Hi all,
I usually get my family travel cover through work, and I'm waiting for an official response re: the following query, hopefully due within a couple of days. In the meantime, however...
In a nutshell, we're due to go to an all-in resort in Turkey (Holiday Village Sarigerme), departing 2 weeks on Monday. The resort was the subject of a segment on Watchdog the other night, and there are a couple of legal firms pursuing claims for illness from a few hundred+ guests from over the last couple of years. Apparently, there are outbreaks of salmonella, cryptosporidium and campylobactor (sp?) every year, and, whilst the majority of guests don't fall ill, judging by the reviews on Trip Advisor etc. and the profiles on Watchdog, when you do fall ill in its in spades.
So, we want to a/ cancel or b/ move the holiday elsewhere for around the same dates. First Choice have basically come back and said that they are doing everything they can, so we have to pay to re-arrange (£50 / person), and obviously pay the extra cost for a different package deal. If we cancel then we will lose 70% of the total amount, as it's < 56 days prior to departure. They will waive the £50 / person re-arrangement fee if we can get a note from the Doctor advising against taking our youngest to a place with a history of the stated infection types, and I'm tackling this right now (for no doubt a huge bloody sum in its own right, but hey...).
With two young kids, we really don't want to risk bringing home any unwanted micro-organism guests, as much as we accept the usual risk of ear infections from pool water etc., but financially our hands are very tied at this sort notice. Alternative packages will mean spending an extra unanticipated £500+ minimum, which we want to avoid if at all possible.
Sooo, from a travel insurance perspective, anyone any idea as to whether we could possibly be covered for cancellation in this instance (based on experience with other insurers), or is anyone aware of any general / compelling legal grounds that would persuade First Choice to give us our cash back in its entirety? I bet we wouldn't be covered if the insurer could prove that we knew there was a real risk of infection before we left, so does the converse hold true, now that we've become fully aware of the resort's history so close to our departure date i.e. a cancellation would be covered because of the sudden exceptional circumstances?
Any help very, very much appreciated - no-one should dread going on holiday!
Cheers,
Robbie.