The Government’s hotel quarantine booking portal is now live
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The Government has launched its hotel quarantine booking portal this afternoon.
Unsurprisingly, it isn’t functioning and the ability to book has been temporarily withdrawn ….
There is some interesting information on it – take a look.

As we know, the only people who can fly to England if they have been in a ‘red list’ country in the previous 10 days are:
- a British national
- an Irish national
- anyone with residence rights in the UK
These people must:
- quarantine for 10 days in a managed quarantine hotel
- take a coronavirus test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8 of quarantining
This is what I didn’t know
The number of arrival airports is restricted. You can only fly into:
- Heathrow Airport
- Gatwick Airport
- London City Airport
- Birmingham Airport
- Farnborough Airfield
It is amusing that Farnborough has been added for the benefit of private jet users, but there is nothing any nearer the Scottish border than Birmingham.
Your airline will be held responsible if they fly you to any other UK airport if you have been in a ‘red list’ country in the previous 10 days, even if you are flying from elsewhere.
The quarantine price is not fixed at £1,750 per person
There is a sliding scale for multiple adults and children:
- £1,750 for 11 nights for one adult
- £650 per additional adult or child over 12
- £325 per child aged 5-12
The package includes the costs of transport from the port of arrival to the designated hotel, food, accommodation, security, other essential services and testing.
How does quarantine work?
It sounds like fun:
- You are not allowed to upgrade your hotel room or to specify any sort of floor or view (the Government is only paying £30 per night to the hotels, plus £20 for meals, so don’t expect a suite!)
- Connecting rooms for families will be ‘prioritised’ but not guaranteed
- No visitors are allowed except for care or medical reasons
- Food deliveries are allowed but hotels are not obliged to deliver them to your room immediately
- You cannot leave your room for any purpose. A request to take exercise does not need to be met.
You can find out – but not yet book, because it isn’t working properly – on the Government website here.
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