 Poster: A snowHead
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Spot of advice.....was meant to be skiing in Ischgl earlier this week....had a hotel (half board) booked in Ischgl and car hire from Zurich Airport. Arrived Saturday to snow chaos in Western Austria and road was closed to Ischgl from Saturday until last night (wednesday) due to Avalanche danger....hence we didn't get there until last night. Ended up having a brilliant time as stuck in Bludenz skiing lots of small resorts in the western Voralberg which were empty and full of knee deep untracked powder.........
But....we had paid for the hotel in Ischgl in advance, who won't refund our money, but also had to pay for 4 nights hotel and dinner in Bludenz....not a massive problem....but I had hoped the additional cost £300ish/head would be potentially picked up by the insurance company
This morning I discover the terms of our cancellation insurance will only pay if you are delayed before leaving home, or they will pay additional hotel costs if you are stuck in a resort due to avalanche danger, but somewhat surprisingly will not cover you if you are delayed on your journey once started and you can't reach the resort due to official road closures.
Interested in peoples opinions on whether I should just accept this refusal, or should I mount a sustained attack on the insurance company in question to try and extract this money????
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Attack attack attack!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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humble, worth trying, I suppose. One of the downsides of a DIY trip; when things go wrong you're on your own. Would be the same, I guess, if the hired car broke down and left you with an extra night's accommodation waiting for it to be fixed.
If our car breaks down our breakdown service will cover some extra costs - but never covers everything.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I'd give the insurers a go first, but we used to use an insurance broker who said half jokingly "insurance only covers you for what you don't claim for"
Have you checked the terms of the Ischgl hotel contract? Remember reading somewhere that Austrian Hotel Assoc. terms state that if don't make use of the booked facilities the hotel has to deduct any savings it makes from what it has charged you. So if they managed to sell on your rooms you're due that saving or if they didn't have to clean the room etc and feed you whatever that saved them.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pam w, many moons ago I was on a non-DIY trip to Tignes one late November and Tignes was cut off by heavy snow. We were put up by the tour op in one of their hotels in courchevel for a night BUT the tour op made it very very clear that they were under no obligation to put us up and only did because it was early season and the courchevel hotel was not being used yet, but was staffed as they were being trained. I think they were also playing hard for tips but I was none to impressed with the attitude that it wasn't really their issue, I've entrusted my trip to them so would expect help in such a situation.
To humble, good luck as I think it's very reasonable that your insurance should pay up under a delay benefit. I've been stranded in Austria before when Ryanair decided to cancel a late flight back to London. Had to pay for hotel and alternate flight my insurance paid up, don't see your situation as much different. Did you book trip on credit card, that could be another avenue to investigate.
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humble, people often claim on snowheads that Austrian hotels don't require that you pay in advance.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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pam w, because that's often true, but probably not always
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Unfortunately, via a very complicated and tedious story, for the first time ever (in about 20 similar trips) we paid in advance....It was cheap though.....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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humble, Pm me if you'd like me to take a look at your claim and see what you need to do to get it paid, I'm sure from your circumstances there will be some ambiguity in their policy definitions that brings some of the unreasonable repudiations conditions under ICOBS 8 into effect for you.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| snobunni wrote: |
| humble, Pm me if you'd like me to take a look at your claim and see what you need to do to get it paid, I'm sure from your circumstances there will be some ambiguity in their policy definitions that brings some of the unreasonable repudiations conditions under ICOBS 8 into effect for you. |
ICOBS 8 doesn't really say an awful lot and an awful lot of travel insurers are often not UK registered (often Gibralter or Ireland) so FSA doesn't apply to them. Worth checking 
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| Tony Ellwood wrote: |
| an awful lot of travel insurers are often not UK registered (often Gibralter or Ireland) so FSA doesn't apply to them. Worth checking |
If they are trading in the UK, then FSA regulations very much apply to them.
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You know it makes sense.
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Heh-heh, looks like in good company on this forum. Anyone care to chat over the finer points of DISP once we've put ICOBS to bed?
Humble, you're well covered with the offers already made but if you need another opinion from inside the industry, drop me a line
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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NoDosh, My personal favourites PERG lol
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FAQ
