Coronavirus update

There are glimmers of change occurring on the travel front, which we are all delighted to see. Some destinations are already open for visitors and it appears that others will be opening soon.

The government has announced a list of countries to which we can travel without having to quarantine on our return to the UK, but there may still be restrictions in place for UK visitors to them, so it’s an evolving and complex picture.

Airlines are reviewing their flight schedules and some flights are now operating, although perhaps with reduced frequency and/or not from/to all their usual airports.

Similarly, hotels are opening in some destinations, but the safety of staff and guests is paramount, so some are taking a little more time to ensure that they have all the precautions in place to protect everyone and this may delay the opening of some properties.

The list is being updated constantly and countries can be added and removed at very short notice, so it is necessary to check frequently for information.

OUR CURRENT POLICIES CAN BE FOUND BELOW:

Holidays within the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands

Holidays to the Isle of Wight and Isles of Scilly are operating and we anticipate that it will be possible for holidays to go ahead.

Hotels in England and the Scottish Islands are operating and these bookings will go ahead as planned.

Holidays between Guernsey and Isle of Man: as a result of the airbridge in place, we anticipate that it will be possible for holidays to go ahead.

Owing to the numbers of holidays involved, we will be contacting you in strict travel date order. Currently, we are working on holidays scheduled to depart within 14 days.

Holidays to Jersey:  Jersey opened for visitors in July, it will be possible for many holidays to go ahead now as planned but as of 3 September this will depend on where customers have stayed in the preceding 14 days.  Full details can be found here - https://www.gov.je/Health/Coronavirus/Travel/Pages/CoronavirusTravelAdvice.aspx#anchor-0. We are in the process of contacting all customers departing within the next 48 hours to discuss the implications and their options.

To allow us to prioritise these customers, we ask that you do not contact us about holidays beyond these dates. We will be in touch as soon as we can.

Long haul holidays

This is a much more complex area. We are following all current Foreign Office Advice. Our policy is to contact you to discuss holiday options for customers travelling within 14 days.

Because of the numbers of clients involved, we are not pro-actively contacting anyone due to travel beyond this time frame, but we will contact you shortly if your holiday falls within the detailed travel dates. We are working through our bookings in strict date order, so if your travel date is later, then we will get to you as soon as we can.

What happens if your holiday cannot proceed as planned

We know that you will be very disappointed to not to be able to take your planned holiday at this time, but we very much hope that we can assist you to rearrange your holiday for later in the year or next year. We will be able to offer you a rebooking incentive, which will consist of a discount off a new holiday. We’re also working with all our travel partners to offer other holiday enhancements, so we would hope also to be able to offer some additional bonuses such as a free room upgrade or in resort credits to be spent locally. We’ll be able to discuss these with you when we contact you.

When we contact you, you will have the choice of:

• Rebooking your holiday for later this year or next year - there may be some date restrictions depending on the specific itinerary, but we will discuss this with you on an individual basis. However, we are working with our suppliers to be able to transfer holidays, as a minimum, to the same time next year. In addition we will offer you a monetary discount that can be applied to this new holiday as detailed above.
• Accepting a Refund Credit Note for the full value of the holiday - this will have several months validity allowing time to consider options before making a commitment to new arrangements. Very importantly, like holidays, Refund Credit Notes are financially protected under our ATOL licence (for flight inclusive holidays) or our ABTA bond (for all other holidays). That means that if anything happens to us, your money is safe and will be refunded. In addition we will offer you a monetary discount that can be applied to your new holiday when you are ready to book, as detailed above. Please note you will not be able to book online using a refund credit note, you will need to contact our reservations department when you are ready to book.
• If neither of these options is suitable and you would like to discuss alternatives, please email us on option3@premierholidays.co.uk and we will be in touch shortly.

Our teams are working really hard to assist our clients and advise them on their options. We have always been committed to providing great service and a great holiday experience. We really want to continue doing that and even if you cannot go ahead with your travel plans now, we really want to help you make plans for the time when you can. It’s what we do!

In the meantime we ask you to refer to the following dedicated page https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus