Supplier Failure Insurance - Protect yourself against supplier failure

One worry often voiced by independent travellers is that their airline, car rental company, hotel company or villa firm could go into liquidation or become insolvent, leaving holidaymakers without a holiday and out of pocket. Package holidays already include cover for everything booked as part of the package, but those booking elements separately do not get this cover.

There are, however, ways of protecting this risk - some insurance companies, such as Columbus Direct and Endsleigh either include SAFI (Scheduled Airline Failure Insurance) or offer extra protection options, although it's fair to say that most don't.

However, if you are not covered either through the package or your insurance company, or there is an additional part of your holiday that has to be paid up front, you might want to consider a policy from Protect My Holiday.

This policy enables holidaymakers to cover the following elements against insolvency before or after departure of any travel arrangements booked in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland, not forming part of an inclusive holiday and not bonded or insured elsewhere.

These would include:

• Scheduled airlines
• Hotels
• Youth Hostels
• Car ferries
• Villas abroad & cottages in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland
• Railway journeys (including the Eurostar)
• Coach journeys
• Car hire
• Caravan sites / camp-sites / mobile homes
• Camper rental
• Euro tunnel
• Theme parks, such as Disneyland Paris.

You are not covered for the insolvency of:

• The Travel Agent
• The Tour Operator
• The Booking Agent (unless listed)
• The Consolidator.

As always check the terms and conditions of any insurance product before purchase to make sure that it is suitable for you. In general, if you are using any middle men or brokers to arrange your holiday, the policies described in this article will not provide cover.

This is a brief summary of the cover given, however we recommend you refer to the full certificate and policy wording on the company's website.

The cover costs from as little as £5 and can give welcome reassurance that the effect of the collapse of companies in similar circumstances to Zoom or XL can be minimised.

This content was last reviewed on 24/09/2019