Coronavirus lockdown: Owners of holiday cottages in Ryhall and Witham-on-the-Hill defend decision not to refund hen party groups for cancelled holiday

Holiday cottage owners have defended their decision not to give refunds to two groups, which include NHS workers, for cancelled hen parties.

Janette and Chris McMorrow say their business would not survive if they returned money from all the bookings that had to be scrapped due to the lockdown.

And they stressed it was down to the groups to organise their own insurance ahead of their scheduled trips to St John’s Holiday Cottage in Ryhall and Hill View Farmhouse in Witham-on-the-Hill.

Liz Emerson, who works as a specialist community nurse in London, had contacted this newspaper as she was furious not to receive a refund.

She and 13 friends, half of whom are key workers including an NHS doctor, had paid £1,795 to spend a long weekend from April 17 to 19 at the £600,000 cottage in Ryhall.

They planned to soak in the hot tub with a few glasses of bubbly and take advantage of the nearby facilities at Rutland Water - until the coronavirus crisis struck.

Liz, who lives in Hertfordshire with her partner Kellie, who is also a nurse, said all they had been offered in repayment was the £300 security deposit.

She said: “I feel outraged that the owners feel their behaviour is reasonable and devastated that my friend will not get a hen do because I cannot get any money back from Chris and Janette.

“I also feel embarrassed that I cannot give any members of the party their money back and if I could afford it I would pay them back myself.

“When the great majority of people are showing such support to key workers like myself, it is just so disappointing that some people can act in the way that these people have.”

Bride-to-be Georgia Lord also got in touch to say her 20-strong hen group had coughed up around £3,000 and had been refused both a refund and a concrete date to reschedule. They had been due to spend the weekend at Hill View Farmhouse this weekend (May 8).

"It's obviously disappointing that we've had to cancel our wedding but we haven't had any issues with any of our 15 suppliers," said the 29-year-old, who works as a financial crime investigator in London.

"But with this company we can't get our money back and we can't book another date in so it's made it all a bit stressful. My fiancé James hasn't had any issues with his stag do - they have been offered both a refund and rescheduling."

Janette said they have had to cancel 10 bookings and the majority of customers had been “fine about it”. She and Chris had offered to reschedule but could not pencil in specific dates until more was known about when the lockdown might end.

“Most people have been reasonable and are accepting an alternative date and we are working with them to book this, once the restrictions are lifted,” she said.

“There’s no way we can go around giving people back their money when it’s not our fault this has happened. If we did we’d go bankrupt.”

She added: “It’s up to them, it’s their responsibility to be insured like any holiday or weekend away.”

Both of the couple's two properties have mortgages, maintenance and utility bills that need to be paid.

“If we give them back £1,795 that’s our month’s mortgage to keep the properties up and running," said Janette.

“No one could see this coming. If we are still going as a business in six months - because there’s no guarantee of that - we will book them in an alternative.

“It's stressful for us too. This has hit us like a train - our business has just fallen off a cliff.”

Janette said the second group had paid £2,495, rather than £3,000.

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