Why is Having Holiday Cancellation Cover Important?

Holiday Cancellation Cover is a key feature of a travel insurance policy. If your holiday has to be cancelled unexpectedly, you’ll miss the holiday. Yet you’ll be compensated for any prepaid costs that can’t be claimed back elsewhere. However, few travellers are being encouraged to buy insurance after booking a trip. Whether you have travel insurance with your bank or regularly take it out from a well-known insurance provider, it’s important to know what your cancellation cover limit is!

Holiday cancellation cover limits vary. The average Brit spent £2,644 on a holiday in 2025. However, one in five policies cap cover between £1,000 and £1,999. This is well below the cost of the average trip abroad (Data from Go Compare). Having insufficient cancellation cover can cost you! So, it’s wise to check your holiday cancellation cover limit against the cost of your trip before purchasing a travel insurance policy.

Let’s look at what cancellation cover is and why it’s important. Plus, how our customers have benefited from taking sufficient travel insurance.

What is Holiday Cancellation Cover?

If purchased, as soon as you book your trip (ASAYB), cancellation cover will protect the money you’ve already spent – up to a limit. This can include flights, transfers, accommodation, and excursions. A standard travel insurance policy will cover this. However, always read your policy as it will differ depending on the policy’s provider. You will only be covered for costs which are unrecoverable, i.e. that you can’t get back from the company you purchased from.

Why is it Important to Have Cancellation Cover?

We don’t plan to cancel a trip before we go. That’s where cancellation cover can assist! To cover the unexpected.

Unexpected Reasons for Cancelling a Holiday:

• A close family bereavement or the death of a travelling companion
• Jury service – it can also be unclear when your summons may end
• Emergency medical treatment or an unforeseen accident
• Unexpected job loss or bankruptcy
• Complications with a pregnancy
• You’ve been advised not to visit your destination by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) because it is no longer safe
• A major home emergency, such as fire, flood or theft, has impacted your standard of living.
• If your trip is affected by a natural disaster like a hurricane

Please note: Cancellation cover will not cover disinclination to travel, i.e. if you decide you just don’t want to go.

What Can Affect The Price of Cancellation Cover?

Many things affect the cost of your cover, such as the destination, how long you are going for, and your personal circumstances, like your age or health. The cancellation cover will usually be based on a per-person amount, so if the total cost of your trip is £10,000 for two people, you would want a policy with at least £5,000 of cancellation cover.

Cancellation limits range from £500 to £10,000. If your trip costs much more, consider Top Up My Cover (TUMC) per person. TUMC provides extra cancellation cover to ‘top-up’ any existing travel insurance policy as long as you have at least £1,000 of cancellation cover already in place.

How Have P J Hayman’s Customers Benefited From Taking Out Travel Insurance?

With the correct holiday cancellation cover limit in place, our customers have been able to make a claim on their travel insurance policy.

Here are some of the top testimonials they left our claims team after going through the claims process. Each had an unexpected reason to cancel their trip.

Travel Insurance With Cancellation Cover

We hope this article gives you a clear idea of why it’s important to take out travel insurance as soon as you book your trip.

Unsure which policy you require? Contact our friendly travel insurance experts. They’ll be happy to help. Alternatively, use our simple product selection tool to find out which one of our policies can help you to travel, with confidence!