The biggest unanswered questions surrounding hotel quarantine

The UK's hotel quarantine scheme is now underway, but there are still many unanswered questions.

If your location is added to the red list at short notice, could you be hit with an unexpected (but mandatory) stay – and a last-minute £1,750 bill? And what if your flight home is cancelled, or your travel plans change – will you get a refund for the arrangements you've made?

Here's what we know so far.

How long will the hotel quarantine scheme last?

The UK Government originally briefed participating quarantine hotels for an initial period of 45 days. The scheme started on February 15, so a period of 45 days brings us to March 31. According to some experts, however, these facilities could still exist in some form throughout 2021, and well into 2022.

Saj Ahmad, Chief Analyst at StrategicAero Research, told Telegraph Travel: "These measures could well last several months, or even until next year. The real challenge for mandatory hotel quarantines will ultimately be paced by vaccination rollouts from the countries where passengers are coming from. Given that the UK is a prime business, tourist, and family-visit-orientated country which attracts millions of people from overseas each year, many of these nations are poorer and are much lower down the pecking order when it comes to vaccinations."

John Grant, Senior Analyst at OAG, expects the scheme to end sooner. "My assessment is that we can expect these hotel quarantines to be with us until around the end of May or early June this year, assuming that the current rates of UK vaccinations continue and that the most recent news about the resilience of the vaccines is correct," he told us.

"There will come a tipping point when enough people are vaccinated and when the sheer pressure to escape the UK will have us all looking to do so. Once [travel] restrictions are eased, hotel quarantines could become increasingly difficult to police, to a point where they are no longer a deterrent and we find more sophisticated means of allowing travel, such as health passports and testing on arrival."

What happens if my flight is cancelled? Will my pre-booked quarantine stay be refunded?

Travellers who are forced to amend their hotel quarantine booking may not be entitled to their money back, a Government official has confirmed.

If a ‘managed quarantine’ booking is changed with less than 48 hours’ notice, the traveller will “incur a charge” – rather than a full refund – a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has notified Telegraph Travel.

The exact figure, or the method of its calculation, is still unclear – but the DHSC confirmed that travellers will only receive a full refund if the amendment is made more than 48 hours before the booking is due to start.

Those caught up in last-minute flight cancellations, or who are unable to travel because of a change in circumstances or positive Covid-19 test before flying to Britain, will likely lose some – if not perhaps all – of their money.

The DHSC advised that travellers in such circumstances should notify Corporate Travel Management – which operates the quarantine hotel booking platform – to update their booking.

Will more countries be added to the red list?

There are currently 33 countries on the UK's red list. It was drawn up in response to new variants, chief among them those found in South Africa and Brazil. But as the variants continue to spread, or new ones are discovered, the Government may well add new countries to the red list.

Much depends on whether fears about the two variants are confirmed or allayed. "We've been told that the Pfizer vaccine protects against both strains, but is slightly less effective," writes Telegraph Travel's Oliver Smith. "Recent research suggests that the Oxford vaccine may not prevent mild and moderate illness among those infected by the South African variant, but will stop serious illness and death. Further research is ongoing and it seems that the Government is being extremely cautious."

The spread of these strains – confirmed, suspected and hypothetical – is also key. It seems likely that nations which experience major outbreaks of new variant cases could find themselves on the red list – along with their neighbours and countries with which they share strong economic ties or a large number of flight connections.

With this in mind, it doesn't look good for Spain (because of its links to Portugal), Austria, Kenya or Ethiopia. And Britons currently in Mexico – which has so far evaded being added to the list, despite its role as a key hub for Latin America – may well want to travel home sooner rather than later.

What if I test positive while in hotel quarantine?

You will have to extend your stay. If you test positive on the second day of your hotel quarantine, you must pay for another two nights – at a cost of £304 per single traveller. If you test positive on the eighth day, your stay is lengthened by a further eight days – at a cost of £1,216.

When asked what would happen if someone cannot afford the extra payment, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a Downing Street news conference: "It is currently illegal to travel abroad for holidays anyway.

"We would expect people who are coming in from one of these red list countries to be able to cover their costs."

What happens if my location is added to the red list while I'm away?

When the hotel quarantine scheme was announced, affected Britons had weeks to return home – but any subsequent travellers might not have such a luxury of time. Last week, one Government source admitted that changes to the red list "could come at a moment's notice".

If so, don't expect the Government to waive the hotel fee – though it may be worth checking to see if your travel insurance policy covers associated quarantine costs.

Remember the travel corridor hokey cokey of last summer, which saw destinations being added or removed from the UK's quarantine list as their case rates rose and fell? In many instances, travellers were given 72 hours' notice of the rule changes, though in other cases just 24 hours' notice was given – including the Denmark travel ban (last November), which was introduced overnight over fears about the mink variant.

Again, Telegraph Travel has reached out to the DHSC for clarification but has not received a response.

Are passengers being split up at the airport?

They are. Heathrow Airport and the Home Office have confirmed that arrivals from red list destinations are being separated from non-red list arrivals, and there are measures to prevent mixing in the airport's arrivals areas.

On Monday morning, Health Secretary Matt Hancock was asked on Times Radio how "red list" passengers are being prevented from mixing with other arrivals in airports. He said: "All of this has been clearly set out, and I'm glad to say that, as of 6.30am when I got my latest update, this is working smoothly."

Pressed on the same question, Mr Hancock added: "You go down a separate channel at the gates and, once you've been through the gates, which are manned by the Border Force, there is then a security operation supported by the police so that people are gathered, go and pick up their luggage and then go to the hotels."

Do I have to quarantine if I've had the vaccine?

Though no specific information has been released on this, the Government has said that quarantine rules still apply whether you've been vaccinated or not. The only exemptions apply to a small group of individuals including hauliers travelling from Portugal, Defence personnel, visiting forces and Government contractors.

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