Richard Millington
Our resident touring expert takes a look at what the corona virus means for your travel plans
Our tour guru explains the situation with cancelled tours and trips.
The situation with Covid-19 is changing daily. At the time of writing, new cases in the Wuhan province in China have fallen so much that they are starting to allow some travel once again. Europe is now described as the epicentre of the pandemic and it seems to be taking off at an alarming rate in the USA.
In among all the big issues that the pandemic brings it may well impact your motorcycling and travel plans. We have been speaking to the legal team at the Federation of Small Business, to the various hotel and ferry companies and with ABTOT to find out where you stand.
If you have booked a tour with a UK company there are two basics situations. Firstly, if your tour is going ahead and is not impacted by travel restrictions from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, or by actions of other governments, but you decide not to travel. At that point you are pretty much on your own. The tour operator is not obliged to refund you and your travel insurance is unlikely to pay out. Your 'disinclination to travel' is not grounds for a claim. The tour company may offer a transfer, but this is at their discretion.
Your cancellation may make the difference between the tour being financially viable or not. Allowing a transfer could mean the tour no longer goes ahead for the rest of the clients so don't be surprised if they cannot say yes.
Secondly, the FCO or other government body put travel restrictions in place that prevents the tour going ahead. Typically the FCO will advise against 'all but essential travel'. They can go one stage further and advise 'against all travel'. In either case the legal advice is that your contract with the tour operator has been 'frustrated'. Through no fault of either party, you or them, it cannot go ahead and so would be considered void. You are entitled to get the money paid to the tour operator refunded. So far so good, but it is not as clear cut as it seems.
If you have other travel you booked independently, like flights to the start of the tour, then this could be subject to a claim on your travel insurance. If the flights are also not operating due to the advice then the same contract law applies - it's void and you should get a refund. If the flights are still running then it's time to start reading the terms and conditions on your travel insurance.
If your tour goes to Spain via the ferry to Santander and Spain is closed then the tour can't go ahead simple? What if the tour is to Spain and Portugal and Portugal is shut, but Spain is open? The tour operator could re-route the trip and it still goes ahead, still with lots of great riding and hotels. How much re-routing is reasonable and fair is a matter for debate. If the trip is to go to the Italian Mato GP and Italy is closed, then no amount of re-jigging is going to get you to the race.
What if you have booked your own trip? Well, your hotel bookings will depend on how you booked them. If they are traditional pay on departure and cancellable then you are ok. If you have booked and pre-paid a discounted pay in advance rate, then you might be about to suffer some losses. If your hotel is in area that is closed to travel then the same principal would seem to apply. The contract is 'frustrated'. Of course, this assumes that the contract law of the country your hotel is in mirrors that in the UK. What if your trip travels through areas closed to travel, but the hotel is in an area still open? You can't get there, but they are open for business. This would seem to be one for your travel insurance. If you booked through
an online agent then it could get even more complex.
The same principles would seem to apply to the ferry companies. If the destination they are sailing to is open, then they are running and if you don't travel that's your decision. If their destination is closed by FCO or other advice then it's a no go and you are entitled to a refund. The ferry companies have all reacted pretty swiftly, but with varying degrees of support for customers.
Most of the ferry operators have been very flexible and offer free transfers and refunds. However, not all. One is still demanding you pay them in full, but if they have to cancel you will only get a voucher, not your money back, and that raises a concern that applies to all your bookings.
These are unprecedented times and the pressure on companies is huge. Many companies out there are honouring their obligations and offering a refund for cancellations, but some aren't. The question every consumer should ask is why? Why are tour operators, ferry companies or anyone not offering a refund? The simple answer is that they might not have enough money to make all the refunds. And if they haven't got the money now, it seems unlikely they will have it after several more weeks oflockdown.
So, you are faced with the unenviable choice. If you are not being offered a refund, do you demand it and hopefully get your money back, or do you keep faith and accept a voucher or transfer? If the company goes pop, and be certain some will, then you are at risk of losing your money. But if everyone demands a refund now, then that might even speed up companies' failure. Your best course of action is not clear, but what is clear is that if a company is not openly offering a refund, then alarm bells should be ringing.
What can help you make your decision is your and their insurance cover. Firstly, if you haven't already got good travel insurance with cancellation cover, then get some. If you have a policy in place then check the cover includes motorcycling, the countries you are travelling to and interruption to travel due to coronavirus. You should also be aware that travel insurance companies are quickly varying their terms on new policies. A few big players led the way, but many have followed suit, excluding interruption to travel due to coronavirus.
Secondly, if you have a tour booked with a company check that they have cover in place and comply with the Travel Package Regulations 2018. Any holiday company should be bonded, insured or run a client account to protect your payments prior to travel. Being bonded is the easiest to check as this is purchased in advance and can be checked on by you. Insurance is bought after you book on a case-by-case basis and a client account is down to the operator promising to keep your money safe and separate until after the tour is complete. Now would be a good time to check your tour company as the financial impact on tour operators is going to be significant and it is inevitable that some will go to the wall. Just make sure they don't take your money with them when they do.
The situation is changing daily and at some point the crisis will pass. If you have booked with a bonded tour company and have travel insurance in place, our advice would be to 'keep calm and carry on'. If your tour company is not bonded and is not offering refunds for cancelled tours, then you have to balance the risks and your financial exposure.
The fallout from the virus will be lengthy and could result in changes in the law as some cases set new precedents. There are apparently still cases rumbling on from the Icelandic Ash Cloud a decade ago. And there are already moves afoot to vary the requirement to offer refunds, although at present the law has not changed.