Terminally Ill cancellation being charged single occupancy £1000

Simmo7

Hi Everyone, bit of a torrid time to say the least, myself, Wife, Mam and Grandmother booked a fortnight holiday priced roughly £6000 to go in March.

My Grandmother has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and has not been given long to live and cannot fly. I have phoned TUI to cancel her booking and TUI are wanting us to pay an extra £1000 for a single occupancy for my Mam. This sounds absolutely unreasonable to me, do I have any options other than cancelling the whole holiday, which obviously we don't want to do. Can we fight these charges or not?

Thanks

knightstyle

What did your insurance company say when you told them?

Simmo7

Mam never took any insurance out for her as she's in and out of hospital with copd and asthama etc, she does get quite a few ailments throughout the year so she was waiting until closer to get the policy correct with regards to anything that might be affecting her at the time. Otherwise she would have to change policies or take out another one etc.

I'm not sure if insurance would help in this regard anyway, because we're not being charged for cancelling my Grandmothers place, it's the change to the booking as Mam is now on her own in a room.

maman

knightstyle wrote: »

What did your insurance company say when you told them?

Maybe as it's a close relative, you could cancel the whole holiday and rebook when you're ready. It will depend on your policy.

Simmo7

They have said we could get a full refund, but we booked earlier in the year, the holiday is over £400 more and no direct flights are available, its my wife and I's 10th anniversary we did the same destination for our honeymoon, so it was kind of a big deal for us and we didn't want to cancel. Looks like that's going to be the best outcome though.

Simmo7

I was just hoping there would be some way we could still go without having to fork out £1000 for my Mam to go with us.

Katiehound

Unfortunately single supplements are really expensive (but this one seems steep, especially as you have one flight less.)

Personally I would take the full refund that has been offered and then look for a replacement holiday, maybe something different?
The full refund is a generous offer not to be sneezed at. (unless it's the insurance paying up) Just make sure you make your decision before the lose the deposit etc deadline which may not be too far away.

leylandsunaddict

Take their very generous offer (presumably from TUI) of a full refund. Just a cautionary word. People that have a prognosis of not long to live often defy the medics and live for several months. I hope you and your mam have travel insurance in place to cover your grandmothers death if it occurs closer to travel. If you didn't declare her conditions to your insurers and they agreed to cover you for cancellation you may find out that you have no cover for that aspect.

HoofeHearted

Some Travel Insurance Policies have a clause that specifies that you are not covered if a close relative has medical problems or in a care home etc.
If they have offered to pay up, take the money and run.

Robin9

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

............... I hope you and your mam have travel insurance in place to cover your grandmothers death if it occurs closer to travel. If you didn't declare her conditions to your insurers and they agreed to cover you for cancellation you may find out that you have no cover for that aspect.

Even so a grandmother may not be defined as a close relative.

TELLIT01

I'm guessing the original booking is either for 2 x 1 bed accommodation or 1 x 2 bed. Would a 1 bed unit with an additional bed in the living area be acceptable to all parties?