Cottage Booked but may not be able to go

davetheman

I booked a cottage about a month ago for end of April, all confirmed and paid for. My wife's brother is now in Hosiptal and has terminal cancer and going downhill, she is now unsure where to go as could still be on hospital or if discharged would have to stay with us.

We have no insurance, I am assuming if we took insurance out now then this is too late, and not even sure if this would cover it anyway.

Any suggestions?

Okydoky25

Explain this all to the people you have rented from and hope they will refund you money minus rue advertising costs if they can find someone else to take it.

davetheman

Thanks, I did wonder this, was through a letting agent so not sure if this helps or not

saving-mad

I have a feeling an agency, particularly a big one would not be flexible, always worth a try.
Booking with owners themselves you normally would get a bit more compassion- not always as some are just money driven.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and insurance would have helped, do you not have any insurance linked to a bank or something like that?
What a terrible situation, my thoughts are with you and your family.

p00hsticks

davetheman wrote: »

Any suggestions?

Sorry to hear of this.

It's of no help now, but looking at the insurance cover I have for our booking later this year, then - assuming your wife was actually goin on the holiday with you - I suspect that the insurance would most likely have covered the cost of cancellation - one of the criteria on mine is

death of, accident of, or sickness (certified by a registered medical practitioner) of a near relative (husband, wife, father, mother, sister, brother or child) or a close business associate of a named member of the party.

It might be worth you double checking your booking to make absoutely sure that such cancellation cover isn't automatically included - the company I go with had it as an optional extra last year, but this year have incldued it in with the overall cost of the cottage.

Failing that, your only option is really to rely on the compassion of the owner. It might go down better if rather than ask for a refund, you asked if you could rearrange the booking for another date. Or you could try to find someone who would take up the booking in your place to mitigat the owners losses
?

davetheman

I have emailed them, am awaiting for a reply, on there terms it says:-

having been notified of the cancellation less than 2 months prior to the start of the holiday, if Best of Wales are able to re-let; all payments made by the Holidaymaker will be refunded less a re-booking charge of 20% of the total cost of the holiday

greenface

Is there anyone you know could take your place . Rather than losing the majority (if not the full amount) if it comes to it. Be careful about selling it on to people you dont know and trust as you still will be responsible for any damage they do . If its best wales PM the simple details as i do use best wales sometimes and see if i can help .(date/accomadation &price etc)

zzzLazyDaisy

If you can't get your money back, could you consider going on the holiday on the basis that if anything changes with BiL, you'll come home? UK isn't that big and if it is only for a week the hospital probably won't discharge him until the OT has had chance to assess your house and make sure that adequate support is in place (downstairs hospital bed, check that wheelchair can go through doors, possibly raised chair, grab handles in bathroom, possibly bath lift, that sort of thing). We are already halfway through April now, so it is probably unlikely that he will be discharged before end April if they haven't discussed all this with you yet. Also, from a practical point of view, a break now may do her good, as caring for him is likely to be stressful and tiring.

On a separate note, we found that the local hospice were amazing when my mum was terminal. She went to the day centre almost till the end, and they were really supportive to her and us. In the end she spent her last few days in the hospice as it became impossible to maintain adequate pain relief at home, and they were angels.

davetheman

Thanks, going there is an option and coming back as you say if needed, he has an upstairs flat with no lift and can no longer do stairs, hence the issue of where he goes on discharge.

davetheman

Best of Wales have come back with

I have emailed the owner of the property to pass on your message and have asked her what she thinks is the best course of action. We will get back to you when we have an answer.