Villa Plus Cancellation and travel insurance

Boonsy641

HI.  First time on here so hope this hits the mark.  thanks in advance.
We booked a villa with Villa Plus in January this year for a villa in Spain in August for two weeks, we paid a deposit of 900 pounds.  Coronavirus hit..
We have just received an email from Villa Plus stating that the balance of a few thousand pounds is now due.  The current advice on the FCO website is no international travel and it also states that a 14 day quarantine will come into effect this month (May).  We put this to Villa Plus as it is our intention not to travel not least because we also have heath conditions that means Coronavirus is particularly dangerous for us.

Villa plus response is below:

"Thanks for your email, We do hope you’re safe and keeping well. We understand your concerns during this unprecedented time.

Your booking is ATOL protected, if the airline is unable to operate due to travel restrictions and state of emergency in the UK or in that destination, you will receive a refund.   

Full payment is required as at present, no restrictions have been declared for your dates – we do need to pay our villa owners and take payment for this booking despite the events associated with Coronavirus. If there are no restrictions and you personally decide not to travel, flights do still depart and villa is available for use, you would not be eligible for any refund. This would be a Travel Insurance Claim and cancelled in line with our booking conditions.

Any refund owed due to travel advice needs to be received from airline for the flights before we can process this back to your account- rest assured we are requesting a refund for any cancelled flights as soon as possible for those destinations affected by local state of emergency. We now have a dedicated team prioritising this.

If the balance is not paid it will be at a Loss of deposit paid as per our booking conditions and will be at risk of cancellation.

Please make payment via the balance link that has been sent to you, you can try phone us should you wish to discuss or reply via this email. Please note our volumes are extremely high right now so we apologise for any delay in advance.

Unfortunately, we cannot hold your deposit. The 2021 programme is unavailable as there is a delay with our villa owners due to the pandemic.

Any decision to cancel would be appreciated on receipt of this email so we can provide you with the relevant documentation for your insurers.

Thank you, "

We have been in touch with our travel insurance company (AXA) and they have said that they will not pay as the holiday is likely cancelled by us.  Villa plus are saying they will not pay as come august the FCO position may have changed and you may be able to travel.  My point is why would I risk my life and that of my wife at this time.  The travel insurance company (AXA) have been awful, very upsetting actually.. Villa Plus have equally been awful.. we feel so totally drained, upset and frankly used by both these companies.. the deposit is a lot of money for us and we could really use it..

Can anyone please offer advice?

Thank you so much

Andrew

Alan_Bowen

I am afraid the law is on their side at present. If you decide to cancel now when it is not known whether travel to Spain will be possible in August, that is your choice and it will be at the loss of deposit. If you pay in full, and you cannot, as opposed to chose not to, travel you are entitled to a refund of the full cost. Villa Plus, unlike a number of companies, appear to suggest they will be offering refunds as opposed to Credit Notes and there must be a possibility that holidays to Spain will not operate from the UK in August but no one knows the answer at this stage.

If you are certain you do not want to travel and equally do not want the risk of paying more and deciding to cancel later when you will lose more than just the deposit, you may wish to take the bull by the horns and cancel now and keep the rest of the money in your pocket rather than theirs

Boonsy641

Thanks Alan.  In my heart I thought this might be the case.  Its just too much of a risk for us to travel when everything is so up in the air..  We will cancel and yet again it seems that the little man in the street gets hammered once again.  Your reply is clear and concise and I truly thank you for that.  Andrew

Life__Goes__On

With the villa,  it you choose not to stay if they are accepting guests,  then  the contract has been fulfilled, so can't see you getting any refund from them.
The response from the insurance  seems odd,without give a full reason. You need to find out if you are covered for FCO advice

russell2511

Hi everyone.
we have a villa booked in Spain through Villa Plus due to arrive there on 26th of June.
As Spain are not dropping restrictions on tourism unti 1st of July are we legally obliged to get refund from Villa Plus or at least from our insurance which is through a bank as part of package. Worried as I have read horror stories about Villa Plus refusing to issue refunds.
Thanks

smallblueplanet

russell2511 said:

Hi everyone.
we have a villa booked in Spain through Villa Plus due to arrive there on 26th of June.
As Spain are not dropping restrictions on tourism unti 1st of July are we legally obliged to get refund from Villa Plus or at least from our insurance which is through a bank as part of package. Worried as I have read horror stories about Villa Plus refusing to issue refunds.

Is it a 'villa only' booking? I think you will have to see nearer the time. If the villa is available you won't be eligible for a refund from VP. 
Am waiting on a VP villa only refund too. Should have travelled to Crete on 12 May, but even if I could get there Greece was 'closed'! So have started a chargeback with my bank as VP have not been in contact at all. 

M1ke123

@russell2511 / @smallblueplanet

You may have already seen this, but it's worth having a looking at VP's latest update on their website as they are now offering cash refunds for villa only bookings

15 June 2020

N.B. Information below is correct at time of writing.

Important News for Villa Only Customers due to holiday up to 28 June 2020

In the light of recent developments, we will now provide a full refund to those Villa Plus villa only customers who believe that is the best option for them. It was never our intention for these customers to be left out of pocket, but we are now aware how many of them are unable to make travel insurance claims and want to help them too.

Whilst we understand the general remit of the Competition and Market Authority (CMA), we believe that their rules / regulations do not extend to the provision of overseas holidays and we will be asking the CMA to clarify this point.

Notwithstanding this, we maintain that we have acted lawfully throughout the COVID-19 crisis and within our terms and conditions, which have been in place for over a decade. Under the PTRs, we are not legally obliged to refund villa only customers in a scenario where villas can be made ready for occupation, but customers cannot leave the UK.

We believed that the offer of a villa only voucher was a reasonable gesture of goodwill, but for those customers that have insisted on a refund, we will indeed now refund you in full, in departure date order. We will send you an e-mail very soon to confirm what will happen next.

We apologise for any worry that we have caused to our customers

N.B.

(i) those villa only customers who are pursuing insurance claims via their travel insurance, please continue with the process and we will send you a voucher for an additional £200 for use against a future Villa Plus holiday.

(ii) those villa only customers who have already requested a villa only voucher, we will send you a value for an additional £150.

It has been a fast-moving and complex period and we accept that on occasions our communications might have been better.  We are grateful to our customers for their patience and understanding and are putting in place measures to improve this.