Major UK Ski Operator Cancels All Ski Holidays Until April
28th January 2021
Last modified on May 13th, 2021
Hotelplan runs Inghams, Ski Total and Flexiski and all holidays are off until at least April 2nd. It is no great surprise with ski holidays banned by the government and the short term not looking good in the battle against Covid-19.
“Since travel restrictions are set to remain while countries continue to manage the spread of Covid-19 and the rollout of vaccines. We have this week, sadly suspended our Inghams, Ski Total and Flexiski holidays until the 2 April 2021,” said the Hotelplan UK CEO, Joe Ponte.
“Of course, we are disappointed for all those impacted by this news. We hope our customers with a booking in March of this year will choose to join us at a later date, but they can choose to have a refund if they want one.”
Earlier this month its holidays were cancelled until the end of February.
Current government restrictions have banned ski holidays, so the company had no real alternative.
The Home Secretary confirmed the regulations in stark terms on Wednesday as we reported.
“We absolutely want to help skiers return to the mountains as soon as it is safe to do so, but as the Covid-19 crisis continues to worsen, we are facing the reality that it is sadly looking less and less likely.”
The brands hold out some hope of skiing in April but given the travel restrictions and projections of transmission of the virus, here at PlanetSKI we remain doubtful.
The lockdown in England goes on until at least March 8th – another six weeks.
Some think the date is an ambition, and the real date will be somewhat further away.
Hotelplan though holds out some hope.
“We understand that many skiers are very keen to get skiing again this winter.
“With this in mind, while we think there is still a possibility that ski holidays could go ahead this season, we will continue to monitor the ever changing situation closely and keep our customers informed of any updates regarding the remainder of this winter, as soon as we can.”
The company has delayed taking final balance payments until 4-weeks prior to departure.
People are also able to move their holiday to next winter with zero amendment fee if they wish.
Inghams In Safe Hands campaign
In reality Hotelplan like all other UK operators is looking ahead to next winter – the season of 2021/22.
Anything sold this winter would be a bonus.
Others have a similar view:
Hotelplans claims “strong booking numbers for next winter across our 2021/22 winter programme”.
It says the brands are “already over 45% sold for next winter, well ahead of the same period last year, so people should think about their plans for the next winter now to avoid disappointment.”
Its chief rival and the largest UK Ski Tour operator, Crystal Ski Holidays, has already suspended all holidays this season until March 5th.
Our view at PlanetSKI in these very difficult times remains the same:
PlanetSKI’s message for 2021
