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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Unsurprisingly, it isn’t functioning and the ability to book has been temporarily withdrawn …..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.

Will anyone get the Britannia Hotel at Gatwick?!

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.

Category

General

Comments (172)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Optimus Prime says:
    12 Feb12 February 13:44

    Someone mentioned yesterday or a couple days ago they’d prefer to spend £300 for a 10-day stay in Spain and then come back to UK.

    They’ve just detected 2 cases of the Brazilian strain in Madrid. Wouldn’t be surprised if Spain were added to the red list in the next few days.

    • marcw says:
      12 Feb12 February 14:44

      Unless you are a EU citizen, you won’t be allowed to enter Spain. If arriving from the UK, Brasil and South Africa, you are only allowed in if you are a Spanish resident/citizen (+Andorra).

      • J says:
        12 Feb12 February 15:39

        What about British citizens resident in another EU country?

        • lgflyer says:
          12 Feb12 February 15:55

          Then I think you can get in if you are in transit to your country of residence

        • lgflyer says:
          12 Feb12 February 16:14

          But you wouldn’t be able to use any flights coming from the UK to Spain, even as an EU resident

        • marcw says:
          12 Feb12 February 16:24

          That’s ok unless you are arriving from the UK, South Africa or Brasil.

      • lgflyer says:
        12 Feb12 February 15:54

        Even the land border between Spain and Portugal is restricted, so you cannot travel from Portugal into Spain to do your 10-day stay. Although perhaps you can get in if you hold a flight ticket from Spain to the UK? Then once you get into Spain move the date to 11 days later?

  • Tallwills says:
    12 Feb12 February 18:21

    Thanks SH for putting into words my exact thoughts about Rob’s shameful posting.

    I’ve followed Rob since the days of British Midland, when I had gold cards with the three airline alliances. At the start of the COVID pandemic I chose to work for the Civil Service to work on vaccine supply, earning a fraction of my previous salary, but still a multiple of the national average.

    It will be Civil Servants, NHS staff and pharmaceutical researchers who get us out of this pandemic. Not bloggers selling ads for travel and credit cards.

    • old bob says:
      12 Feb12 February 19:55

      l don’t know about shameful, but controversial , but to lighten the mood….

      There once was a merchant banker named Rob
      whos spreadsheet analysis made an interesting job
      But airline miles was his passion
      creating HFP after a fashion
      and the click throughs provided the cash-in!

      I’ll get me coat……..

    • Alex Sm says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:34

      It looks like civil servants have their own virus of excessive self-pride which prompts them to automatically use capital letters when talking about themselves

  • Martin says:
    12 Feb12 February 19:18

    I wonder what happens when like me you just come to UK to pick up clothes and materials from my home for 2 or 3 days and tehn leave again? do i need to book the silly 2covid test package from CTM for 210gbp?

    • meta says:
      12 Feb12 February 19:37

      Yes you do, but you can leave the country before 10 days are up. What happens with the tests that are then posted or maybe couriered to you is not clear.

      Border force has apparently not been briefed either about any of it. I bet they will say over the weekend that the start will be from Wednesday to give people more time.

  • bafan says:
    12 Feb12 February 21:27

    Reading the comments about salaries made me realize on my 20k entry level salary in the Civil Service…I am poor af lol.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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