Protecting your holiday
We introduced our COVID-19 Promise to make your commitment as risk-free as possible. As well as our Cancellation Refund Guarantee and ultra-low deposit for destinations that remain closed, we promise you complete flexibility on date, destination, and name changes.
Under the terms of our Cancellation Refund Guarantee, we will refund you the bulk of your money up to the day of your departure, if for any reason, you cannot travel due to COVID-19*.
On top of the Cancellation Refund Guarantee, our COVID-19 Promise enables you to confirm your holiday with an initial payment of just £100 per person as well as complete flexibility with destination, date, and name changes up to a month before departure. Your full deposit will be due only when your holiday is confirmed 'travel-ready.'
Our insurance partners Campbell Irvine offer an excellent comprehensive policy that covers specific COVID-19 related claims.
*In the event that we are not able to provide the holiday, we will always provide a full refund in accordance with our statutory duty under the Package Travel Regulations.
You can now confirm your holiday with an initial fully refundable deposit of just £100 per person (occasionally, we will need to ask you for additional upfront costs such as for flights, villas or expedition costs). The remainder of the deposit will be due when your holiday is confirmed as 'travel ready'.
For any COVID-19 related reason, we will offer complete flexibility on destination and date changes right up until the month before your departure. Note that we will pass on additional charges.
In the month before your departure, if you decide that you would rather not travel for any reason related to COVID-19, we will refund you in full minus 10% of the total holiday price and any non-recoverable costs*. What's more, we will give you a voucher worth £1,000 to use on a new booking. No ifs, no buts.
Your COVID-19 Promise will be applicable right up to (and including) your day of departure.
Please note that in all circumstances where you are unable or disinclined to travel due to Covid related reasons, you should, in the first instance, contact your insurer. Our Covid Promise is designed to apply in situations not normally covered by an insurance policy.
* We will always inform you before you confirm your booking what the non-recoverable costs will be. You can then make an informed decision. There will be two areas to consider:
1. Flight: there will typically be a cancellation and amendment 'fee' from the airline
2. 'In-country' costs: for most destinations, the in-country costs will be zero. However, there are exceptions, particularly in the Maldives and Bhutan, where they could be significant.
In a scenario where there are non-recoverable-country' costs, you will still be able to re-book the services at a later date with no additional fee.
Apart from these special exceptions for COVID-19 related reasons, our standard terms and conditions apply, and you will find them here.
Below are a few hypothetical scenarios that we wanted to highlight to make it as clear as possible what we feel could play out with the current situation. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if these aren't clear.
Example Scenario One:
A hypothetical family has booked to travel to India in March 2020. In January, they hear that there is a steady increase in cases of COVID-19 in South Asia. Keen to still have a holiday, we advise them that Vietnam has been completely COVID-19 free. They decide to switch their holiday to Vietnam. They do so without penalty and get a holiday of equivalent value. If the new holiday is more expensive, then they will be liable for the difference.
Example Scenario Two:
A hypothetical couple is due to travel to Vietnam next March, costing £6800 in total. One of them falls ill a week before departure, diagnosed with COVID-19. The couple is not insured as their travel insurance policy explicitly excludes COVID-19. Under the ‘Package Travel Regulations’, Experience Travel Group are not obliged to refund them for this as the trip remains operational. The couple would stand to lose the entire cost of the trip. With our COVID-19 Promise, we would refund the total cost, minus the deposit payments and any non-recoverable flight costs or offer to rearrange for a later date without penalty. In this case, the client would be refunded £5,720 (10% deposit plus £200 per person flight cancellation charge).
Example Scenario Three:
If that same hypothetical couple made it to the airport but were refused boarding due to testing positive for COVID-19 (or even having a temperature but no positive test result), they would lose all of their money as well as their holiday. With our COVID-19 Promise, we would refund the total cost, minus the deposit payment and any non-recoverable costs. We would also provide you with a £1,000 voucher to re-book any ETG holiday.
Example Scenario Four:
Due to travel to Sri Lanka in a week, a couple decided that they would rather not travel due to general uncertainty around COVID-19. With our COVID-19 Promise, we would refund the total cost, minus the deposit payment and any non-recoverable costs. We would also provide you with a £1,000 voucher to re-book any ETG holiday.
We are making this promise because we cannot see any other way to take your money with a good conscience. We believe in being honest, upfront and fair: fair to you, our partners and ourselves too - everyone invests so much into the type of holidays we arrange. To our minds, this seems to be the most helpful and decent solution in an unprecedented situation.
As a company, we've always said we put your experience first. That's not just the holiday, but the whole journey, from the moment you pick up the phone. Without security and peace of mind, an ETG experience simply cannot begin.
It will take some time before we can cast Covid from our minds completely. But we want to help you look forward to a trip and enjoy the magic of travel anticipation once again. We hope we're starting (again) on the right foot.
Stay safe and stay curious,
Sam and Tom
Our deposit is now just £100.
Plan an epic trip without the risk.
Simple and fair.
‘Travel Ready’ is the ETG Stamp which means your holiday can go ahead and you can travel with confidence.
