Staycation Perfection: Your rights holidaying closer to home

Since Covid stopped people from travelling abroad, staycationing has become more and more popular. While the pandemic is long gone, this summer 2025 you might be considering booking a break closer to home.

From coastal retreats in Cornwall and Norfolk, to hiking and holiday camps in the Highlands or Peak District, so many parts of the UK offer a true holiday experience.

While a rainy day or two will be almost a given – is there anything else you should you be prepared for? Here’s our checklist on your staycation rights:

The cancellation rules

Starting off simply, if you have booked, or are about to book, a package holiday within the UK (a deal that includes transport, accommodation and any trips or excursions) then your rights if it is cancelled are identical to package breaks booked overseas.

If your operator or provider cancels your package deal, you are entitled to a refund within 14 days. If you’re offered a voucher, or an alternative date, you may want to accept that so you can still have something to look forward to. However, you should be aware that you don’t have to if you’d prefer your cash back instead.

If you book but simply change your mind, then you have no rights to request a refund from your provider, nor will you be able to effectively claim from your travel insurer, if you have a policy. There may be circumstances however, where you can negotiate to ensure you’re not completely left out of pocket.

Facilities management

While your trip may not be cancelled, it may be that for one reason or another the facilities or attractions you are depending on are closed. Perhaps your staycation venue is open – but the pool you wanted to use, local attractions you were hoping to visit, or festivities you wanted to participate in may be cancelled or closed.

In this situation, your rights to a refund or a discount will depend on the terms and conditions of your booking – so while it’s perhaps the most obvious, but most boring element of booking that break, it’s more important than ever that you check these carefully.

If the terms state that you are entitled to a refund if your accommodation’s services aren’t fully operational, such as pools, theme areas or spa facilities that were sold to you at the time, then that is a contract and you can therefore claim the money back. Some UK travel providers are already offering refunds in these circumstances, or a voucher or option to change the date.

It’s worth considering if you would be happy to accept this. Sometimes circumstances are beyond our control – while it’s not an excuse to be denied your rights, you could be helping a local business stay afloat by accepting an alternative if you still want to go ahead with the holiday at some point.

If however, you want your refund and the provider won’t play ball, you can always look to claim from your bank through ‘chargeback’ or, if your booking was more than £100, through your credit card provider under section 75. By advising this route, we are not advocating it as the ‘default’ way to get your cash back – you should always challenge your provider or insurer first. As these types of claims increase credit card providers may well question, if not challenge them if they are getting bombarded.

Insuring your UK stay

It may not occur to you to get travel insurance for a staycation. After all, you’re not flying and if you’re injured it can get sorted at home or nearby and the NHS will cover it, right? However, it can pay not to overlook travel insurance for a UK break.

This is because you will be covered for illness or injury that stops you travelling, or if you can’t afford to pay the balance for the break due to financial circumstances beyond your control, which is important given the current economic climate.

Before you take out a policy, or even if you have one, check with your insurer before you book and once again, run a watchful eye over all those Ts and Cs.

If you have a complaint to raise about a UK holiday you have booked – or you’re getting no joy from your provider – use Resolver for free to raise your issue.

If you have any thoughts on this topic, or any other consumer issues you would like us to cover, feel free to get in touch with us at support@resolver.co.uk.