Hoseasons holiday payment balance due, do I pay or cancel?

XX44HAM44XX · 24 March 2020 at 2:42PM

Hello, I've tried to make sense of where I stand for paying my holiday but there seems to be more questions than answers.
We paid a low deposit with Hoseasons £25 for a week's holiday in a cottage in Cornwall beginning at the end of June. The balance is due to be auto debited in couple of weeks, about £2.2k
If I cancel, I'll be liable for the full deposit which is £400
We have a party of 5 people (family), one being over 70 though unlikely to be classed as one of the 1.5million most vulnerable
The travel insurance (Aviva) doesn't cover cancellation due to the virus
I've read that Hoseasons are not offering refunds after they cancelled people's holidays, just telling people to rebook for a later date, there's a lot of people claiming this is not right and refunds must be given but Hoseasons are ignoring them.
Do I cancel and take it on the chin or pay and hope things will be getting back to normal in June? If they cancel on us then should we expect a refund? I don't think an alternative date would work, prices have been inflated by all accounts
We want to travel if we can but don't fancy paying £2k if I'm going to lose it.
Thanks

DCFC79 · 24 March 2020 at 2:52PM

XX44HAM44XX said:

Hello, I've tried to make sense of where I stand for paying my holiday but there seems to be more questions than answers.
We paid a low deposit with Hoseasons £25 for a week's holiday in a cottage in Cornwall beginning at the end of June. The balance is due to be auto debited in couple of weeks, about £2.2k
If I cancel, I'll be liable for the full deposit which is £400
We have a party of 5 people (family), one being over 70 though unlikely to be classed as one of the 1.5million most vulnerable
The travel insurance (Aviva) doesn't cover cancellation due to the virus
I've read that Hoseasons are not offering refunds after they cancelled people's holidays, just telling people to rebook for a later date, there's a lot of people claiming this is not right and refunds must be given but Hoseasons are ignoring them.
Do I cancel and take it on the chin or pay and hope things will be getting back to normal in June? If they cancel on us then should we expect a refund? I don't think an alternative date would work, prices have been inflated by all accounts
We want to travel if we can but don't fancy paying £2k if I'm going to lose it.
Thanks

All depends what you want to do.

Martin covered pretty much the same question on his Coronavirus special last week, get it on catchup.

I believe the answer was either pay the deposit and hope its ok to travel OR lose what you have paid as a deposit but get it on catchup rather than take what I say as granted.

What do the terms and conditions say re events outside Hoseasons control ?

bagand96 · 24 March 2020 at 2:57PM

You're facing the same dilemma as the majority of people posting on this forum at the moment. Everything you say about cancelling and losing your deposit it right.

If a tour operator cancels then they should offer a full refund* However at the moment nearly every airline, travel agent or tour operator is stalling on refunds and trying to get people to take vouchers. The industry arppear to be lobbying Government to temporarily modify the law due to the extraordinary circumstances (i.e. they need the cashflow to see them through)

* The law on this is the Packaged Travel Regulations 2018 - I'm not sure if Hoseasons fall under this or not?

XX44HAM44XX · 24 March 2020 at 3:14PM

DCFC79 said:

XX44HAM44XX said:

Hello, I've tried to make sense of where I stand for paying my holiday but there seems to be more questions than answers.
We paid a low deposit with Hoseasons £25 for a week's holiday in a cottage in Cornwall beginning at the end of June. The balance is due to be auto debited in couple of weeks, about £2.2k
If I cancel, I'll be liable for the full deposit which is £400
We have a party of 5 people (family), one being over 70 though unlikely to be classed as one of the 1.5million most vulnerable
The travel insurance (Aviva) doesn't cover cancellation due to the virus
I've read that Hoseasons are not offering refunds after they cancelled people's holidays, just telling people to rebook for a later date, there's a lot of people claiming this is not right and refunds must be given but Hoseasons are ignoring them.
Do I cancel and take it on the chin or pay and hope things will be getting back to normal in June? If they cancel on us then should we expect a refund? I don't think an alternative date would work, prices have been inflated by all accounts
We want to travel if we can but don't fancy paying £2k if I'm going to lose it.
Thanks

All depends what you want to do.
Martin covered pretty much the same question on his Coronavirus special last week, get it on catchup.
I believe the answer was either pay the deposit and hope its ok to travel OR lose what you have paid as a deposit but get it on catchup rather than take what I say as granted.
What do the terms and conditions say re events outside Hoseasons control ?

Thanks for your reply (and thanks to the other member) , booking terms say this

9 Events beyond our control Unless we say otherwise in these booking conditions, unfortunately we or the owner, Novasol A/S or service provider will not be legally responsible or have any liability to you either jointly or individually if we or they are prevented or delayed from carrying out our responsibilities under this contract as a result of events beyond our control and the inability or delay in carrying out such responsibilities will not be treated as a breach of these booking conditions. This means an event we or they could not, even with all due care, avoid, including but not limited to:  strike, lock-out or labour dispute;  natural disaster;  acts of terrorism, war, riot or civil commotion;  malicious damage;  keeping to any law or governmental order, rule, regulation or direction, including, for example, advice from the foreign office or other health or governmental or local authority to avoid or leave a country or a regional area within a country;  significant risk to human health such as the outbreak of a serious disease at the travel destination;  accident;  breakdown of equipment or machinery;  insolvency or bankruptcy of an owner or service provider;  fire, flood, snow or storm;  difficulty or increased cost in getting workers, goods or transport; and  other circumstances affecting the supply of goods or services.