Hays Travel has introduced comprehensive travel insurance covering Covid-19 and other pandemics as standard across all its policies.
Unlike existing policies, the cover means that if customers, their travelling companions, immediate family or business associates, or someone they were going to stay with, are diagnosed with Covid-19 before travel, and have to isolate or be in quarantine, the holiday can be cancelled and refunded in full.
It applies to holidays in the UK as well as travel abroad and also covers cruise holidays where travellers are confined to their cabins or lose out on port stops and prepaid excursions.
The cover is supplied by Rush Insurance Services and Allianz Insurance and also covers emergency medical expenses and repatriation following diagnosis of Covid-19 or any disease that is classed as an epidemic or pandemic.
"As people are beginning to book their holidays again we wanted to give them real confidence that if they are affected by Covid-19, they will not lose out financially, which would be one thing less to worry about should the worst happen," said John Hays, managing director and co-owner of Hays Travel.
"We have worked hard with our partners to put together insurance cover that answers the concerns that many of our customers naturally have as we gradually emerge from the lockdown.
"We are now including explicit references to being diagnosed with an epidemic or pandemic disease such as Covid-19 as standard with all travel insurance policies. We have ensured there is cover for all permutations we can think of, because we want our customers to go on holiday whether home or abroad and feel secure about the cover they’ve got," added John.
Hays Travel customers who have already booked their holiday can still take out the insurance before they travel and those who have existing insurance can upgrade to give them the additional Covid-19 cover.
