Holiday in Cornwall May 2020 - Refund Rights

Aginoth

Hi all
Last Autumn my family and I booked a week in May 2020 at a holiday chalet on a holiday village in Cornwall.
When the Covid-19 outbreak started to affect the UK O made contact with the site to confirm that they were still open, at the time they were.
Since then the UK has been put into "Lockdown", Caravan/Holiday Parks ordered to close for non-permanent residents, and non-esential travel has been banned.
In addition due to a number of medications and conditions, I am in 12 weeks Shielded Quarantine.
We did not take out, nor do we otherwise have Travel Insurance.
What are our rights to a refund of the cost of the holiday? If indeed we have a right to a refund, as government rules and lockdown provisions prevent us being able to make use of our booking.
All advice gratefully received.

goingnomad

I would assume that the holiday park will offer you an opportunity to book your holiday for a later date. It is a difficult situation. Many parks are refusing refunds as if they had to refund everyone that had already booked with no new visitors at present it could force many to fail due to cashflow issues. On the other side, many people will now also be struggling fnancially and require the funds back to help to live off.

There is an argument that if the holiday park cannot provide the holiday you paid for thenthey would be in breach of contract and legally obliged to refund you. If they refuse though, then your only recourse would be through the courts, which is going to take a lot more time, more money and an element of risk.

Initially I would speak to them to see what they are offering. I had a non refundable booking with a large hotel group who have offered me either a full refund or a voucher for future use with a 15% uplift. Amazing customer service. But many campsites / holiday parks are small businesses and don't have the resourcs or cashflow to allow this.

Finally, I would always advise anyone booking a holiday, even within the UK to take out insurance at the time of booking their holiday, or multi-trip insurane if you take a number of short breaks. Most people think insurance is a waste of money when holidaying in the UK due to continued access to the NHS, until something like this happens!

goingnomad

In addition to the above - check your bank account. Many UK banks offer free travel insurance for certain accounts. I have a flex account with Nationwide which has no monthly fees but it offers free travel insurance, so check with your bank