Lord Howe Island Closure [reopened 2/10/20]

[Maui]

This is appalling. Be sure to name and shame as far and wide as possible.

After reading this thread, I'm inclined to take Lord Howe off my "to visit" list.

The travel agent has said the many of the accommodation places have allowed rebooking either by the end of this year with some next year but charging a nights accommodation for cancellation fee. I'd be happy with that. Lord Howe is not a cheap destination. Oxley Travel have tried their best and have been very helpful. I am still hoping that my accommodation supplier may bend to pressure.

 

[Beny]

I thought they should have been more flexible but we are making the best of it. We will certainly think twice about going again.

 

[Maui]

This is appalling. Be sure to name and shame as far and wide as possible.

After reading this thread, I'm inclined to take Lord Howe off my "to visit" list.

I have been holding off naming them in case they felt the pressure and changed their minds. We booked with Lorihiti Apartments but the agent said they have tried but they wont't change. Apparently one booked visitor lost a 2 week booking. Not sure where this sits within consumer law.

 

[Beny]

I understand that they are losing income but so is everyone. We are grateful that we are only losing 1 night accommodation fee and are able to rebook. I think Lord Howe are doing themselves more harm by the stand some places have taken. Bouquets to Oxley Travel for difficult position they have had to handle.

 

[Maui]

I understand that they are losing income but so is everyone. We are grateful that we are only losing 1 night accommodation fee and are able to rebook. I think Lord Howe are doing themselves more harm by the stand some places have taken. Bouquets to Oxley Travel for difficult position they have had to handle.

Exactly enjoy your trip in the future. Thank you to Qantas for refunding our flights. Much appreciated.

 

[The Flying Brick]

I have been holding off naming them in case they felt the pressure and changed their minds. We booked with Lorihiti Apartments but the agent said they have tried but they wont't change. Apparently one booked visitor lost a 2 week booking. Not sure where this sits within consumer law.

Hi Maui,
Thanks for naming Lorihiti Apartments, it will definitely be a place that I and my wife will avoid on our long planned trip to LHI.

We are/were due to have our holiday on LHI starting on 29 July but I see very little chance of that happening now, so out looking at refund options.

Fortunately the flights were booked with QF points, so can be easily undone, with no 6000 point per pax cancellation fee until the end of April.

Also, our accommodation was at Somerset Apartments for which I found a booking on booking.com that allows free cancellation up to 60 days before.
All other agents and the property itself did not offer this flexibility for the same price and I am rather glad that I took this option last Nov.

Most frustrating is that QF flights to LHI are just so hard to book on points (for 2) and that the island is still serviced daily by the flights that we would have been on, except for the Public Health restrictions imposed by the NSW Govt (fair enough in this situation).

Just hoping that QF come up with another LHI points offer in the next year or two.

 

[Beny]

Hi Flying Brick,
We were booked to stay at Lagoon Landing and they have allowed us to rebook for next year at the same time but we have to pay the cancellation fee of 1 nights accommodation. I hope this helps .

 

[kpc]

The accommodation providers at LHI are scam artists....if you don't arrive eg flight cancellations say due to bad weather, they won't refund your accomdation expecting you to claim on travel insurance....and if you can't leave due to flight cancellations, they will charge you the full RACK rate for the room again expecting you to claim on travel insurance ..

I have been holding off naming them in case they felt the pressure and changed their minds. We booked with Lorihiti Apartments but the agent said they have tried but they wont't change. Apparently one booked visitor lost a 2 week booking. Not sure where this sits within consumer law.

At our first attempt to visit LHI in 2013, our flights to LDH were cancelled 2 days in a row due to bad weather so we cancelled our 3 night stay...we forfeited our 3 night booking at Lorihiti Apartments and had to claim it back from travel insurance. Name and SHAME away but i think a lot of the accommodtion providers at LHI are the same as per my post above!

 

[Maui]

I have been holding off naming them in case they felt the pressure and changed their minds. We booked with Lorihiti Apartments but the agent said they have tried but they wont't change. Apparently one booked visitor lost a 2 week booking. Not sure where this sits within consumer law.

All has now been sorted and we have rebooked in November but is a dearer season of course than when we were going.

 

[Maui]

All has now been sorted and we have rebooked in November but is a dearer season of course than when we were going.

Interesting that the travel insurance company isn’t taking anymore bookings and won’t extend it as it is more than 365 days out ( go figure) so I now have to find another insurance company for the new booking and pay another 200 odd $.

 

[antycbr]

Does anyone have any insight whether the LDH order will be allowed to expire on 18 June as per the proclaimed order?

I'd be surprised if they renewed the order given that intra-state domestic tourism is being promoted, but can understand the risk aspect. I am interested in what the business community on LDH would want in terms of reopening.

I have a payment deadline for a mid-August trip on 16 June of course (grr) and QF have drawn the schedule down so much we need to decide to either cut our losses and lose one night's accom or continue on.

 

[Mattg]

Does anyone have any insight whether the LDH order will be allowed to expire on 18 June as per the proclaimed order?

I'd be surprised if they renewed the order given that intra-state domestic tourism is being promoted, but can understand the risk aspect. I am interested in what the business community on LDH would want in terms of reopening.

I have a payment deadline for a mid-August trip on 16 June of course (grr) and QF have drawn the schedule down so much we need to decide to either cut our losses and lose one night's accom or continue on.

According to this article, "locals like Mr Sia were hopeful that restrictions would be lifted by September".

So, I don't think the order will expire on 18 June.

 

[antycbr]

According to this article, "locals like Mr Sia were hopeful that restrictions would be lifted by September".

So, I don't think the order will expire on 18 June.

They have to consciously take a decision to extend it though. I am thinking of contacting the local member (Member for Port Macquarie in NSW) to see if there is any indication as well as the property.

 

[kpc]

[QUOTE="Mattg, post: 2123234, member:] "locals like Mr Sia were hopeful that restrictions would be lifted by September".

[/QUOTE]I met Mr Sia a few years back when I went to LHI

 

[glennp]

I have also been considering a LHI holiday for a while. Not saying I would have stayed at Lorihiti Apartments, but certainly will avoid it now.

 

[antycbr]

I have also been considering a LHI holiday for a while. Not saying I would have stayed at Lorihiti Apartments, but certainly will avoid it now.

We have tried contacting them as QF have cancelled our outbound service in August and rebooked us on the Tuesday service which means we can spend either an hour or a week on LDH. The property doesn’t return phone calls or emails so we ended up requesting cancellation for booking.com as it’s $300 to do that versus $900 which would be charged on Tuesday for the three night stay.

We are pushing Booking.com for an answer on if we can move the dates - which we would prefer over losing the $300 - but then trying to avoid $2K in paid fares to LDH would be the next challenge.

 

[Mattg]

Lord Howe Island reopens to tourists today.

'Back to normal and really excited': Lord Howe Island emerges from COVID-19 lockdown

Lord Howe Island, off the coast of Port Macquarie, will welcome tourists back from Friday — six months after first going into lockdown due to coronavirus.

www.abc.net.au

Anyone going?