The two extraordinary fires that have been ravaging the Gironde for more than a week are still not fixed. More than 20,000 hectares have already gone up in smoke and thousands of people have had to be evacuated. Among them, holidaymakers who have been forced to cut short their holidays, like the occupants of the five campsites devastated by the flames at the foot of the Dune du Pilat. But in these cases, can they be reimbursed for their stay? This is the question that our colleagues from Capital tried to answer on Wednesday July 20.
There are several scenarios. First of all, people whose campsite, hotel or holiday accommodation has been affected by the fires or evacuated by order of the prefecture will be automatically reimbursed by the insurance of these tourist establishments. As Olivier Moustacakis, the co-founder of the comparator Assurland, explained to our colleagues, “holidaymakers who have been evacuated from their establishment have nothing to worry about, professional insurance is effective and reimbursement times are generally quite short.
On the other hand, if these vacationers have decided themselves to shorten their stay, while their vacation spot has not been directly affected by the fire, nothing obliges the manager of this establishment to reimburse them. However, they can turn to their personal insurance. Some personal insurances offer extended guarantees allowing you to be reimbursed in the event of cancellation, provided you provide a valid reason, such as a case of force majeure. It remains to be seen whether a fire in the region of the vacation spot is considered as such.
For people who were not there yet, but decided to cancel their vacation due to the fires, there are several possibilities. If the establishment has been closed, then they will be fully reimbursed, without having to provide any proof.
But on the contrary, if the establishment has remained open, they can only be reimbursed on the condition that you have taken out cancellation insurance with this establishment beforehand. Cancellation can be made up to 48 hours before the start of the stay. Otherwise, the manager will not be forced to reimburse the stay. Note that some personal insurance offers compensation in the event of cancellation.
In a press release, published Wednesday, July 20, the Airbnb platform explained that it had just put in place “a policy relating to cases of force majeure allowing hosts and affected travelers to cancel without costs or penalties, and to receive a full refund of their stay or a travel credit”.
More specifically, this special policy concerns stays booked in the areas of La Teste-de-Buch and Landiras before July 13 and whose arrival date was scheduled between July 13 and 26. The American company has also clarified that holidaymakers crossing or coming from the areas affected by these fires will also be affected by this refund policy.
