Coronavirus - Infected whilst on holiday

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Sardiniavilla
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Coronavirus - Infected whilst on holiday

Post by Sardiniavilla »

So say tourism starts up again this year. What happens if a guest becomes infected whilst on holiday?
They should stay in quarantine on site for at least 2 weeks right? So do they pay me for an extra 2 weeks or more of stay? Do I provide the accommodation free if they can't afford it? How about bills? Other bookings I'd have to cancel due to the quarantined guests?
This is a huge one for me. Guests arriving by plane have an extremely high chance of becoming infected so it's looking like something we're likely to have to deal with. Anyone got any ideas? I'm absolutely not planning on reopening until I have some sort of solution to this so any input would be helpful thank you!
Drax
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Post by Drax »

A good point Sardiniavilla.
Insurance maybe a solution to this, does your policy cover this eventuality?
Your guests medical insurance could provide cover but how would you know without studying their policy?
If business returns to 'normal' we are going to ensure there is a 'fallow' week either side of a booking to ensure a degree of safety for us (we clean and maintain our holiday let) and the next guests.
Interesting times lay ahead for holiday home owners.
Keep your powder dry.
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

I think there is another issue as well - they may be incubating it while they are here (no symptoms BUT able to contaminate the property) and fall ill when they get home. Ideally we need guests to let us know if they fall ill within two weeks after going home.
volcano
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Post by volcano »

only solution for me: PCR test ID - negative. otherwise no access to my house.
Martha
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Post by Martha »

But that wouldn't solve the problem of them getting sick whilst they are on holiday. I am not sure you could legally move them out to make room for the next guests either. I would guess that they would have to stay, and pay, and you would have to refund your incoming guests (and help them find accommodation too). What happens if they can't pay? I wonder if ANY travel insurance is going to cover guests for this kind of thing? And what if someone just gets a cold, it's common enough. How soon are they going to be able to get tested? Thanks for bringing this up. A lot to think about.
Chalet la Foret, Chamonix
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

It should be pointed out that the risk of an individual having Covid-19 in the time that they are staying with you is very small - if it were high then the government would have to close down everything again. I suspect that over 99.9% of people visiting you will be completely fine. If you look at the number of new infections in your country and compare with the size of the country's population and assume that people can be infectious for 14 days at most without showing symptoms, you can get an idea of how low the risk actually is.

Obviously if you are a large hotel with hundreds of people coming and going every day, the risk of coming into contact with an infected individual is significantly higher.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

newtimber wrote:It should be pointed out that the risk of an individual having Covid-19 in the time that they are staying with you is very small - if it were high then the government would have to close down everything again. I suspect that over 99.9% of people visiting you will be completely fine. If you look at the number of new infections in your country and compare with the size of the country's population and assume that people can be infectious for 14 days at most without showing symptoms, you can get an idea of how low the risk actually is.

Obviously if you are a large hotel with hundreds of people coming and going every day, the risk of coming into contact with an infected individual is significantly higher.
So are you suggesting that guests lock themselves in a property? Do not visit the beach or any restaurant, bar or tourist site? No walking around the shops either. Maybe stay at home not go to the airport or take public transport or even a taxi.
My point is risks are there. And you are correct about it being slightly incremented at a large hotel, in the grand scheme of things it is very small risk
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

CSE wrote: So are you suggesting that guests lock themselves in a property? Do not visit the beach or any restaurant, bar or tourist site? No walking around the shops either. Maybe stay at home not go to the airport or take public transport or even a taxi.
My point is risks are there. And you are correct about it being slightly incremented at a large hotel, in the grand scheme of things it is very small risk
No I'm not. Guests can only infect someone if they are infected themselves either before they arrive or during their stay. If you have say 6 people staying with you for a week the risk is minute compared with a hotel of 400 people each staying 2 or 3 nights ie 1200 people passing through in a week interfacing with each other and all the hotel staff on a daily basis as opposed to 6 who may all be in the same family.
Martha
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Post by Martha »

I dunno. One of our last guests (here 8-14th March) was ill when she arrived and was only up and about on her last day. I was pretty worried about it at the time. It was a large group who had taken many different routes to be here, through a lot of different airports. Of course if you just have one family who have driven together on the tunnel it's less risky but I think it's something to seriously consider.

It does depend where you are of course but if you are in any kind of a tourist spot with people visiting and mixing in shops, restaurants, transport, it is a risk.

I agree the risk is less than a hotel but also the hotel can, if needed, isolate someone in a room, which we can't.

It's very common for someone to be ill with a cold on holiday. Unless they can be tested immediately, it's going to be a real problem.
Chalet la Foret, Chamonix
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

newtimber wrote: No I'm not. Guests can only infect someone if they are infected themselves either before they arrive or during their stay. If you have say 6 people staying with you for a week the risk is minute compared with a hotel of 400 people each staying 2 or 3 nights ie 1200 people passing through in a week interfacing with each other and all the hotel staff on a daily basis as opposed to 6 who may all be in the same family.
Those 1200 of which how many are are positive how many will pass the virus on, who knows? The figures of 1200 is minimal compared with the millions at airports and other locations I listed.
Figures published are not clear. The same with if heard mentality is good or bad. Every single country is doing it there way.
Look up Professor Karol Sikora or Professor Hendrik Streeck.
This virus is getting too much fear.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
Sardiniavilla
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Post by Sardiniavilla »

newtimber wrote:It should be pointed out that the risk of an individual having Covid-19 in the time that they are staying with you is very small - if it were high then the government would have to close down everything again. I suspect that over 99.9% of people visiting you will be completely fine. If you look at the number of new infections in your country and compare with the size of the country's population and assume that people can be infectious for 14 days at most without showing symptoms, you can get an idea of how low the risk actually is.

Obviously if you are a large hotel with hundreds of people coming and going every day, the risk of coming into contact with an infected individual is significantly higher.
Thats not looking like a small risk to me. Quite the opposite. I would have thought the possibility of getting infected while passing through two busy international airports and sitting in a metal box with hundreds of others for 3 hours breathing recycled air would be significantly higher than 1%.

For the sake of argument let's say it IS just 1%. My villa sleeps 10. Based on one guest in every 100 getting sick in my villa while on holiday that's potentially 2 groups ending up quarantined in my house for 3-6 weeks as the virus passes through the group, they recover and receive a negative test result and are cleared for international travel.

Not good odds and very worrying...
Sardiniavilla
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Post by Sardiniavilla »

No, unfortunately my insurance policy doesn't cover loss of earnings for this scenario... And I can't find a single insurer at this point willing to insure against it😢
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Sardiniavilla wrote:No, unfortunately my insurance policy doesn't cover loss of earnings for this scenario... And I can't find a single insurer at this point willing to insure against it😢
It is reported that losses for insurance firms are substantial. I doubt if anyone will be able to get insurance to cover any event like this, at a decent price for the, foreseeable future.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

Sardiniavilla wrote: I would have thought the possibility of getting infected while passing through two busy international airports and sitting in a metal box with hundreds of others for 3 hours breathing recycled air would be significantly higher than 1%.
They wouldn't open up the airports with that sort of risk. The infection would be running out of control if you consider the millions of people travelling. Even without any precautions whatsoever, when the virus first started each person didn't infect more than about 12 others at most even when these people were travelling through busy international airports with tens of thousands of people - the average number of people infected by each individual carrier was about 3 or 4. It's only when the virus is out of control that your chance of being infected is high.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

newtimber wrote:
Sardiniavilla wrote: I would have thought the possibility of getting infected while passing through two busy international airports and sitting in a metal box with hundreds of others for 3 hours breathing recycled air would be significantly higher than 1%.
They wouldn't open up the airports with that sort of risk. The infection would be running out of control if you consider the millions of people travelling. Even without any precautions whatsoever, when the virus first started each person didn't infect more than about 12 others at most even when these people were travelling through busy international airports with tens of thousands of people - the average number of people infected by each individual carrier was about 3 or 4. It's only when the virus is out of control that your chance of being infected is high.
What makes you think that? Airports need to open up just like any countries economy needs to start up. Things cannot carry on the way it has.
This virus is getting too much fear.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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