Planning your 2021 villa holiday to the South of France and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic

We understand that you may be worried about how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect your much desired (and deserved!) holiday to the South of France. For your peace of mind, we have amended our terms and conditions for travel in 2021 so you can book your holiday without worry.

For your peace of mind

We would like to offer you as much security as we can, therefore, we offer all of our customers a reduced balance due date from 9 weeks before arrival, to just 28 days before arrival on the majority of properties with an arrival date in 2021. In case of last-minute FCDO advise changes we work to transfer your holiday to a later date this year or next year.*

In order to protect your holiday as much as possible, we strongly advise that you take out adequate travel insurance.

Booking your holiday villa with South France Holiday Villas

Upon booking

A non-refundable deposit is due upon booking, in order to confirm the booking and secure your dates.

In the period of up to 28 days before your arrival date

As the situation develops, things may change, for better or worse either in general or in your personal situation. Therefore, during this period leading up to the balance due date, you can choose to request a date change without reason.* This means that regardless of FCDO advice, you can opt to request to defer your holiday to a later period, or year. As any amendments to your booking are at this point by choice, we charge our standard admin fee of £25 per person for processing this change. If these changes are driven by changes to FCDO advice, this fee may be waived.

If you choose to change your dates, you have two options:
- Pay the balance now and therewith keep the current rate.
- Transfer the balance due-date up to 6 weeks before your new arrival date - any price increase or decrease will be applied.

You can, of course, also choose to simply cancel your holiday. In this case, we can provide you with a proof of cancellation which you can use to put in a reimbursement request with your travel insurer.

28 days before your arrival date

The remaining balance payment is due to be paid. Only a month left until your holiday!

In the period of 28 days up until the arrival date

Your booking is confirmed and we all look forward to welcoming you on your holiday.

In the unfortunate event that the FCDO announces negative travel advice, we will do what we can to liaise with the owner to defer your dates to later in the year or to the following year.*

Arrival date

Hurray! You've made it to your villa and you can now relax.

Review - FANTASTIC NEWS :) we are over the moon and would like to thank EVERYONE for their kindness and help. We confirm that we are happy with the dates as per below ....... So amazing will give us all something to look forward to. Thank you sooooooooooooo much to everyone Kindest regards Dee

Relax, you are in good hands

It's widely known that this pandemic has hit the tourism industry particularly hard. Guests, owners and our team have all had to work alongside the many restrictions, guideline changes and obstacles that have been put in place since the beginning of 2020, which made it an extremely stressful and uncertain year for all involved. Overall, the majority of our guests and owners have all been very understanding of the situation, which enabled us to find solutions in the midst of an almost unsolvable situation. As a whole, we pride ourselves on how well we have been able to manage this situation and will strive to continue to offer the best service that we can.

Review - Thank you Sander. On balance we would like to take the refund for the week. We very much appreciate the refund being offered and will certainly book next year. Thanks so much for all of your help in getting everything sorted during this difficult time. You have been excellent and we will not hesitate to book through you again and recommend to others. Tim

As you know, we aim to visit all of the properties that we advertise on our website and, therefore, know many of the owners and property managers personally. These relationships have given us a clear advantage these past few months and enabled us to deal with date changes and late-minute deferrals with more ease than we could have expected, so for that, we thank all involved.

We are now a year into this pandemic and are fully confident that we can offer you a holiday villa in the South of France with minimum risk.

Review - Hi Juliana Just to reiterate, I have been wholly appreciative of all the work involved by your company in both helping me secure the booking of Villa le Bosquet in the Cote d'Azur and then with my subsequent cancellation of the holiday in the last 2 weeks due to the Covid situation.Could I please make special mention of Gina and Cate who were very helpful when I was first doing my research? Nothing was too much trouble for them. I have worked in the service sector before and I know the importance of communication with clients. This has been the thing I have been most impressed with, when dealing with SFHV. Never has there been a delay to respond and you have always been more than helpful. Thanks Juliana and all the best for an improving situation in the travel and holiday rental world very soon. Best regards Jenny

Frequently asked questions

What happens if we’re advised we can’t travel?

If the FCDO advises against “all but essential travel” to your destination, we will liaise with the holiday property owner on your behalf to defer your holiday, free of charge.*

What if I decide I don't want to travel?

If your arrival date is more than 28 days away, you can request to change your holiday dates. This change is at the owner's discretion and will incur an admin fee of £25 per person.

If your arrival date is within 28 days, and the FCDO advice remains positive and you are able to travel but choose not to, your holiday will be subject to our usual booking conditions and standard cancellation charges will apply.

My balance is due for my holiday. Do I have to pay this?

If there are no specific travel restrictions for your holiday dates, then it is still scheduled to go ahead as planned. Therefore, you will need to pay your balance before the due date (28 days before arrival), or choose to defer your holiday, or you can choose to cancel your booking and claim the deposit back via your travel insurance.

Why can't I just have a refund instead of moving my dates?

SFHV acts on behalf of the holiday property owner; any and all refunds or date changes are solely up to the owners themselves and are not our decision. When we collect a deposit to confirm a booking, we pay it over to the owner immediately in order to ensure that the dates are held. From that point onwards, we are no longer in possession of your funds and are, therefore, not in a position to refund your monies; this decision lies with the owner.

When I move my dates, is there an option to book a different property?

Deferred bookings are only eligible for the original holiday home that you booked, as the deposit payment will have already been made to the property owner.

What if I contract Covid-19?

In the unfortunate event that yourself or a member of your party contracts Covid-19 before or during your holiday, you will need to approach your travel insurance and follow their advice. Make sure that when booking your holiday, you get adequate cover for these circumstances.

What is counted as a "travel restriction"?

A travel restriction is when the FCDO advise against all but essential travel, i.e when you are not allowed to travel to your destination and lockdowns, either local or national are put in place. A quarantine period and business closures are not considered travel restrictions.

Review - :):):) Very happy to accept both dates as per email below Please convey to everyone our sincerest thanks for their support and kindness And thank you for all your help so greatly appreciated Kindest regards Dee

Get the latest travel information

Latest news by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Keep an eye on the Re-open EU website when planning your holiday.

If you are not a UK national, the official advice from the governing body of your country of residence may apply.

If you are looking for more information on how Brexit may affect your travel plans, please read our Brexit and travel to France page for more information.

* Please remember that the property that you are renting does not belong to South France Holiday Villas, but to an individual owner. All decisions regarding date deferral, possible refunds, etc, therefore, lie with the owner and the owner alone. Note that in case the owner offers any form of refund, our service fee remains non-refundable.