All Saints holidays: what are your rights if you cancel your stay?

Will go or not go? The All Saints’ Day holidays are fast approaching, but this year they have a special flavor. Disturbed for the past two years by the health crisis, the autumn holidays have been disturbed this time by the fuel shortage. Indeed, some tourism professionals have claimed since the beginning of the week to have recorded a high rate of cancellations, even if no precise figures could be communicated.

How to leave serenely when you don’t know if you will find fuel? Should we be careful and stay at home, even if it means losing a little money? It’s up to you to decide, but be careful what you do, you don’t have all the rights! Will you be fully reimbursed if you cannot get to your vacation spot due to lack of fuel? “We could consider that it is a case of force majeure”, explains to Planet master Yves Removille, lawyer in tourism law. However, he specifies, “the obligation of travelers is not to consume their holidays, but to pay for them and it cannot be considered that there is a force majeure which prevents the person from paying for their trip. It may therefore be obliged to pay cancellation fees or to abandon the deposit paid.

So be careful if you cancel your stay, because you may not recover the full amount paid. What if you don’t meet the cancellation deadlines? “In the general conditions of sale, there are costs which are provided for”, reminds Me Removille to Planet, adding that, “the closer we are to the date of travel, the higher the costs”: “Therefore, we may end up paying 100% of the amount because we canceled at the last minute”. 100% of the sum when you haven’t even taken advantage of your vacation? The pill could be hard to swallow for some … In these cases, the lawyer advises to inquire with his insurance, because some “can cover certain risks of cancellation, but it depends on the contracts”.

What if we just don’t come? This technique, called “no show” is strongly discouraged by the lawyer: “The service provider has kept the room available, he is deprived of the possibility of reselling it more easily. If he is not informed, he will keep the all of the sums he has received”. It is therefore “the worst solution”, concludes Me Removille, in addition to being incorrect for professionals.