Coronavirus FAQs

As the laws and guidance are being constantly changed by each government, this could affect customers' holidays. It is likely that changes may be announced on the news before we have been made aware of the full details. In these circumstances, our team will work quickly to ensure all options are available to you as soon as possible.

If we believe that your booking has been affected by a government announcement, we will endeavour to contact you via email within 48 hours of the announcement to set out your options.

We will use this page and our website to review and update our position to clearly set out your options and what you need to do. We kindly ask that you wait until we have had chance to email you before contacting us as this will allow our team to act quicker and resolve any questions you have as soon as possible.

If you have not been contacted by our team after 48 hours of an announcement and you believe you have been impacted, please contact our Customer Services team

Throughout the pandemic, and despite the constant changing of restrictions, different regional and national rules and the mix of law and guidance, we have done what we can to balance the interests of our guests and our holiday property owners. We have evolved policies we believe are fair, and which look after all parties involved in such unprecedented circumstances.

Our guiding principles when setting our policies are:

1. If the guest cannot go on their holiday due to a legal restriction from any of the UK’s governments then a guest will have the option to choose a transfer of their dates, a voucher for the full amount they have paid or a full refund for the amount they have paid.
2. If a guest chooses not to go on their holiday due to guidance from any of the UK’s governments then they can request a transfer of their dates if they wish, or we will do our best to facilitate a good outcome through one of our other policies. Unfortunately, in the case of government guidance, a full refund may not be possible.

Where possible, we are asking all guests to consider transferring their booking to a later date if they cannot, or do not wish to travel. This will ensure that guests still get the holiday they had intended and the owner of the property also gets the booking they had expected when the cancellation has occurred through no fault of their own, and often at short notice.

If your chosen holiday property is legally unavailable, we will contact you via email. You do not need to contact us until this has happened. Our teams will be unable to help you until we have contacted you.

Guests travelling from different countries may be subject to different laws and guidance within their own country, or at times, different laws or guidance when they enter the UK.

Guests should ensure they have checked the travel restrictions from their own government in their location before deciding to book. Once a booking has been made, it may not be possible to change it in the future should travel laws and regulations between countries change.

It is important you follow the guidance in both the area you live and the area you are travelling to. You should adhere to the highest level guidance out of the two possible options.

The UK government have announced that from the 5th January 2021 the country will be under national lockdown rules until mid-February 2021.

During this period holiday accommodation in England is closed and may only be allowed to open for a few exemptions which you can see on the government website here. Additionally, guests must not leave their home or the place they are living for holidays or overnight stays unless they have a reasonable excuse for doing so.

The lockdown in England will be reviewed on or before the 15th February 2021 and we will keep this page up to date with information as we have it. If your holiday begins after this date we will be in contact as soon as more information is available from the government.

You can read more about the different alert levels in England here.

You can check your postcode, or the postcode of your property, using the government postcode checker.

If you are unable to travel because of the national lockdown restrictions in England where possible we will contact you within 48 hours of a government announcement. However if you find yourself impacted after 48 hours and you have not heard from us, please contact our Customer Services team.

Your Options

We would ask that if you are affected by the England lockdown you move your booking to a later date if you can. Whilst the holiday may not take place on the date you had originally intended, a transfer of the booking will ensure that you still get the holiday you had intended and the owner of the property also gets the booking they had expected when the cancellation has occurred through no fault of their own, and often at short notice.

All of the options below are available by logging in to your online customer account after you have received your email from us and selecting the amend booking button against the relevant booking. If you cannot see these options within your account, please contact our Customer Services team.

Option 1: Transfer your booking to a later date
You will be able to transfer your booking to a later date after the lockdown ends if you wish to do so. Select the transfer option from within your online customer account and follow the instructions on the page.

Our team will process this as quickly as we can and get back to you once this is confirmed.

Option 2: Take a voucher for the full amount you have paid
You can opt to take a voucher for the full amount you have paid. If you wish to do this, please select the option from within your online customer account and the voucher will be credited to your account within 24 hours.

Option 3: Cancel your booking for a full refund
If none of the above options are suitable, you will have the option to cancel your booking and receive a refund for the full amount you have paid. You can do this by selecting the option from within your online customer account.

If your booking is due to depart on or after the 19th February we hope that you will be able to travel as planned. If the lockdown is extended and this means your booking cannot go ahead, or if your booking is affected by the tier system when it is re-introduced, we will contact you again and set out your options at that time.

We are currently accepting new bookings for holidays that depart on or after the 19th February 2021. You can make a booking beginning from this date or later in the normal way via our website or by contacting our reservations team.

The UK government will review the current restrictions on or before the 15th February 2021. Once this is complete it should become clearer where in England you can travel and from when.

We expect the government to announce a review of the lockdown on or before the 15th February 2021. Any customers we believe are affected will be contacted via email as soon as possible following any announcement.

The Welsh government have announced on 8th January that the country will continue to be under “Alert level four (very high risk)” until 29th January when on this day the Welsh government will review the current lockdown.

During a period whilst the country is in “Alert level four” holiday accommodation is open for essential purposes only (for work or other reasons). If you live in Wales going on holiday is not one of the permitted reasons to leave whilst the country is under alert level 4 restrictions.

You can read about the different alert levels in Wales here.

You can see the various alert levels in Wales and the regions they apply to by visiting the Welsh government website.

If your booking is unable to travel due to “Alert level four” restrictions in Wales where possible we will contact guests affected in this way via email within 48 hours of a government announcement. However, if you have checked the Welsh government website and find yourself impacted after 48 hours and you have not heard from us, please contact our Customer Services team.

If you are unable to travel because your party or holiday does not comply with level 4 restrictions in Wales, we would ask that you transfer your booking to a later date if you can.

Whilst the holiday may not take place on the dates you had originally intended, a transfer of the booking will ensure you still get the holiday you had intended and the owner of the property also gets the booking they had expected when the cancellation has occurred through no fault of their own, and often at short notice.

Where possible, we will contact guests affected in this way via email within 48 hours of a government announcement. However, if you have checked the relevant government website, find yourself impacted after 48 hours and you have not heard from us, please contact our Customer Services team.

Your Options

All of the options below are available from logging into your online customer account and selecting the amend booking button against the relevant booking. If you cannot see these options within your account, please contact our Customer Services team.

Option 1: Transfer your booking to a later date
You will be able to transfer your booking to a later date if you wish to do so. Select the transfer option from within your online customer account and follow the instructions on the page.

Our team will process this as quickly as possible and get back to you once this is confirmed.

Option 2: Take a voucher for the full amount you have paid
You can opt to take a voucher for the full amount you have paid. If you wish to do this, please select the option from within your online customer account and the voucher will be credited to your account within 24 hours.

Option 3: Cancel your booking for a full refund
If none of the above options are suitable, you will have the option to cancel your booking and receive a refund for the full amount you have paid. You can do this by selecting the option from within your online customer account.

If your booking is due to depart on or after the 30th January, we hope that you will be able to travel as planned. If the lockdown is extended and this means your booking cannot go ahead, or if your booking is affected by the tier system when it is re-introduced, we will contact you again and set out your options at that time.

We are currently accepting new bookings for holidays that depart on or after the 30th January 2021. You can make a booking beginning from this date or later in the normal way via our website or by contacting our reservations team.

The next review date in Wales is set to be on or before the 29th January 2021. Any customers we believe are affected will be contacted via email as soon as possible following any announcements.

Following the announcement from the Scottish First Minister on the 19th January 2021, mainland Scotland will be in “stay at home” measures until mid-February 2021.

During this period, mainland Scotland holiday accommodation will be closed for tourism purposes and will only be open for essential purposes which can be viewed here.

The lockdown measures in Scotland will be reviewed at the beginning of February and we will keep this page up to date with information as we have it.

You can read more about the different alert levels in Scotland here.

You can see the various protection levels in Scotland and the regions they apply to by visiting the Covid local protection areas information page.

You can read the detailed guidance for each local protection level here:

• Level 0
• Level 1
• Level 2
• Level 3
• Level 4

There are clear sections in the guidance for every area headed “holiday accommodation” which set out what you can and can’t do on holidays in Scotland. It is important you follow any guidance relevant to both the location you are travelling to and from.

If you are unable to travel because your party does not comply with level 0, 1 or 2 restrictions in Scotland please contact our Customer Services team to discuss your options.

If you are unable to travel because your party or holiday does not comply with level 3 or 4 restrictions in Scotland, we would ask that you transfer your booking to a later date if you can.

Whilst the holiday may not take place on the dates you had originally intended, a transfer of the booking will ensure you still get the holiday you had intended and the owner of the property also gets the booking they had expected when the cancellation has occurred through no fault of their own, and often at short notice.

Where possible, we will contact guests affected in this way via email within 48 hours of a government announcement. However, if you have checked the the relevant government website, find yourself impacted after 48 hours and you have not heard from us, please contact our Customer Services team.

Your Options

All of the options below are available from logging into your online customer account and selecting the amend booking button against the relevant booking. If you cannot see these options within your account, please contact our Customer Services team.

Option 1: Transfer your booking to a later date
You will be able to transfer your booking to a later date if you wish to do so. Select the transfer option from within your online customer account and follow the instructions on the page.

Our team will process this as quickly as possible and get back to you once this is confirmed.

Option 2: Take a voucher for the full amount you have paid
You can opt to take a voucher for the full amount you have paid. If you wish to do this, please select the option from within your online customer account and the voucher will be credited to your account within 24 hours.

Option 3: Cancel your booking for a full refund
If none of the above options are suitable, you will have the option to cancel your booking and receive a refund for the full amount you have paid. You can do this by selecting the option from within your online customer account.

If your booking is due to depart on or after the 19th February we hope that you will be able to travel as planned. If the lockdown is extended and this means your booking cannot go ahead, or if your booking is affected by further lockdown measures, including the re-introduction of the local Covid Protection level restrictions, we will contact you again and set out your options at that time.

We are currently accepting new bookings for holidays that depart on or after the 19th February 2021. You can make a booking beginning from this date or later in the normal way via our website or by contacting our reservations team.

The Scottish government plan to review the lockdown measures in Scotland at the beginning of February. Once the review is complete it should become clearer where in Scotland you can travel and from when.

The next review date in Scotland is set to be at the beginning of February 2021. Any customers we believe are affected will be contacted via email as soon as possible following any announcements.

If a government restriction is put in place that may affect some of our customers bookings, we may, at times, ask you to confirm that your party is compliant and legally able to travel (For example, the “rule of 6”).

If you confirm to us that your party is okay to travel (either at the time of booking, or retrospectively for bookings made before government restrictions are put in place), it will then mean you are confirming your party plan to travel with awareness of the current legal position and you will not have the other options available to you unless that legal position changes as those changes mean you can no longer lawfully travel.

Working examples:

1. A guest with 7 people on their booking who confirm their booking can go ahead due to their party being from one household will not be able to cancel and obtain a full refund closer to the holiday date if they simply change their mind.

2. A guest with 7 people on their booking who confirm their booking can go ahead due to their party being from one household, but are later subject to different lockdown measures that mean they cannot legally travel will have all of the options available to them again that are relevant to that new legal restriction.

You can request a transfer of your dates by logging in to your online customer account and selecting the amend booking button and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Our Transfer Team will then work to try and arrange this with the owner of the property for you and will be in touch in due course to let you know the outcome. We are working through transfer requests in departure date order, so please do allow for a delay if your request is for a booking further in the future.

While most transfer requests can be approved, there are occasions where in working with the Property Owner this is not possible for various reasons. If this is the case, our team will be in touch to inform you of your new options.

If you have chosen to transfer your booking, you have 24 hours in which to make further changes. Once this period has passed, it is not possible to change the resolution of the booking and the agreed new date will be final. Please contact our Customer Services team if you need to do this.

We are working through any transfer requests in holiday date departure order as quickly as we can. For all transfer requests, we work with the property owner to facilitate this before confirming with the guests.

Due to the high volume of demand for our Customer Services team, we may take a little longer to respond to you than we would normally like. However, you should find out if your transfer request has been successful within 10 working days.

If your booking is affected we will contact you via email. This email will set out all available options as well as the instructions on how to amend your booking.

If you select the "amend booking" button in your account prior to receiving this email, it is possible that you will not see all of the options available to you.

If you wish to cancel your booking, you can do so by logging in to your online customer account. Additional information regarding your specific circumstances will be available to you from within these pages.

You should continue to pay your balance when it is due and you can be safe in the knowledge that if you cannot go on your holiday due to a legal restriction, you will have the option of a full refund. Customers can pay their outstanding balance by logging into their online customer account. Due to the volume of enquiries we are currently receiving, we would appreciate it if all customers could make this payment online.

If you have transferred your booking to a more expensive date at the same property, you will be required to pay the difference in price for the new week. If you have transferred to a less expensive date, the difference will be refunded to you.

Our team are working hard to process all payments as quickly as possible. Any refunds should be paid within 21 working days of the cancellation taking place. However, we are experiencing unprecedented levels of cancellations and therefore your refund may take longer to process.

The safety of our guests, owners, housekeepers and the local communities are of paramount importance to us. Because of this, some of our owners have adapted their arrival times to allow for a new cleaning regime to take place. If this is the case, you will receive this information prior to your stay.

All of our properties are already cleaned to a high standard and in light of the current situation we have been working closely with our owners to ensure they are ready to re-open, including providing detailed cleaning guidance (using risk assessments and cleaning checklists developed by the Professional Association of Self Caterers), and encouraging owners to implement changeovers and key collections processes that minimise contact. You will be provided with your cottage owners contact details in advance of the stay so that you can ask any further specific questions.

We sincerely hope that does not happen, but in the (hopefully), unlikely event it does please ensure you follow the appropriate government advice. Please note this may be different depending on the country you are staying in. The UK Government guidance for hotels and other guest accommodation in England can be found here. You will see in section 2.2 that if you or a member of your party falls ill at a property, you should self-isolate and request a test. If you are confirmed to have Covid-19, you should return home if you can. When contacting the NHS, please specifically mention that you are staying in a holiday home. If you are advised by NHS to remain at the property, we will work with the owner to facilitate this as best we can and you will be required to pay the rates due for an additional stay and any other costs that relate to the additional stay.

Shops, attractions, pubs and other establishments are always subject to changes in their opening times and availability. It is not possible for anyone to predict the availability of such amenities and customers should always check directly with particular businesses if these are crucial to their holiday plans.

We know that customers want to do their best to help the local communities that they are visiting whilst on holiday. That is why we have put together our Responsible Holidays Charter where you can find ideas from us on how to holiday responsibly and sustainably, with additional information in light of coronavirus. You should, of course, always look to follow government and local advice in the areas you are travelling to and from.

If you have purchased insurance through holidaycottages.co.uk or another of The Travel Chapter brands, your insurance is provided by Towergate. Your insurance documents were provided to you at the time of booking.

If you purchased travel insurance through holidaycottages.co.uk before 17th March 2020, then you should be covered if: you are diagnosed as having coronavirus; you are required to self-isolate; or if you or a member of your household has contracted the illness, provided that the holiday date coincides with the period of self-isolation and you obtain a case reference from NHS111. Please see further information online. Please contact Towergate to discuss your circumstances further.

Policies purchased after Monday 17th March 2020 will not cover claims relating to coronavirus.

If you transfer your booking using our Special Customer Amendments Policy, please note we have been informed that Towergate will allow the policy to be transferred to the amended booking, but that it will not cover any future claim relating to coronavirus.

For policies purchased before 1st January 2020 contact: [email protected]

For policies purchased on or after 1st January 2020 contact: [email protected]