UK holiday cancelled 3 times.

Extrafox

My wife, two school age kids and I live in central Scotland. Once a year we visit south Wales where I have family. We were booked directly with the owner of a property to go at Easter 2020 and paid by bank transfer. The first lockdown cancelled that holiday. The person we booked with kept our money and we re-booked for October 2020 (and paid a little more for a few more days). When that date came around, travel was not permitted between counties in Wales unless it was for a 'valid reason', such as work, education or medical purposes. I can't remember what the rules were in Scotland at the time, but they would have been no less lax.

We rebooked a third time for Easter 2021, but we were not allowed to leave our local area here in Scotland until after the dates we had booked for. Travel within parts of Wales was allowed, and the owner re-sold part of the time we were to have been there to someone local.

When I enquired about booking for a fourth time, the owner said that he now only takes bookings through a large UK wide site (except for a few dates that they have left him). As we have school age children, none of the dates that have not been ringfenced for the large UK wide site are of any use to us. We cannot transfer the booking to the large UK wide site and so have paid for something that we technically can use (as not every single date is given to that company), but practically speaking, we cannot ever take the holiday.

As I paid using bank transfer, I know that I have no rights such as Section 75 to claim our money back. We have been offered a partial refund of the cost that was recouped from the re-booking he took, but are we really just stuffed here and have to write the rest of the money off? We want to re-book the holiday. All cancellations were due to Covid. The owner is not saying we cannot book the property ever, but the dates he has given us are of no use to us. Is there anything we can do?

sheramber

If there are dates available through the Uk site would he agree to refund you if you book and pay through that site?

he would get payment from the site and then could refund you what you had paid.

[Deleted User]

Because you cancelled the last time due to COVID restrictions where you live the partial refund is probably the best you can get.

If you still want to go then all you can do is ask him if he would please offer some dates more suitable, but otherwise he probably isn't obligated to even offer the refund unless there is something specific in the contract about it.

Extrafox

The property owner has now said that as travel was allowed within Wales, I will not get back the money for the time I booked that could not be resold. What he does not take into account is the people from outside Wales could not enter Wales at the time (due to Covid restrictions). I do not agree with his refusal of a refund, but the only way forward I can see is getting legal advice. Does anyone see another way forward?

sheramber

The fact that you could not  travel there is not the owner's concern. The property was available.

Any claim would be through travel insurance if you had it and it included local government restrictions.

Getting a refund for the time he could relet it is as good as you will get.

onashoestring

Any Legal advice would be based on the T&Cs of your booking - what do they say ? 

What about the travel insurance that you took out for Easter 21 trip ? If you bought one with Covid cover - now that the owner has stated they won’t refund you can claim on that ? 

mattyprice4004

Extrafox said:

The property owner has now said that as travel was allowed within Wales, I will not get back the money for the time I booked that could not be resold. What he does not take into account is the people from outside Wales could not enter Wales at the time (due to Covid restrictions). I do not agree with his refusal of a refund, but the only way forward I can see is getting legal advice. Does anyone see another way forward?

The owner is right - travel restrictions affecting you don’t matter, what matters is that the service was available for you to use. 

Feel free to take legal advice, but that’s just what they’ll tell you too. 

eskbanker

If you're looking for straws to clutch at, you (or a lawyer) might be able to construct a frustrated contract argument, based around the CMA's (non-binding) guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds

https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/cancellations-holiday-accommodation