Thank you for clarifying it for us. This is going to devastating for small businesses like ourselves where the owners have already been paid but refuse to refund us.

HI Tania,

We've had the below response from Alan Bowen of AGB Associates:

"I have assumed that the customers stay was cancelled due to the lockdown in Lanzarote and the FCO advice against travel anywhere, rather than the customers decision to cancel months in advance? If that is the case, then your cancellation charges which you apply when a customer cancels are not relevant.

If this is an accommodation-only booking then although the PTRs may not apply, which impose a 14-day limit for a full refund, the customer is still entitled to a refund. Insurers in the main have been unhelpful for package cancellations, arguing there is a legal responsibility on the operator to refund but this is different and if the client has a decent policy there ought to have been cover. On that basis I would ask to see the denial letter from the insurers but if their denial is legitimate, then you or the owner do indeed owe the customer a refund.

Who it is depends on the terms of the contract, whether you are selling in your own right or whether you claim to simply be an agent of the owner. The Competition and Markets Authority as recently as yesterday warned businesses that non-refundable payments are refundable in the current situation and where no service has been provided, as in this case, a full refund is due to the customer. You or the owner could of course offer to rebook at a later date to avoid paying the refund, but if that is what the customer wants, he is entirely within his rights to ask for it."

Thanks