As I understand it, from 15th February, UK residents and Irish nationals arriving into the UK will have to quarantine in hotels for 10 nights at their own expense. They will have to stay in their rooms and will only be allowed out if accompanied by a security guard. Currently, the rules apply to those arriving from 33 ‘red list’ hot spots - mostly in South America and Africa where it’s feared that covid variants have already spread.

Could you tell me what JY’s cancellation policy is regarding travellers already booked on holidays to these ‘red list’ countries please. And will customers be able to cancel their holiday, free of charge, if their chosen destination is subsequently added to the ‘red list’? 

I received my first covid jab last weekend and have my second jab scheduled for 1st May, so I’ve started to investigate the potential for taking a holiday later this year. But obviously I don’t want to be presented with an additional, very expensive, bill for 10 nights accommodation and meals in a London hotel - not to mention the shear boredom of being virtually locked up for 10 days!

Many thanks

Mike

Great to hear from you, I hope that you are keeping well.

We continue to monitor all UK Government and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advice regards travel to destination. Just You’s Reassurance Guarantee is an extremely flexible booking policy and we will work to find the best outcome for our customers should they be affected by a change in Government advice.

Just You’s Reassurance Guarantee has been put in place to give all of our customers peace of mind during these uncertain times. For any booking made before 30th April 2021 you can change or amend the booking as many times as you need without incurring any amendment fees or arrangement fees*. In terms of cancellation, you can now cancel any booking made before 30th April 2021, up to 45 days before departure without losing any money. And of course your money is 100% protected. Any money you pay to us is held in an independent Trust Fund, governed by 3rd party trustees. It is also a condition of our ATOL license and is regularly monitored by the Civil Aviation Authority. We don’t receive any money until after you’ve come back from your holiday – so your money is 100% protected no matter what.

We hope to see you and all of our other customers on a Just You holiday really soon.

Best wishes and stay safe.

Matt

*Terms and Conditions apply - please check the website

Thank you for your very prompt reply. As I said, I’m looking into what might be reasonably achievable in terms of a holiday later this year, perhaps around autumn time. What with covid passports, covid tests (PCR or lateral flow?) and now being presented with the possibility of being quarantined on return to the UK, it seems that taking a holiday overseas this year is going to prove quite complicated.

However, I have no intention of putting myself in line for what amounts to a very expensive (£1750 for hotel, transfer & testing) 10 day prison sentence so I won’t book a holiday to any country currently on the ‘red list’. But I am concerned about what my rights & options would be if I took the plunge and booked to visit a destination that subsequently got added to the list.

I’ve really missed my JY holidays and, like everyone else, would simply like to have something to look forward to. Maybe things will become clearer in the coming weeks and months.

Many thanks again

Mike

When can we expect the new brochure to be ready so I can start tentatively planning?

Thats good to hear, 2 of my 2020 holidays were cancelled and moved to 2021, and now with the new restrictions looks like my Uganda trip in June could be put back again and with Australia talking of keeping borders closed for the year, my christmas holiday may still be at risk, so looks like I won't manage to fill my passport before it expires.

The only positive from all this is my carbon footprint for 2020 was only 1.8 tonnes of CO2 compared to a planned 8.9 tonnes

Hoping to get back to travelling some time soon.

Hope everyone at JY is well and staying safe

Tim

Thanks for the message, we are in the process of finalising all of our 2022 dates, should not be too much longer. We have some UK breaks that we will also be launching soon...Once everything is on the website I will let everyone know.

Stay safe

Cheers

Matt

Everyone at Just You HQ is well thanks and thank you for your message.

As you say at least there is a positive of not travelling in terms of our carbon footprints.

We look forward to travelling with you and everyone else again very soon.

Cheers

Matt

I too will be interested to see what UK breaks JY will be offering. Whilst your reassurance guarantee provides a degree of confidence, as you have pointed out, any changes and cancellations that are allowed only apply up to 45 days before departure.

However, if a country gets added to the ‘red list’ less than 45 days before departure, I’m assuming that normal cancellation charges would then apply. Those charges range from between 75% - 100% of the total holiday cost, depending on when any particular country is added to the list. In addition, we’ve been told that a country can get added to the ‘red list’ at a few hours notice which, in theory, could leave customers in the unenviable position of choosing between cancelling their holiday completely (and losing the full cost of the holiday) or attempting to book a quarantine hotel at huge expense at the last minute and facing the prospect of 10 days imprisonment on their return.

I have to say that, when you look into the detail of JY’s guarantee, it falls some way short of the reassurance that I was looking for. At the very least I would have expected JY to say that any tour affected in this way would not go ahead and the option to transfer one’s booking to a later date would be offered to all customers.

So, as things stand, I won’t be booking any holiday overseas and will await your UK offerings with great interest.

Mike

I do feel that the Just You Reassurance Guarantee is exceptionally flexible and offers a great degree of reassurance. For any booking made before the 30th April 2021 you are able to change or amend your booking (in accordance with our terms and conditions) as many times as you like without incurring amendment fees, which means if the destination list changes you are able to move your holiday to another date. Flexibility is key for all of our customers and we are trying to support all changes as much as we can.

We will be updating the website in due course with new UK tours and 2022 dates for some of our most popular tours.

Kind regards

Matt