Holiday Insurance/ no show at hotels

Rick 1600

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If I have 16 nights booked in various hotels across Europe and I have a breakdown and can’t make it to the hotels, I’ll still have to pay for the rooms . Anyone know of a policy covering this?
 
When I book hotels I have the option of canceling before 3 pm on the day. Works for me. JJH
 
Most breakdown (mechanical as opposed to mental) policies will - if the vehicle is not repaired easily and reasonably quickly - provide you with alternative transport, most probably a car, so that you can continue your holiday. This leaves you in the same financial position as you would have been in, had your vehicle not broken down, so you are no worse off.

If in doubt, always read the policy.
 
Yes, but they cost more per night....


What costs more per night?

If the policy provides you with the car / means of transport to continue your journey, you arrive at the same hotel(s) so your costs are the same.
 
Yes but what about all the other nights you might have to rescudle? JJH
 
Ok,so I was thinking of repairing the bike and carrying on, maybe to another destination. I’m not to worried, I have , achem, a 1600...
 
Have a look at the M&S Travel insurance policy document. You can download it (without buying the policy)and it is very clear. M&S also cover motorcycle-based holidays.

Al
 
or use booking.com which allows cancellation right up to the day

Us too, works a treat.

We also use M&S travel cover - OK until aged 80 incidentally, although remember to advise any notifiable health conditions. 45 days max per trip.
 
or use booking.com which allows cancellation right up to the day

it might - check the T&C carefully as some of the places I used in France last month only gave free cancellation if 7 days before the stay

most holiday policies will cover losses if your journey is delayed in some way - but check to see the exclusions on an individual policy and to see what the policy excess is, which may be more than the the cost of the hotel

then check your breakdown policy as whilst you may pay for a hotel in one place, your breakdown policy underwriter may pay for you to stay in a Kyriad near the repair shop if you chose that option. Unless you were originally booked into a 5* hotel you will not be out of pocket by much.
 
Be careful regarding the repair and carry on option, mate got caught out last year when his bike broke down (Aprilia leaking clutch slave cylinder) between the recovery driver, the local ford mechanic and himself they managed to rebleed the clutch and get it working .

This wasn't good enough for the insurer , he had to have it transported and leave it for a week at an Aprilia dealer and take a hire car , if he had continued they stated that his breakdown cover would be suspended ntil he returned to the UK ie he would be on his own
 
Be careful regarding the repair and carry on option, mate got caught out last year when his bike broke down (Aprilia leaking clutch slave cylinder) between the recovery driver, the local ford mechanic and himself they managed to rebleed the clutch and get it working .

This wasn't good enough for the insurer , he had to have it transported and leave it for a week at an Aprilia dealer and take a hire car , if he had continued they stated that his breakdown cover would be suspended ntil he returned to the UK ie he would be on his own

They can be a bit illogical - last year a mate with a CNash policy had a clutch failure. We had deduced it was just a faulty seal on the Trophy clutch (1200 mode, 36,000 miles, 3 years old) as all we did when topping up & bleeding the clutch was to push more clutch fluid into the engine sump.

It was suggested that the bike was taken from St Cloud in the Jura to Grenoble where a Triumph dealer was located and would presumably have, or be able to get a seal repair kit. Said rider had a hotel reservation for 3 nights in Grenoble. No, apparently it was better to take the bike to Annecy to a non-Triumph workshop, stick the rider & spouse in a Kyriad on an an industrial park several miles from the town centre. Leave them there for 4 nights with no transport whilst the repair shop got a part posted from Grenoble. Said couple rejoined us in Epernay after we had 3 nights in Grenoble, rode the Alps and had a lovely overnight in Dijon. There was no logic to the process followed by the recovery service. They saved a few miles in travel costs but paid for 4 nights in a hotel and have managed to alienate a loyal CN customer as they offered no choices.
 
Yes but what about all the other nights you might have to rescudle? JJH

A decent breakdown policy will provide you with onwards transport and meet the costs (the loss) you incur if you lose pre-booked hotel bookings that are otherwise non-cancellable. It follows that if you haven't booked anything - nor paid a non-refundable deposit against your bookings - you haven't lost anything.

Similarly, if you breakdown on your last day abroad, say on the final run up to Calais for an afternoon crossing to England and then to home, a decent policy will meet the cost of the hotel stay in France that has been forced upon you due to nothing more than the breakdown.
 
or use booking.com which allows cancellation right up to the day

Depends on the hotel. booking.com try to get hotels to sign up to the late cancellation policy. Not all hotels sign up for this. We aways took a non returnable deposit Sad to say there are a lot of people lot there who abuse the system booking two or more hotels and cancelling one at the last moment.

Think of it from the perspective of a owner of a small hotel, the chances of selling a room, possibly booked months in advance , are almost nil if cancelled at short notice. That is lost income that can never be recovered.

The minumum commision charged by booking.com is 12% so often you can get a better deal by going direct to the owners

John
 
Depends on the hotel. booking.com try to get hotels to sign up to the late cancellation policy. Not all hotels sign up for this. We aways took a non returnable deposit Sad to say there are a lot of people lot there who abuse the system booking two or more hotels and cancelling one at the last moment.

Think of it from the perspective of a owner of a small hotel, the chances of selling a room, possibly booked months in advance , are almost nil if cancelled at short notice. That is lost income that can never be recovered.

The minumum commision charged by booking.com is 12% so often you can get a better deal by going direct to the owners

John

It's often worth paying the premium, if like me, you book maybe 7 rooms for 10 people some months ahead. People drop out, people come in, people come for 4 days not 10. The flexibility booking.com and others offer makes it relatively low risk for people like me that are amateur travel agents, earning nothing for our trouble, except maybe 3% of that 12% as a Quidco kickback.
As you very well know, if one of my touring parties descends on your hotel, you will make a decent amount of money as we tend to consume copious amounts of beverage. We were just 5 people in Malta in 2014. The group has expanded since then.
So, do not decry booking.com as it has created a new sector of the market that was just not possible before. Individuals like me cannot arrange a trip for a dozen people if we have to start taking deposits as a) we may lose money and b) we may fall foul of legislation as we are not bonded travel agents.
 
It's often worth paying the premium, if like me, you book maybe 7 rooms for 10 people some months ahead. People drop out, people come in, people come for 4 days not 10. The flexibility booking.com and others offer makes it relatively low risk for people like me that are amateur travel agents, earning nothing for our trouble, except maybe 3% of that 12% as a Quidco kickback.
As you very well know, if one of my touring parties descends on your hotel, you will make a decent amount of money as we tend to consume copious amounts of beverage. We were just 5 people in Malta in 2014. The group has expanded since then.
So, do not decry booking.com as it has created a new sector of the market that was just not possible before. Individuals like me cannot arrange a trip for a dozen people if we have to start taking deposits as a) we may lose money and b) we may fall foul of legislation as we are not bonded travel agents.

I no longer own the hotel or have any connection with it so have no real axe to grind. I was not decrying booking.com, just pointing out that their policy about very late cancellations is rather one sided.

You rightly point out that guests (especialy bikers) add to revenue by eating and drinking. This potential revenue is also lost with a cancellation The guest is absolved of all risk and the hotel owner faces losses. You can't put a night in a hotel room back on the shelf and sell it another time! Imagine if a large group cancelled at short notice, the hotel owner not only loses the income but they may have brought extra staff in to cope with the numbers. This actualy happened to one of our neighbours in Austria,a large group coming for a week at New Year cancelled the day before they were due to arrive. Not only did they lose the room prices and the profit on food and drink but also they had to pay at staff who had been promised work and throw away the perishable food they had bought in. They found out later that the group had booked two hotels and had made the choice as to which one to cancel based on snow conditions at the different resorts.

I could give lots of other reason why we stopped using booking.com but they are not to do with the cancellation policy. We never signed up to that policy anyway.

When I did own the hotel we worked with booking.com for several years but got most of our bookings through our own marketing activities. As you say group bookings tend to evolve and I think we were fairly flexible on this. I think it was quite rare for a group booking to remain as originally booked. Thankfully most got bigger but a lot got smaller. Guests contacting us directly could explain their needs and problems far easier than though booking.com where the options are limited to cancelling or adding room.

I have no problem with people using booking.com but I do have a problem with that minority who abuse the system. Anyone who has tried to organise a group trip will know that unless people have to stump up money upfront you will get lots of takers who then drop out. I found that out the hard way 40 years ago when I booked ferry crossngs for a car club only to have several people fail to turn up leaving the rest of us with a bill to pay. Paying a deposit shows a comitment that sorts those serous about coming from the dreamers.

I think it comes down to why peple are using booking engines like booking.com. If it is convenience and the cancellation policy is a bonus that you don't expect to need then that is fine. If the last minute cancellation policy is you main reason for using such systems then I would suggest you are being less than fair. You might think it matters little to large hotel chain but it can be a serious issue for small hotel.

John
 


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