends how much the cost is and if you can afford to write it off if you can't go. Sounds like that's the only choice if you can't find anything with a free cancellation option. Don't think you'll be able to get any insurance.

I've booked somewhere I can cancel for free two days before going. Airbnb bookings are generally better for this I find. Each has a different cancellation policy - you can even filter by how flexible it is.

We are going on Friday. If there is a lockdown in this country, I think it will be very local, on the Leicester model at worst.

Where we live, and where we are going, the infection rates are very low, so I can see no danger of local lockdown at either end in the next month.

BTW, we booked on new year's eve, so this isn't a sudden whim, although we would have cancelled and lost our deposit if we felt it wasn't safe enough.

Yes, Airbnb are being very upfront about this and are advising people (if you read their Coronavirus advice), to choose bookings with a flexible cancellation policy. I've just booked somewhere for Oct half-term with them that I can cancel up to the day before travel and get a full refund. If your cottage owner is saying he's not going to do that I'd look elsewhere if you are worried.

Having said that, we've got a cottage booked for mid-August and I don't think we'll get a penny back if it doesn't go ahead now. I think it would take a lot for the government to put us all back into full lockdown down, so fingers crossed we don't get a local outbreak (either here or there).

Choose who you book with. We have gone for a caravan company who are preferring free date changes if you can't come due to COVID

We've got a cottage booked (pre lockdown) for September.

If another lockdown happens then I'd hope we'd be able to transfer to another date.

We fully refunded all our bookings during lockdown and would do so again. Many of them chose to rebook for next year, but if they’d wanted a refund they’d have got one.

Changing your mind is one thing but being told by the government you can’t go on holiday and the host told they can’t take holidaymakers is unanswerable.

Most cottage agencies/third-party sites like AirBnB are offering refunds/transfers if lockdown happens again, but I guess you are booking direct with an owner? I think lockdowns are likely to be regional so it would be bad luck if you were caught in one (either from your home location, or at the cottage location) but I think in your shoes I would look for a cottage where you would get your money back in such an event.

We have a cottage in a remote spot in Yorkshire for the end of Aug. It's been booked for ages and we hope to get there but it's not expensive as it's only for staff and a flat rate year round. Just got off a narrowboat holiday which was cancelled from Easter and it was a lovely social distancing holiday. Glad we took the option of going and not cancelling.

Optimistically we've booked a premier inn and a day at a zoo for mid August. As cheap as possible and if we lose out on the coronavirus lottery of cancellations we'd absorb it easily enough. Can you afford the gamble on the money? That's what it's boiled down to.

We are going at the end of August with a company that guarantees you can move your dates if there are more lockdowns etc.

If we go into lockdown they won't be able to let you stay, so they'll have to refund or move your booking!

I would book somewhere which would offer at least a date change as doubt insurance will pay out. If there is nowhere suitable then either book last minute or be prepared to write money off.