Holiday Home Company encouraging us to break government rules on covid!

bradders1983

sgun said:

Holiday letting firms have not come through this looking good. It might be worth contacting the owner directly.

Behave. They have had months of no income at all. None. The make up of the people going to their cottage is none of their concern.

Caz3121

bioboybill said:

 Where do we stand?

If you have decided you do not wish to travel, have you asked whether they would re-advertise the accommodation with an agreement that you would cover any losses (if they advertise at a cheaper price) then you at least have a chance of not losing all your money.

sgun

bradders1983 said:

sgun said:

Holiday letting firms have not come through this looking good. It might be worth contacting the owner directly.

Behave. They have had months of no income at all. None. The make up of the people going to their cottage is none of their concern.

Sorry, I disagree. You dont need to tell me to "behave" either. Unless you are still.living in 1995 when people actually used that phrase.
Holiday letting agents are just that, an agent. A third party acting on behalf of the owners. Many of them have not been following the law regarding cancellations, non-refundable deposits and rebookings. They certainly didnt have months of no income - the actual owners will have lost out but the agents will have still taken their booking fees and admin fees from both the renter and the owner of the cottage and will in most cases  not have had to refund either (and rightly so, that is their money for services rendered). 

bradders1983

There is nothing to refund. The cottage is there, in an area with no local lockdown, and available to be used. 

The OP not wanting to go with a set of other people is absolutely none of their concern.  I suggest he speaks to his travel insurers.

sgun

bradders1983 said:

There is nothing to refund. The cottage is there, in an area with no local lockdown, and available to be used. 

The OP not wanting to go with a set of other people is absolutely none of their concern.  I suggest he speaks to his travel insurers.

I agree, I wasn't saying they were due a refund. My original point was that they might get a better response by either contacting the owner direct or by asking the letting agent to readvertise the letting in the hope that someone else takes it. If that happens then the OP can get a refund. I'm in Northumberland, holiday lettings are really popular at the moment. 
However the OPs point and title of the thread still stands, there are supposed to be measures in place to help stop the spread of Covid but the woolly and vague "guidance" doesnt support this.

bioboybill

Thanks for all the replies, even those I don’t agree with. I do agree that it is up to us whether we want to go. My point was that although you could argue that “it’s only advisory” the fact is that the advice is there to get a grip on this pandemic. If we just do what we like then we will never beat it and tens of thousands more will die. As it happens the owner was a lot more understanding than the agency and has allowed us to change the booking to next March when things will hopefully be better. That is all we were asking for really.

[Deleted User]

That’s great to hear. The point being made was the owner wasn’t obliged to do this and if they said no then you wouldn’t have any legal recourse.  Some will, some won’t and it is then up to the individual people to make what they can out of it whilst staying as safe as possible.  People should by now understand how they can do their own bit to prevent contracting or passing on the virus.  Fingers crossed you will all get there in March.