Holiday insurance for UK travel

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I’m UK-based and we’ve just paid quite a lot of money for a UK hotel on hotels.com but saved ourselves £50 by going for the non-refundable option, meaning we lose all our money if we need to cancel at any point.

It looks like I can get travel insurance for about £6 or £7 that would cover this. The excess is £50 but at at least we only pay if we cancel.

Has anyone else ever done this before? Just checking I haven’t missed anything that would make this invalid as never booked travel insurance for a staycation before.
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  • Tomby1
    Tomby1 Posts: 228 Forumite
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    I’m UK-based and we’ve just paid quite a lot of money for a UK hotel on hotels.com but saved ourselves £50 by going for the non-refundable option, meaning we lose all our money if we need to cancel at any point.

    It looks like I can get travel insurance for about £6 or £7 that would cover this. The excess is £50 but at at least we only pay if we cancel.

    Has anyone else ever done this before? Just checking I haven’t missed anything that would make this invalid as never booked travel insurance for a staycation before.

    You'll be covered for cancellation, obviously check the Policy Wording of the policy you're looking at to check any exclusions. You should be covered for cancellation, for example, if you or a close family member falls seriously ill and you are unable to reasonably travel.

    You'll obviously rely on the NHS for emergency medical treatment , but you may have cover for hospital transfers to get you back to a hospital closer to home, if you do fall seriously ill on holiday.

    Many insurers have limitations on how far you need to travel to be covered (they wouldn't want to cover you for staying down the road) and you'll often need to be travelling for at least 2 consecutive nights (sometimes more).
  • jimbo6977
    jimbo6977 Posts: 1,226 Forumite
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    I currently work for a national coach tour operator and we sell tons of UK-only insurance. Main benefits are cancellation cover, repatriation (seen the price of walk-up long-distance train travel recently?) and accommodation for spouse/companion in case of hospitalisation.

    But all policies are different. Check the cover suits your purposes.
  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 16,486 Forumite
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    The key phrase is "Need to cancel". You can't just decide you don't want to go and expect the insurance company to reimburse you. Check under what circumstances you will be allowed to cancel, and if there is a minimum stay requirement for the insurance to activate.
  • McKneff
    McKneff Posts: 38,825 Forumite
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    I’m UK-based and we’ve just paid quite a lot of money for a UK hotel on hotels.com but saved ourselves £50 by going for the non-refundable option, meaning we lose all our money if we need to cancel at any point.

    It looks like I can get travel insurance for about £6 or £7 that would cover this. The excess is £50 but at at least we only pay if we cancel.

    Has anyone else ever done this before? Just checking I haven’t missed anything that would make this invalid as never booked travel insurance for a staycation before.

    Which travel insurnance company is this, I have never been able to find one that does cancellation only.
    make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
    and we will never, ever return.
  • stephb34
    stephb34 Posts: 2,064 Forumite
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    I’m UK-based and we’ve just paid quite a lot of money for a UK hotel on hotels.com but saved ourselves £50 by going for the non-refundable option, meaning we lose all our money if we need to cancel at any point.

    It looks like I can get travel insurance for about £6 or £7 that would cover this. The excess is £50 but at at least we only pay if we cancel.

    Has anyone else ever done this before? Just checking I haven’t missed anything that would make this invalid as never booked travel insurance for a staycation before.

    Depends why you need to cancel on whether you can make a claim or not. Also you could purchase excess waiver then there would be no excess if you can claim.
  • pogofish
    pogofish Posts: 10,852 Forumite
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    If only MSE had a UK Holidays Forum...!
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 19,130 Forumite
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    I’m UK-based and we’ve just paid quite a lot of money for a UK hotel on hotels.com but saved ourselves £50 by going for the non-refundable option, meaning we lose all our money if we need to cancel at any point.

    It looks like I can get travel insurance for about £6 or £7 that would cover this. The excess is £50 but at at least we only pay if we cancel.

    Has anyone else ever done this before? Just checking I haven’t missed anything that would make this invalid as never booked travel insurance for a staycation before.

    There is usually a minimum length of stay.
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 19,130 Forumite
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    McKneff wrote: »
    Which travel insurnance company is this, I have never been able to find one that does cancellation only.

    I think the OP means he only has to pay the £50 if he cancels rather than paying the extra £50 for a refundable booking, If he doesn't cancel he doesn't need to pay the extra £50

    He didn't mean it was cancellation only.
  • gettingtheresometime
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    McKneff wrote: »
    Which travel insurnance company is this, I have never been able to find one that does cancellation only.
    sheramber wrote: »
    I think the OP means he only has to pay the £50 if he cancels rather than paying the extra £50 for a refundable booking, If he doesn't cancel he doesn't need to pay the extra £50

    He didn't mean it was cancellation only.



    The way I read the post was the OP saved £50 by booking a non refundable tariff.


    The policy they are considering has, co-incidentally, a £50 excess
  • Tomby1
    Tomby1 Posts: 228 Forumite
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    The way I read the post was the OP saved £50 by booking a non refundable tariff.


    The policy they are considering has, co-incidentally, a £50 excess

    I didn’t see any mention of excess or policy by the OP?

    There are plenty of zero excess policies out there and you can pick one up for well under £10 for a week of cover.
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