A message to all our customers

We have been supporting our lovely customers for more than 40 years – and we want to reassure you that you can continue to trust us now to help you through these unprecedented times.

We sincerely hope that you are staying safe and keeping well.

We are aware that our customer service in late March and early April was not up to our usual standard.

We are really sorry for that.

On 23rd March, when the country went into lockdown, all our customer facing staff in our 650 shops, more than 5,000 people could no longer work from their branch.

We have worked really hard to make sure that as many of them as possible now have the correct equipment so that they can work from home and continue to support our customers.

We have more than 2,500 people looking after your bookings now and we plan to increase this number as time goes on.

So from now on we would be very grateful if you have any queries that you contact your local branch by phone or by email. Click here for branch email addresses.

We will then be able to deal with your enquiry. I am sure you appreciate we are extremely busy trying to assist all of our customers with their holiday plans so thank you for your patience.

As you know, we’re the largest independent travel agent in the UK and one of the largest companies covered by ATOL, so your holiday is protected to the highest level – your money can only be spent on your holiday.

Thank you for your continued support and all the wonderful messages that we have received acknowledging that it has been quite a year for us, taking over Thomas Cook branches last October and now facing the challenges that we have today.

We really appreciate it.

With very best wishes,

John and Irene

FAQs
We are closely monitoring the ongoing Covid-19 (Coronavirus) situation and are following the advice of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office ('FCO'). Please bear with us as we are currently experiencing extremely high call volumes.

Rest assured that we are working closely with the relevant authorities to keep fully informed of all the latest developments.

If you have made travel plans, we recommend that you read the FCO travel advice for the country you are due to travel to.

Below you can find our FAQs with more information which may address concerns you have at this time:

What is the current situation?
As countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including travel and border restrictions, the FCO is currently advising British nationals against all but essential international travel. Any country, or area, may restrict travel without notice.

We currently do not know when this measure will be lifted, and we are contacting customers in departure date order to discuss your options so please bear with us.

Bookings for autumn 2020 and 2021 are not affected. In fact, on certain holidays booked with Hays Travel, you can get a Peace of Mind Guarantee – you can book now and cancel or change free of charge if you need to, up to six weeks before your departure date.

What if my holiday is affected by Coronavirus? Will I get a refund?
If the FCO advises against travelling to a country or region and this affects your holiday then we will contact you to discuss your options. If you have booked a package holiday then we will try to offer you alternative arrangements but if this is not possible, or you do not want to accept the alternative arrangements, then you will be entitled to a full refund. If you have made either a hotel only or flight only booking, then the options available to you will depend on the relevant airline or hotel and we will be in touch to discuss these with you.

Unless the FCO has advised against travel to your destination, then you don’t need to worry - your holiday will go ahead as planned. If the FCO are not giving such advice, our terms and conditions will still apply. This means that if you choose to cancel your holiday, normal cancellation charges will apply. The latest FCO travel advice including any countries which have restricted travel - can be found by clicking here.

What if I am waiting for a refund?
If you are unable to travel because of the Coronavirus you are entitled to a refund. We at Hays Travel will do everything in our power to ensure that this is paid as quickly as possible.

We are working hard to administer all refund requests from our suppliers. At the moment we are experiencing significant delays in receiving these refunds from some of our suppliers due to the volume of people requesting refunds.

We will issue the refund within 14 days of receiving the cancellation invoice from your supplier, however at present this is taking up to 6 weeks.

If you have not heard back from us within the timescales quoted then please contact your local branch or agent where you originally booked your holiday.

We are really sorry that this is taking longer than you would expect under normal circumstances and are very grateful for your patience during these unprecedented times.

Don’t worry, if you are entitled to a refund your money is safe.

What if I’m unsure about going on my holiday?
If there is no FCO advice against travel to your destination, it is up to you if you wish to go, but if you choose to cancel or change your arrangements in these circumstances, cancellation or amendment charges will apply.

My balance is due for my holiday departing later this year – what do I do?
Balances for holidays which are not currently cancelled are still due to be paid as per our booking conditions. Your balance is protected and should the FCO advise against travel at a later date then your money is protected and we can discuss changing your holiday. We will contact you to discuss this further.

You can pay your balance online via Manage my Booking.

And finally...
Thank you once again for booking with Hays Travel if you have any queries not covered above please do not hesitate to contact your local branch or the agent you booked with via email and they will get back to you as soon as possible.