Selling your holiday? Here’s what happens to your travel insurance

With a growing resale market for non-refundable holidays, Sarah Rodrigues, a travel expert at Avanti Travel Insurance, explains what buyers and sellers need to check before a booking – or their money – changes hands.

Non-refundable holidays are usually treated as a fixed cost. Booking it, and if plans change, the money is gone. However, a growing resale market means more travellers are trying to recoup that cost by selling on holidays they can no longer take. Along the way, many are getting the insurance side of the deal wrong (on both sides of the sale).

Sarah Rodrigues, a travel expert at Avanti Travel Insurance, says the trend has exposed a specific gap where buyers assume they’re covered and sellers don’t realise their own policy needs attention, too.

“Travel plans can change unexpectedly, and your travel insurance should be arranged with that in mind. Whether you’ve booked directly with a travel provider or bought a holiday through a resale platform, travel insurance should be one of the first things you arrange, rather than something left until closer to departure.

A comprehensive tailored policy with cancellation cover can protect the full cost of your trip from the moment you make your first payment. If you have to cancel before you travel due to a legitimate reason, having insurance in place means you may be able to claim for your losses rather than relying on being able to resell the holiday to recover your money.”

The policy doesn’t travel with the booking

One point Rodrigues wants buyers to understand is that a travel insurance policy cannot be transferred along with a holiday booking. If a holiday is sold on, the original policy stays in the seller’s name and won’t cover the new traveller.

“Anyone buying a resale holiday should therefore arrange their own travel insurance as soon as the booking has been transferred into their name.

This is particularly important because resale holidays often have a much shorter period between purchase and departure than a standard booking. That leaves less time to arrange cover, making it even more important that insurance is treated as an immediate priority rather than an afterthought.”

Check the small print before you list your holiday for sale

For anyone trying to sell a non-refundable holiday, Rodrigues recommends checking with the airline, tour operator or provider first. Particularly on whether the booking can be transferred and if fees will apply.

“Before listing a holiday for resale, travellers should ask for any transfer fees to be confirmed in writing, rather than relying on information from when the holiday was originally booked. Fees and transfer conditions can change, and some providers increase charges significantly as the departure date approaches, so checking early can help avoid unexpected costs once a buyer has been found.

For package holidays, transferring a booking is often relatively straightforward and usually involves updating the lead passenger’s details once a sale has been agreed. However, not all bookings are transferable, and some airlines or accommodation providers may impose restrictions, so it’s important to understand the rules before advertising the holiday for sale.

Rodrigues also flags a scam risk, “Travellers looking to either buy or sell a holiday should only use trusted resale platforms or established booking channels. I also recommend avoiding paying by bank transfer for holidays advertised on social media, as this offers little protection if something goes wrong.”

One rule that sellers can’t get around

Sellers should also review their travel insurance when transferring a booking. Some insurers will refund the unused portion of a policy if it is cancelled because the policyholder is no longer travelling, although this varies between providers and depends on the policy terms.

“Sellers cannot sell a holiday if they’ve already made a successful cancellation claim on your travel insurance. Doing so could amount to insurance fraud by recovering the cost of the trip twice,” adds Rodrigues.

“Insurers will usually ask for evidence that the holiday has been cancelled before settling a claim, so travellers should decide at an early stage whether they intend to make an insurance claim or sell the booking, as in most cases they cannot do both.”