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I (used to!) travel for work and have had an AMEX card for years. Get cashback on everything I spend, but importantly, their customer service is first rate. If you spend money and for some reason outside your control you don't get what you paid for, you make a call, they refund you first, ask questions second.
A few years ago I went on a job, booked a hotel through one of the third parties, and there was some cock up that meant despite paying the accommodation already to the third party, I was being presented with a bill for accommodation and restaurant at checkout. No time to argue, I just stuck it on the card, and made the call. Amex refunded both transactions straight away, then after they'd sorted everything out, just applied the charges I was liable for.
Your credit card company should help even if only part of the transaction ( the deposit for instance ) goes through them.
If you can’t legally go on holiday under government guidelines, they can’t take money for those services?
I can't legally go just now but the current lockdown is only for three weeks after which it gets reviewed.
They can legally take my money now for July because, currently, there is no lockdown in July.
If I do give them the cash then it's in accordance with booking conditions which specifically exclude refunds for cancellation due to outbreaks of illness.
They are still accepting new bookings for June.
We are currently £2000 in the hole on our June holiday in Canada (flights and car hire). They're offering credit notes, which on the face of it is fine, we're happy to reschedule to June 2021.
So long as they're still in business by then....
We do have insurance on it though, but I'm constantly imagining how they'll worm their way out of paying up if it came to that...
We were hoping for a week in a Gite en France in the Autumn as a fallback, but I think that's looking increasingly unlikely too. My dad's cousin recently inherited a cottage on Anglesey which they offered to let us use, so would consider that for Aug / Sep - but if the climate is anything like it is now, I'd be concerned about travelling from a city into a remote location and bringing all my germs with me, even if I have already had it!
My dad’s cousin recently inherited a cottage on Anglesey which they offered to let us use, so would consider that for Aug / Sep
Some doctors in Wales want second home use to be made illegal
Its questionable whether we're going to get to use our place this year - this being the case I'm not paying any council tax.
We've got two weeks booked at a huge site in Peschiera del Garda in August.
So far i've paid £150 deposit, £150 for a Novotel on the way down and £100 for a night at a Eurocamp on the way home.
99% sure this isn't going to happen, and i'm not sure we want to go anyway. Lombardy has been devastated by Coronavirus and i just can't see anything opening there this summer.
I think i'm going to try and change it to August 2021.
The site in Garda might let me, same with Eurocamp but i'm not sure Novotel will be so co-operative.
In the bigger scheme of things (Colleagues in my industry have died from this now) our summer holiday is no big deal - we'll do some nice stuff in the UK with the kids instead.
Each to their own, I guess. But a fortnight at a 4* hotel next to the beach, with a kids’ club, organised activities every day, no need to think about cooking, guaranteed good weather… Not something I’d want to do every year, but I’m not so snobbish as to not see its appeal as a stress-free family holiday.
At the risk of sounding snobbish, for a working family with kids it is indeed a great, easy, sunny relaxer. The key is to find a location where you aren’t surrounded by the trailer trash who want to fill themselves with beer all day and get obnoxious during the kids entertainment at night. We found a lovely place with more middle class people – it means paying a bit extra but it’s not crowded, superbly staffed, clean and everyone is polite and friendly.
Exactly this - we do lots of different things (canvas camping in the UK, narrowboat holidays, camping pods, short-breaks, Centerparcs etc along with long-haul as we have family in both Australia and California) but in the last ten years we've had about four all inclusive Med holidays (Balearics and Greek islands) and enjoyed them all - stress-free, fun and relatively cost effective, even when allowing for a few meals out of the resort and additional car hire etc. I don't understand the snobbery about it - it isn't like there is an absolute life choice to be made for one over the other but I am certain I could get a very nice all inc. five star boutique hotel in a lovely suite with sea views for the same cost as a two week break in Scotland once I have factored in all the other additional costs I would incur holidaying in the UK (ie, eating out every day for a family of four for 14 nights in the UK could easily cost £1,500 in itself).
Its questionable whether we’re going to get to use our place this year – this being the case I’m not paying any council tax.
And they'll rightly take you to court to recover it. It doesn't just pay for bin emptying you know, and those bin men still need to be paid even if your bin is empty.
A London borough but pretty typical -
Your Council Tax is your contribution to the many services the council provides such as schools, roads, libraries, support for vulnerable children and adults, and rubbish collections. Council Tax also pays for the police, the fire service and many other local services.
I suppose we should just wait until they resolved this problem, I dont think we are anywhere near going back to normal. I would prefer we have a vaccine before anything else the amount of people dying in the UK daily is mind blowing.
I cant understand why you would even think of a holiday now.
And they’ll rightly take you to court to recover it.
Not if they make it illegal to actually be there.
They cannot charge council tax on a property which is unoccupied because occupation is forbidden by law (class G).
I cant understand why you would even think of a holiday now.
Dreaming of and planning my next holiday is one of the things stopping me going stir crazy.
Late summer?
Not a chance.
But If you go, choose somewhere with empty ITU beds.
Pay your council tax.
Think of it as a sort of fire insurance.
Unlikely, I reckon. I’m still not convinced we’ll be allowed back into Wales before the end of the summer (and if we are it’ll be just as the weather turns)
This.
I've paid 1k for flights and 1k non refundable deposit on accomodation for a villa in Mallorca in mid August. I am due to pay the remaining 2.5k in mid July.
I have the Barclays travel pack I insurance and I've explained it all to them and they have said to still pay the 2.5k in July if the guidance isnt saying it's all cancelled for any reason at that point - then if it is cancelled before august I can claim the full 4.5k back from them.
I'm sure it will take some time to get it all back but that's what I will likely do. I'm hopeful it will go ahead, but reading about the plans in spain it seems that it may be too soon for us Brits to he allowed in
I reckon foreign holidays won't happen this summer. It's one thing to relax lockdown so people can go back to work in a controlled environment with regular colleagues, it's another thing entirely to fly people in from all over the place and pack them together in hotels, resorts and on beaches etc.
Dreaming of and planning my next holiday is one of the things stopping me going stir crazy
exactly this, i'm allowed to dream surely?
A Czech colleague was explaining to me earlier this evening of tentative plans there to release some restrictions. Mind you they stamped down very quickly with lockdown and seems to be working well so well done them!
No chance of a holiday abroad this summer I'd say, and maybe not even this year. I reckon a UK holiday might be possible in the Autumn, but even that might not be a normal trip.
I reckon a UK holiday might be possible in the Autumn, but even that might not be a normal trip.
Well the new ‘normal’.
Taking a private jet to your ‘totally’ all inclusive island getaway would work 🙂
And you don’t have to put up with the rabble trailer trash either.
It’s one thing to relax lockdown so people can go back to work in a controlled environment with regular colleagues, it’s another thing entirely to fly people in from all over the place and pack them together in hotels, resorts and on beaches etc.
It’s this, I think there are ways you can achieve it but not at the scale the current holidays work, less people on planes and reconfiguring hotels to keep workers an guests isolated and allocating parts of beaches can all be done but nowhere in the quantity and prices we normally have.
The social drinking and jiggly jiggly fun bits of the holiday may not work out thou 🙁
Saalbach/Hinterglemm/Leogang just announced that they’re opening the lifts from 9th June although they’ve cancelled the usual Glemmride festival in July
TUI have just cancelled all their holidays up to the 11th of June, their previous cut-off was the 15th of May.
Do they know something the public don’t know, or are they just shifting in blocks, who knows.
The Gov. does sometimes brief big business before public announcing things. Personally I don’t see cattle class package holiday flights going in mid-June but you never know.
We have a tour through Killin/Lochaber/Knoydart and Ardnamurchan planned for September.
All hotels along the way were delighted to take our booking and we agreed in every instance but one not to pay any sort of deposit given that nobody knew what the situation would be in September.
I'm currently thinking that even if the hotels are allowed to open, we might not want to sit in a train to our starting point or return train from our end point. We could just tack on an extra couple of days riding instead of the two train journeys and find accommodation for those nights.
The other more cynical worry I had is what IF everyone starts booking staycations and the hotels see an opportunity to jack up prices? (I wouldn't blame them really)... Maybe I should just assume it's going to be a bikepacking trip after all and start investing in some luggage!
Hotels and restaurants open by September?
I'm not hopeful of our summer holiday going ahead in the SW, even though we can be self-contained in the caravan. Just be too busy.
Hotels and restaurants open by September
By, in or through?
I can see hospitality being open for about two weeks before its closed down again unless something significant changes in the next few months.
We have a week booked on Tiree at the start of July!
Not hopeful of it going ahead, thankfully it's a friend's cottage so there is a bit of come and go with final payment.
Ferry booked as well but CalMac will refund any travel before 15th of July currently.
Pretty much we can leave it to the day before we are due to go hopefully!
Was looking at Easyjet for flights to Munich for next Feb half term, not even sure that's viable.
We've already agreed we're not leaving the UK for at least another year now.
But My Missus had booked us a cheap week for us and the kids in an apartment in Croatia in late May, she used 'On the Beach' Who I'm assuming are probably on the verge of going pop anyway...
The problem we have though is that so far as they are concerned, as Government Lockdown rules currently only run to early May, the booking still stands and the final balance is due 2 weeks before we fly (She's holding on to that for now).
One week before that final payment date is the Governments next 3 week assessment...
So late cancellation by us (which it would be by this point) costs about 90% of the value of the trip anyway, we'd end up forking over yet more money to them with no guarantee that they won't subsequently cancel a couple of days before we're due to fly, irrespecive of lockdown, travel restrictions and Airline operations. I took out a full years EU travel policy in early March which I think would cover the scenario where we pay up and 48hrs before flying they cancel on us, but we'd have to cough up the full price of the holiday first.
But the boss just ain't getting it. So far as she is concerned she's paying no more for a holiday she won't be taking (restrictions or not). Of course if we default the company takes 90% of the money with no recourse for us, we can hold out for government statement and ask about a cancellation before the final payment date, but it's not going to happen. So we can pay the full amount, cross our fingers and hope the holiday is cancelled by the company or they go bust allowing us a full refund/or insurance claim. but we're stuck with gambling a couple of grand on that now...
I've said just pay up, as it's money we were spending anyway and if we've fulfilled our financial side of the contract it makes any subsequent claims much easier...
We're not going though, She's emphatic there's no way she'll go near an airport this side of 2021, I'm inclined the same way...
The Fact BA announced redundancies yesterday suggests passenger planes will be grounded for much longer...
Not if they make it illegal to actually be there.
They cannot charge council tax on a property which is unoccupied because occupation is forbidden by law (class G).
You'll be lucky - https://www.anglesey.gov.uk/en/Residents/Council-tax/Reductions-and-exemptions/Council-tax-discounts-and-exemptions.aspx
Looks like that bill will be due in full.
Living in the SW, I strongly support 2nd homes / holiday homes having double council tax rather than reductions.
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/government-says-dont-visit-cornwall-4085397
Not sure we will be holidaying in the UK by late summer at this rate.
We have two weekend breaks coming up (June/July) both in U.K. (Wales and Lakes).
Both paid in full. One CC one debit. As I understand it though that shouldn’t matter.
I really don’t think we will be going to Wales in June and even if we can I don’t fancy being basically stuck inside the accommodation because nothing is open.
Suspect/feel there’s a good chance July’s Lakes weekend won’t happen either.
Our intention is to wait until the next announcement is made in May. However, both have pretty high cancellation costs the longer we leave it. Ones just the deposit currently the other 30% but both quickly become 100%.
Can anyone answer, do we have to accept an offer to move dates which I suspect will be the offer. We would be unable to do anything this year regardless of how the situation develops and even planning next year would be difficult for various reasons.
If they did offer new dates or for us to select new dates. If we refused can they use the cancellation clause against us?
If they did offer new dates or for us to select new dates. If we refused can they use the cancellation clause against us?
I don't think so, and I'm not sure agreeing to moving the booking to next year helps anyone though, as it just kicks the financial burden down the road. And as we enter recession, there are likely to be cheaper deals available next year anyway. If however, you do decide to agree to moving the booking to next year, make sure it's a confirmed rebooking and not a voucher.
France are going to extend their health measures until 24th July, also a two week quarantine on arrival
France are going to extend their health measures until 24th July, also a two week quarantine on arrival
Well that's not what I wanted to see.
France are going to extend their health measures until 24th July, also a two week quarantine on arrival
Well that’s not what I wanted to see.
France have annouced that the special permit for the governement to take special measures is (likely)extended to 24 july.
Its a right to use no one can tell now if and what they decide to use it for.
France will be easying lockdown on may 11 th.
The 14 day quarantaine is a mesure announced for people returning around now(don't think its actually alreay official), and could differ on country of departure, early may and late july august are not the same. Could be a lot better could be a lot worse.
I live in france and speak decent french and english its easy to misquote interpret a phrase.
French lockdown rules where/are a lot stricter then uk ones it seems.
I bought a campervan. Can't see me leaving the British Isles in 2020 and having been laid off means I have the time to explore the country.
It France24 its not misinterpreted. Holidays abroad will not be happening this summer especially for us seeing as we're outside of Schengen.
I'm still not sure why people have been posting that it will
I’m still not sure why people have been posting that it will
Optimism?
I have to travel through France at some point (Spanish border to Tunnel) unfortunately not for leisure. Hard to find info on whether that's possible, even whether the border is open (being manned by the army at the mo).
Spain has a phased de-escalation plan detailing what's going to reopen, how, and when (until 1st week June). There are 15 days between each phase.
As they let the joggers, surfers and cyclists out yesterday I imagine there'll be a spike in new cases in urban areas and that plan goes back to the drawing board...
As they let the joggers, surfers and cyclists out yesterday I imagine there’ll be a spike in new cases in urban areas and that plan goes back to the drawing board…
Any basis behind that considering the easing of restrictions there still isn't at our level of freedom and our infection rate is on the decline.
Your exercise isn't limited to a certain time within city limits, so I'm not sure if you're seeing the same clustering of runners like in Madrid or where I was yesterday running around La Concha beach in San Sebastian - nothing approaching social distancing was taking place at 8.30.
They must have known that would happen though.
I'm a bit surprised there are reviews every two weeks, if it's a 14 day quarantine issue for symptoms - would they be better reviewing every 3 weeks to see what effect on infection rates each step produces?
I have to travel through France at some point (Spanish border to Tunnel) unfortunately not for leisure. Hard to find info on whether that’s possible, even whether the border is open (being manned by the army at the mo).
That is allowed at present, I know someone who drove back from spain to the uk through france a couple of weeks ago, you obviously need to fill out the various bits of paperwork that the respective countries require, but it is allowed for you to pass through (assuming you are a uk resident - which you may not be...) in order to get home.
I imagined it would be if the ferries are running (from what I can tell) - hoping not to have to make the trip if I can avoid it though, I'll link my other thread rather than derail this one.
The people I know went through the tunnel.
I think the Spanish hotels can open in phase 1 at limited occupancy. Round here on the coast without tourism the town's will die, problem is most of the tourism is from Madrid so it will probably take us back to a complete lockdown.
It's really tough the Spanish economy was already shot, I m selling a flat for roughly what I paid for it 20 years ago. My Spanish friends here have not had a pay increase for 10 years. Then the virus effects kick in I do feel for the small businesses they were already struggling.
I was reading the Menorca news this morning. They reckon 50% of hotels won’t even both opening due to Brits an Germans reducing their travels. News is that those that open in June - which also includes bars etc - will be restricted to 30% capacity for social distancing and its up to them to decide if that’s cost effective.